Page 71 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)

Elliot

A soft kiss on the cheek pulls me from my light sleep. I was already half awake, my body curled around Wren’s, but now I blink my eyes open.

She’s smiling down at me, her gaze full of a tenderness that sends warmth cascading down my body. “Morning.”

“Morning,”

I say tiredly.

“I heard the guys get up a half hour ago. Figure we should get up, too.”

Sighing, I nod. There’s still plenty to do. First on my list is grocery shopping. Second is talking to Rhett. Last we spoke of it, he still wasn’t on board with killing Richard. It feels weird that I want to convince him to kill his own father, but I don’t think he’ll find peace without doing it.

Wren starts to get out of bed, but I catch her by the waist and haul her back. She doesn’t even look surprised. I caress her face, taking in the way the morning sunlight washes over her skin.

“I told you,”

I whisper.

“I said you’d get us out, and you did.”

Her smile lights up my soul.

“And I knew we could trust your plan.”

We head downstairs with our hands clasped together. In the kitchen, there’s a large takeout bag on the counter with a variety of breakfast sandwiches inside. Both Wren and I grab one before sitting at the table with Rhett and Oliver.

“Are the boys still asleep?” I ask.

Rhett nods.

“We were just talking about Richard,”

Oliver says, his tone hushed.

“Oh?”

I bite into my sandwich, hoping this is going where I want it to.

“We can’t let him stay alive.”

Rhett’s eyes are hard, his expression set.

“Not only to protect Benny, but because of what we’ve learned about him over the past month or so. I thought he neglected me and Sam because he was mourning, but he was off living a second life. He’s at fault for her death just as much as Holloway is.”

“All right. How do we do it?”

Grimacing, Oliver stands.

“Either of you want coffee?”

“Sure,”

Wren says, and I nod.

“I want to do it alone.”

Rhett stares at the table, his fists clenched. He knows we won’t agree to this.

“He’s not a threat. I can handle him by myself.”

“Are you going to confront him?” I ask.

He nods.

“And if you freeze?”

Crossing my arms, I stare him down from across the table. Not that it does any good, considering he’s still not looking at any of us.

“Already asked him that,”

Oliver says as he pours coffee into two mugs.

“And what was your answer?”

“I won’t freeze.”

Tipping my head back, I release a slow, even breath. I want to believe him—I really do. But there’s a part of Rhett that still believes all the things his father told him. It doesn’t matter how strong or intimidating or powerful Rhett is. Deep down, he’s always been afraid of Richard. I’ve never judged him for it—never blamed him, either. It’s just the truth.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I say.

“Well, I do.”

Oliver sets the mugs down in front of me and Wren. He squeezes my shoulder and kisses Wren’s temple before speaking up.

“You think it’s a good idea to put us through more stress? More anxiety? We’ve all been through hell, and we barely made it out alive.”

Thankfully, Rhett doesn’t seem to have a protest to that. He sighs, finally raising his eyes to meet mine.

“I just don’t want him to hurt any of you.”

Wren tilts her head.

“But you said he’s not a threat.”

“Not physically, no. But he has this way of twisting your thoughts around until you’re all backward. I… I don’t want you to experience that, sweetheart. And Ell and O have been through enough of it.”

“So have you,”

I grit out.

“That’s different!”

“Exactly,”

Oliver says, sitting down next to Wren and sliding his hand over her thigh.

“No offense, Rhett, but you’re the most likely to fall prey to his manipulations. Not me, not Ell, not Wren. If you were only going to kill him, then that’s one thing. I don’t blame you for wanting closure—for wanting to say everything you’ve been holding back all this time. But you shouldn’t be alone.”

Rhett shakes his head, but when he opens his mouth to speak, he’s cut off.

“No!”

Wren’s voice is steeped in more pain that she should ever have to bear.

“I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“But—”

“I get that you’re trying to protect us.”

Her voice softens, and she reaches across the table and covers one of his fists with her hand.

“But this isn’t something you have to do alone. Please, Rhett. I can’t handle any more anxiety right now, and you need support. We’re stronger together.”

I almost add that if Rhett decides to kill Richard alone, I’ll simply follow him, but maybe it’s best he doesn’t know that.

