Page 69 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)
Rhett
After cleaning up from breakfast, we say goodbye to Aubrey and Sparrow. I hate how sad it makes Wren, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to cheer her up soon. Now that we’re free, I just want to put this all behind us.
Well, except torturing Ludo. That I plan to draw out for as long as I can. I won’t make it last forever—having him in the house will put a strain on all of us, I’m sure. But that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on him.
He has a lifetime of pain to make up for.
Finn, Meredith, Oliver, and Elliot stay behind to deal with Ludo. I go with Wren to get the boys to the house. The plan is to keep them so distracted with getting their rooms ready that Benny doesn’t even notice the others bringing Holloway inside.
When we get to the house, everything looks fine from the outside. Makes sense—Holloway’s men at least know better than to draw unnecessary attention. Once we get inside, though, the mess is noticeable immediately.
All of the kitchen cabinets are open, although most of the dishes are unbroken, thank fuck. A couple chairs are knocked over, and the trash has been sitting for long enough that it smells awful.
The rest of the house is mostly the same. Ludo’s men broke a couple things, but for the most part, they were intent on looking for the hard drive. We can deal with overturned furniture and flipped mattresses without too much work.
“What happened here?”
Benny asks as we make our way through the house.
“Ludo sent his men here to look for something,” I say.
“Did they find it?”
“No. Finn hid it elsewhere when we were taken.”
Thankfully, he doesn’t ask more questions about Holloway. I know he has them, but maybe the tiredness in my voice is deterring him.
There are two guest rooms on the first floor. They’re not technically bedrooms, but that’s what we decided to turn them into. Normally, Maria and Meredith spend Christmas Eve with us, and that’s where they sleep. I figure the boys can stay in them until we figure out how to deal with the custody situation.
It doesn’t even take an hour to right all the furniture in their rooms and show the boys around the house. When I hear the garage door opening, I take them into the library, where we stay until Elliot finds us.
He nods silently to me, signaling that Ludo is locked up again.
“The house doesn’t look too bad,”
I say.
“Not much of anything is broken.”
“I’m glad Finn had the foresight to collect our computers.”
Elliot rubs his face.
“Imagine if they’d stolen all of it.”
“I’d prefer not to.”
As I pass him, I kiss his cheek, my hand lingering on his waist.
“Better to focus on the fact that we’re all okay, huh?”
“Much better.”
Downstairs, Finn and Meredith are putting the living room back to normal. I wasn’t expecting them to help, but I’m not surprised that they are. Finn can whine about how annoying family can be for hours, but he’s part of ours, and we’re part of his. We’ll do just about anything for each other.
“Hey,”
Oliver calls, “does anyone know what happened to that vase that we keep on that shelf by the front door?”
He comes into view, a frown on his face.
“The blue and white one?”
Finn asks. His gaze flicks to Wren.
“Yeah. The rug we had in there is gone, too.”
“That’s odd,”
Elliot mutters, scratching his head.
“The rug is getting cleaned,”
Finn says, standing the coffee table upright.
“Was soaked with blood from the men we killed. I had some friends come in to deal with the cleanup since I needed to get Wren out of here.”
Oliver perks up.
“Do you think they’d know what happened to the vase?”
“Maybe.”
Finn turns away then, stooping to pick up a couple books that fell off the table.
“You don’t know, do you, Wren?”
Oliver asks.
“I know it’s just a vase, but I really like it.”
“I broke it,”
she replies quietly, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“I’m sorr—”
“She saved my life with it,”
Finn says.
“Knocked one of the guys over the head to disorient him. It gave me the upper hand.”
Laughing, Oliver slings an arm around Wren’s shoulders.
“Well, I can’t exactly be disappointed at that, can I?”
She looks up. “But—”
Swiftly, Oliver moves in and kisses her.
“The two of you are far more important than a vase, princess. Don’t worry about it.”
With all of us working together, we’re able to get the house put back together in a few hours. Finn heads home before dinner, and after realizing that a lot of the food in the kitchen has spoiled, we order in.
Benny seems ecstatic to have a whole mansion to explore, so after we eat, he runs off with Meredith on his heels. The guys and Wren seem to have cleanup handled, so when Andrew slinks off to his room, I follow. He’s barely said a word since we left Ludo’s mansion, which makes me think he has something up his sleeve.
I knock on his door, and when he opens it and sees me standing in the hallway, his eyes widen.
“Don’t kill me,”
he blurts, stumbling back.
“I’m sorry. Really, Rhett. I’d take it all back if I could.”
I glance around his room, half expecting to find something incriminating lying around, but I come up empty.
“I’m not gonna kill you.”
He releases a long breath and sinks onto the bed.
“To be clear, if you weren’t family, I would’ve already.”
I cross my arms and glare down at him.
“And if any of them had died, even that wouldn’t’ve stopped me.”
Andrew gulps, only staring at the floor.
“Is that why you’ve been so quiet? You’ve been scared?”
Nodding, he meets my gaze.
“I thought you were just waiting for a convenient time to get me away from Benny.”
“Fair enough.”
“You’re not getting custody of him.”
Andrew straightens, chin high.
“He’s mine to take care of.”
With a sigh, I lean against the doorframe. It’s foolish that he thinks he can take care of Benny. He’s practically a child himself. He won’t appreciate me saying that, though.
“He wants me,”
Andrew continues.
“Our plan was to get away from Dad together.”
“What about Corinne?”
“What about her?”
“If Richard wasn’t in the picture, would you both be okay with going back home?”
So far, it’s the only option I’ve come up with. Andrew can’t parent Benny, but I’m not confident that I can, either. Plus, I can’t put that on the guys and Wren—not without all of us talking about it, at least.
“Mom is better when she’s not around Dad,”
Andrew says.
“But he brings out the worst side in her. She can be a downright bitch.”
“Is that a yes or a no?”
I’m not forcing Benny to live with Corinne—not if he doesn’t want to.
“We’d have to talk about it. It’s mostly up to Ben. I don’t want to live at home anymore regardless.”
“What’re you going to do now?”
He bristles.
“I don’t need your advice.”
“Wasn’t going to give any. Unless you somehow manage to involve yourself with someone worse than Ludo.”
Scowling, Andrew bites out, “I only did that for Benny. I had plans before. I was gonna go to college.”
I’m tempted to ask what for, but I just nod. The only thing between us is tension. I’ve threatened his life twice already, for fuck’s sake. Of course he isn’t going to open up to me.
“We’ll figure things out,”
I say.
“No more making shady deals, okay?”
Andrew nods. I don’t think I need to explain to him how horribly things could’ve gone. He knows, and he won’t make the same mistake again. And if he tries to, I won’t let him.
“I just want to make sure Benny is okay.”
Andrew looks away and stares out the window.
“He was panicking last night that he’d have to go back home.”
“That’s not happening,”
I say firmly.
“I promised him it wouldn’t.”
Andrew shrugs.
“He’s always been anxious.”
I know what it’s like to be young and have your whole life feel unstable. It’s hell on earth. It’s even harder when you’re the older sibling who’s trying to protect the younger one. I don’t want either of them to have to sit in all this uncertainty.
“Talk to Benny about Corinne,”
I tell Andrew.
“Give yourselves some time to think on it.”
“Does it matter? She doesn’t want to leave Dad. We tried to convince her to.”
“We’ll see.”
It’s all I can say. I’m still not sure if I can trust him.
I leave, shutting the door behind me. Making sure Benny feels secure needs to be one of my first priorities, and it will be. But there’s one thing that tops everything else. I’ve put it off for long enough.
I need to talk to Wren.