Page 74 of Gilded Locks

“He’s playing it off as the concerned brother, claiming you were kidnapped,” Stone said quietly.

“My innocence makes less clean-up for the family.”

“True. But according to his texts, he plans on exploiting your ‘condition’.”

“He wants to expose me as mentally insane, which ensures no one will ever believe me if I continue to talk.”

“Exactly. He plans to find you, then claim this was another ‘psychotic episode,’ claiming you need immediate psychiatric intervention. He looks like a hero and you look like the deranged charity case.”

“How altruistic of him to concern himself with my care.”

“We all have a role to play,” Ash said. “We make him feel welcome. Let him think he’s in control.”

“Until he isn’t,” Stone added with cold satisfaction.

Owning the most exclusive pleasure club in the world taught them several things. The lodge was more than a house of hedonism. It was a psychological dungeon built to manipulate and twist people so far from their comfort zones that they lost touch with reality.

Without a graceful landing, guests could leave with more trauma than they carried in. Thankfully, they were experts at mitigating aftercare and seeing that everything under their roof was safe, sane, and consensual. But not for their enemies. Jordan Calder was getting a special brand of care when he arrived.

“Your brother likes to break things,” Hunter said. “Beautiful, innocent things. He gets off on the power, the control, the moment when something pure becomes corrupted.”

“So we’re going to show him what it feels like to be the one without power,” Stone finished, his smile revealing a vicious taste for vengeance. “Without control. Without any way to escape what’s coming.”

She shifted in her seat, and Ash watched as she processed this information, waiting for any sign of objection. She had to understand their intentions. They planned to break her brother the same way he’d broken their sister.

“When?” she whispered.

Hunter checked his phone. “Soon enough, but we’ll be prepared.”

Stone checked his phone. “Full moon, perfect weather, excellent visibility for what we have planned.” His grin was feral. “Plenty of time to prepare a proper welcome.”

“We should warn you,” Ash said. “When he gets here, and our cards are revealed, what comes next won’t be pleasant. What we do to men like your brother... It’s not pretty. It’s not gentle.”

“And once we start,” Hunter’s voice carried a clear threat, “we don’t stop until they’re completely broken. You might hear things you can’t unhear.”

When she only nodded with understanding, the three of them exchanged looks of approval. A new respect was born in the den that day, one that made him realize Marigold was much stronger than they initially thought.

She also had a dark side to her that pleased Ash. All three of them had a fucked up past. Marigold made four. Maybe she was more fitting for them than they realized. He wanted to see just how depraved and dark she could go when this shit with her brother was over. As a matter of fact…

“Are we done?”

“You have somewhere else you need to be?” Hunter snapped.

“Yes.” Ash stood and grabbed Marigolds hand. “Come with me.”

Stone’s gaze followed him as he pulled Marigold out of the room, but he didn’t waste time explaining himself.

She tripped out of the room as he dragged her past the threshold. “Where are we go—” Her words cut off as he slammed his mouth over hers and walked her into the wall.

“You were quite impressive in there.” He unbuckled his belt and lowered his zipper. “You’re fucking sexy when you’re brave.” Snatching her hand, he folded it around his cock, gripping her fingers and showing her how fast he wanted her to pump. “It’s fucking hot watching you take on Hunter.”

“He doesn’t scare me.”

Ash chuckled. “Sweet, little liar, we both know that’s not true. But you’re getting braver, and that’s good. If you don’t put him in his place, he’ll eat you alive.”

The door opened, and heavy footfalls approached. “Bring her over here,” Stone said, already peeling off his shirt.

Ash grinned, holding his pants up bending to lift her onto his back. “Up you go.”