Rhett’s gaze travels from Wren to me to Oliver before he dips his head. “Fine,”

he says softly.

“I texted Finn last night. He’s working on learning Richard and Corinne’s schedules so we can get him at the right time. I’m thinking a staged suicide makes the most sense.”

“And what about Andrew and Benny?”

Oliver asks.

“They’re still missing according to the authorities.”

“That I haven’t figured out yet,”

Rhett says.

“I’m trying to give the boys time to decide if Benny is okay going back to Corinne after Richard is dead.”

“You think that’s a good option? We could—” I stop.

Could we? The four of us haven’t discussed it yet, but if Benny doesn’t want to live with his mother, maybe he could live with us. If we’re all on board, that is.

“We could what?”

Rhett asks.

“Take him in? How? Corinne has legal custody, and it doesn’t sound like it’ll be easy to prove that she’s an unfit parent. I’m not sure she is an unfit parent.”

“But what if he wants to live with you?”

Wren’s voice is soft as she looks at Rhett.

“He seems to have really taken to you.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Regardless,”

Oliver says, “he has to go back to Corinne at some point. We can’t keep him here forever. He needs to go back to school, back to his friends. It’s not like we can hide him for the rest of his life.”

That seems to both relieve Rhett and worry him.

“So we wait a week or two until after Richard dies,”

I say.

“And then we send in an anonymous tip. We can hide the boys somewhere and let the cops find them.”

Rhett frowns.

“And what do they say? That they were kidnapped for no reason?”

“It worked when I had to pretend I was kidnapped,”

Wren says.

“I wasn’t much help in providing information since I just told the cops I didn’t see or hear much of anything. I don’t think the case ever went anywhere.”

“The police will have questions,”

I say, “but they won’t have any way to get answers. They’ll hit a dead end almost immediately upon questioning the boys.”

Oliver leans back in his chair.

“Sounds like it’ll work to me.”

“We have time to iron out the details,”

I add.

“Especially since we’re killing Richard first. We’ll want to wait a while before sending the boys back. If the events happen too closely together, the authorities could suspect a connection—and that Richard’s suicide is staged.”

Nodding in agreement, Rhett says, “A week at least.”

“And what about Ludo?”

Wren asks, glancing between us.

“How long are we keeping him alive?”

“I don’t know.”

With a sigh, Rhett rubs his face.

“Until it feels like enough, I guess. Or until we can’t take it anymore.”

“I haven’t heard him at all,”

Wren says.

“I guess I expected some yelling or something, like how it was with Jordan.”

Oliver shakes his head.

“Ludo is in a soundproof room.”

“Soundproof?”

She raises her eyebrows, but then she smiles.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Standing, Rhett scoops up his mug and empty sandwich wrapper.

“We should check on him.”

“Where is he?”

Wren asks.

“The basement?”

I stand, too.

“Yeah, but not where you’ve been. We’ll show you.”

“I’ll stay up here,”

Oliver says quickly.

“You know, in case the boys wake up.”

Rhett pauses as he sets his mug in his sink. Before now, Oliver has never expressed a desire to avoid this part of our plan. He’s been excited about it—we all have.

They still don’t know what Ludo did to him, I realize. I haven’t told Rhett or Wren, and Oliver understandably hasn’t wanted to talk about it.

“All right.”

Moving back to the table, Rhett leans down and kisses Oliver’s cheek.

“Whatever you need.”

At that, Oliver visibly relaxes. He turns his head and brushes his lips against Rhett’s. I drop my gaze, guilt twisting up my insides. There’s no denying that this is entirely because of me. I was foolish, and Oliver paid the price for it.

As we leave the kitchen, I don’t meet Oliver’s eyes, even though I can feel him staring at me. It’ll hurt to look at him.

Wren starts heading toward the basement, but Rhett grabs her hand and leads her to a different part of the house. There’s a second basement—one that was built with a later addition to the mansion—and that’s where we’re keeping Holloway. We redid it and put in a soundproof chamber specifically for keeping Ludo.

“Oh,”

Wren murmurs when Rhett opens a door that leads downward.

