Page 59 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)

Elliot

The night before Ludo’s big meeting, Axel takes me out on another job. He’s silent as he ushers me downstairs. When we pass Ludo in the foyer, something feels different than last time.

“Wait,”

Ludo says just as we’re about to step outside.

I stop, only turning to face Holloway when Axel glares at me. “What?”

“Did you see Benny this evening?”

“I see him every evening,”

I grit out. Watching him and Rhett outside is the only thing I have to look forward to.

“He seemed happy, didn’t he?”

Swallowing down the hateful words I want to throw at him, I nod.

“He did. Him and Rhett seem to be getting along well.”

“It’d be a shame if something were to happen to change that, wouldn’t it?”

Cold dread fills my lungs, and I struggle to get in a full breath. I feel myself going stiff at Ludo’s satisfied smile.

“Is there a reason for it to change?”

“What? Oh! No.”

His smirk widens.

“Benny will be perfectly fine—as long as you comply.”

I am complying, I want to grit out, but I don’t want to upset him. Doing that could mean another session in the basement for Oliver—or something happening to Benny. So I just bite my tongue and nod.

“Same as always, Axel,”

Ludo says.

“Bring him right back when you’re done and report to me immediately.”

“You got it, boss.”

Without another word, Ludo turns on his heel and heads up the stairs. Axel clears his throat behind me, and when I whip around to face him, he looks nervous.

“Let’s get going,” he says.

In the SUV, I grab the folder that’s sitting on the backseat. I was hoping Axel would have something else up his sleeve, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

One more day, I remind myself. In twenty-four hours, we’ll be home again, and Ludo will be locked away, not us.

It’s not until Axel pulls out of the driveway that I start looking through the folder. Everything looks fairly normal until I flip a page and come across a photograph of my target.

At first, I don’t believe what I’m seeing. I peer at the photo closer, and then I flip back through the pages.

No. No, this can’t be happening.

There has to be some kind of mistake.

“There’s something wrong with this.”

I close the folder.

“I think you grabbed the wrong profile or something.”

“I didn’t.”

“No, this…”

I open the folder again, flipping through the pages and photos as if they’ll somehow be different.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“His mother is a judge.”

“Yeah, Wren mentioned meeting her at the wedding. She had to go home early because one of her kids got sick.”

My stomach churns as I stare at the smiling little boy in the pictures.

“Ludo needed her to bend to his will, but she’s holding firm,”

Axel says.

“Ludo has tried everything. Flattery, bribery, blackmail, you name it. She’s retaliated by trying to report him to the authorities and hiring a security team.”

“I’m assuming the police did nothing.”

“She didn’t have any proof. He’s meticulous about covering his tracks.”

“But…”

The edges of the pages crinkle as my hands curl into fists.

“But he’s a child.”

Of course, I’m not surprised. I’m well aware of the fact that Holloway doesn’t care about children. But forcing me to kill one in cold blood? It’s a new low—one I hadn’t expected. So far, all the hit jobs he’s forced me on were adults.

“He can’t think that murdering her child will get her on his side,”

I grit out.

“He’s already found a way to work around her,”

Axel replies.

“This isn’t about coercion anymore. It’s about sending a message.”

“Axel.”

His name comes out breathlessly, coated in disbelief.

No, no, no.

“Axel, I can’t kill a kid.”

That’s how this all started.

“If you have any other ideas, I’m open to them. I’m willing to work with you on this.”

He’s still staring straight ahead, but the discomfort on his face is as clear as day.

“I…”

My gaze drops to the folder again.

Benny will be perfectly fine—as long as you comply.

“Fuck.”

I slam the folder shut and rub my face.

“That fucking bastard.”

“Ludo wants it done quietly—asphyxiation. He wants it to look like it’s possible that it was an accident, or that the kid was unwell and no one realized.”

“That way Bernadette can’t try to pin it on him.”

Slowly, I sink down in my seat.

“He hasn’t asked for proof of any of your other kills,”

Axel says quietly.

“They’ve all been verified later as he’s organically heard about them, of course. But he only has to believe us for twelve hours.”

“What are you saying?”

I watch him carefully, my heart beating erratically.

“I could lie. We could stay out for the appropriate amount of time, then head back, and I could report that you killed the kid. It’d help if you acted broken up about it.”

“You think that’d work?”

“Possibly. It’s your call if you want to risk it. And if you don’t want to do it…”

Axel shifts in his seat and swallows.

“Killing a child is the last thing I want to do, but if it’s what needs to be done, I could do it myself.”

As we start moving again, I shake my head. I can’t let that little boy die. But I can’t let anything happen to Benny, either.

Could I risk it? It’s not like something would be reported in the news by tomorrow morning, especially if Ludo wants it to look like the kid died in his sleep. Holloway knows there’d have to be an autopsy and an investigation before things got into the papers or on TV.

But… what if there’s an angle I’m not thinking of? What if Ludo has an informant close to the kid’s family? Or what if he suspects something?

My heart sinks. An image of Oliver cuffed to that chair, crying and screaming, flits through my mind. It makes my throat close up until my lungs are burning. I can’t do anything that could potentially put him back there.

We slow to a stop at an intersection, and Axel closes his eyes. The red traffic light washes over his skin. He looks pained—more than I ever expected he would. It’s yet another reminder that I don’t really know who he is.

“I can do it,”

he says quietly.

“No. Just… just let me think this through. He’s never asked for proof of the other kills?”

“Other than me reporting back to him at the end of the night, he hasn’t asked for more. He trusts me. And since the news of all your kills have made its way back to him, he has no reason to doubt me.”

“So if you don’t have proof, it won’t be odd.”

“Correct.”

“And… and if you did have proof, but only for this one, that’d be… that’d be abnormal.”

Axel is silent for a few seconds before he says, “It would be.”

Part of me has been toying with the idea of sneaking in and just taking a picture of the kid while he’s asleep. Ludo wouldn’t be able to tell if the boy was dead or alive.

“Then we can’t have proof,”

I say.

“He’d get suspicious if we tried to go the extra mile to say I did it.”

“Are you saying you want to risk it?”

“I—”

My voice falters. Can I? Can I put everyone’s lives in danger to save one?

But it’s not that simple. We got into this because Holloway killed a child. We can’t get out of it because I end up stooping to his level.

“Yes,”

I say thickly, my hands gripping the folder.

“We’re going to risk it.”

***

When we arrive at the mansion, I don’t have to fake my tears. All it takes is a single thought of Oliver, and they spring to my eyes immediately. I was a fool for thinking I could stay awake that night. I wanted to be close to him—to comfort him—but all I did was make everything so much worse.

I’ll never be able to make it up to him.

This time, Ludo is waiting in the foyer. It’s a first, but part of me was expecting it. This is another form of torture for him to enjoy inflicting on me.

“It’s done?”

Ludo asks Axel, even though he’s watching me.

“It’s done.”

“Did he put up much of a fight?”

Axel hesitates before nodding.

“At first.”

A sob is ripped from my throat, and I fall to my knees. It’s not an act. There’s no way I wouldn’t’ve put up a fight, so Axel can’t lie about that, but if anything else happens to Oliver or Benny…

Maybe if I act upset enough, they won’t even cross Holloway’s mind.

“Please,”

I beg, looking up at Ludo through my tears.

“Please don’t make me do that again.”

The only thing shining in his eyes is cruel delight. He comes to stand over me, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

“You’ve managed to surprise me, Hayes. I really didn’t think you had it in you.”

He laughs.

“Although I suppose, given the alternative, you were probably happy to do it.”

I grit my teeth, doing my best to stop my tears. Raising my head, I glare at Ludo silently.

Holloway’s smirk only grows.

“I hope the image of his lifeless body haunts you for the rest of your short, pathetic life. Axel, take him to his room.”

After yanking me to my feet, Axel drags me upstairs and shoves me in my room. He doesn’t spare me a glance before spinning around and stalking down the hallway. The men guarding my room close the door, but not before I see a look of unease pass between them.

My guess is they have no idea what I was sent out to do. But that doesn’t change the fact that their report of the night will make its way to Holloway.

I think of Wren and how hard it was to say goodbye to her. Of Oliver’s screams and begging, of the longing in Rhett’s eyes whenever he glances up at our windows.

Curling up on my mattress, I sob loudly until exhaustion washes over me.

“Please be enough,”

I whisper into the dark room.

I can’t watch him get hurt again.