“Two basements? Every time I think this place can’t get bigger, somehow it does.”

Flipping on the light, Rhett goes first. His shoulders are stiff, and I wonder how he feels right now. We’ve finally gotten what we’ve been fighting for—we’re so close to avenging Sammy—yet it requires being in the same room with the person Rhett hates the most.

At the bottom of the stairs, Wren looks around. This portion of the basement is basically empty. The only thing worth looking at is the reinforced steel door on the far wall.

“He’s in there?” she asks.

Rhett nods.

“He’s tied up though, right? I mean, I know he can’t get out, but…”

She swallows audibly.

“He’s restrained,”

I assure her. We’re not taking any chances.

Rhett unlocks the door—a two-part process that requires a passcode and a physical key—and swings it open. Inside, the cell is empty except for Ludo and the drain that’s in the middle of the floor.

Holloway is on the ground. His wrists are cuffed, attached to short chains that are connected to the wall. He has some room to move, but not much.

As we enter, he watches us. There’s blood on his shirt, and his skin is covered in bruises. Some of it’s from when Wren hit him with the car, but most of it is from Meredith. The first night at the farmhouse, she had plenty she wanted to do—and say—to Ludo.

“Why?”

he asks once I step in after Rhett and Wren.

“Why keep me alive?”

“Why’d you keep us alive?”

Rhett shoots back.

“That’s different.”

Rhett’s laugh fills the small room. It’s a mirthless sound, one that would scare me if I didn’t know Rhett would never hurt me. Slowly, he lowers himself to a crouch in front of Ludo.

“Tell me something. Does the name Samantha Brooks ring a bell for you?”

“She was your sister.”

Ludo pulls against his restraints.

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“Do you know what happened to her?”

Rhett asks. His voice is even and so much calmer than I thought it would be.

“Of course I do,”

Ludo spits out. He’s done his own research on us—he admitted to it.

“She was shot. No one ever caught the guy who did it.”

“Until now.”

Realization falls over Ludo’s features.

“The little girl,”

he whispers.

“She was… that was…”

“She was my sister.”

Ludo’s gaze flicks to me.

“This was never about the hard drive. It was never about the money. You’ve been targeting me for years. The—the Garden Grille. Was that you?”

“No. That was Axel.”

Standing, Rhett slides his hands into his pockets.

“He was happy to help us escape—and to finish ruining you. All your secrets? He’s already spreading them. You’re finished, Holloway.”

Straightening his posture as much as he can, Ludo glares up at Rhett.

“You’ll never get me to beg for mercy.”

Rhett smiles.

“We’ll see about that.”

Turning, his hand slides down Wren’s back.

“Let’s go.”

We step out, and I don’t bother to look back.

“You can kill me,”

Ludo calls as Rhett reaches for the door, “but I’ve seen it in your eyes every time you look at me. I didn’t know what it meant, but I do now. I’ve haunted you for years, Brooks, and my death won’t change that.”

Rhett slams the door shut, his facade of calm disappearing instantly. While he stands there, Wren and I watch him. He takes a few deep breaths, his hand pressed against the metal.

“I won’t let him,”

he says quietly after a minute.

“Won’t let him what?”

Wren asks.

“I won’t let him haunt me.”

When he turns, his expression is somber.

“He’s taken enough from us. I won’t let him take our future, too.”

Wren steps toward him, intertwining their fingers. “We know.”

Watching them both, my heart warms. Multiple times, Ludo has tried to tear us apart, whether he knew it or not. We came out stronger each time. Now, we’ve truly made it out to the other side.

We have a long way to go. Even once we’ve killed Ludo, we each need to heal. But as I watch Wren and Rhett, I realize we’re on the right track. Holloway has consumed our lives for long enough, and we won’t let him have that power any longer.

I join them, taking Rhett’s other hand and kissing him lightly. We’ll forge new paths, and we’ll let the past fade. We’ll never forget Sammy, of course, but Ludo? Soon, he’ll only be a distant memory.

“We won’t let you, either,”

I say, my gaze settling on him.

“We’re with you, Rhett. Always have been.”

Wren smiles.

“And always will be.”