Page 54

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Stone

Azrael stares back at me as I raise the glass to my lips, then he swallows hard before he clears his throat. “I saw the way you looked at one another.”

I bite into the side of my cheek, refraining from speaking when I have so much to say.

He chuckles, but it lacks humor. “You were in love with her.” His eyes settle on mine. “And she you.” Heat fills my cheeks at hearing someone say they witnessed our intimate moments when I always thought we were being so careful. “You couldn’t be in love with your sister, Stone.”

Fury flares inside me, and the pain in the side of my temple causes me to react when I’ve always been so controlled. “She wasn’t my fucking sister!” I throw my glass at the wall.

Azrael remains unmoving. “She had to be. Don’t you fucking see?”

My heart hammers.

“She had to be. If we were anything else but your family, you were dead.” The stark realization of his words settles square in the chest. Of course, I knew this, but hearing it hits differently. “If you were taken away, then she had nothing to live for either.” He swallows harshly. “You brought my sister light. She fed off the darkness we were born into because she had you. I didn’t want to destroy her.”

“You married her off,” I sneer. “You married her off! You fucking took her from me.” Then I shake my head as I try but fail to rid my heart of the pain that lances up my body into my forehead.

He steps forward. “I had no choice. None.” His gruff voice is full of grit and anger, full of hate. “If I didn’t marry her off to someone of my choosing, our father would have chosen. You think he would have picked someone as soft as Jeremy?” He crooks his eyebrow. “Huh? You think he would have picked someone capable of giving Sienna freedom? Would he have chosen someone with no interest in her at all, like she had no interest in him?”

His words startle me, and I reel back. “What?”

“You think I didn’t pick him purposely, Stone?” He drags a hand through his hair, ruffling it. “I chose him because he didn’t want her. It was the best chance she would have at being happy.”

My anger ebbs and makes room for a new emotion. Gratitude?

“Have you asked her if she was forced to take part in the evening marital ceremony?” He’s referring to the tradition of delivering the bloody virginal sheets after the wedding night. “Of course she didn’t. It was a stipulation on Jeremy’s part.” Like a predator watching his prey, he eyes me carefully. “A suggested stipulation,” he tacks on. Has she not slept with him at all?

He swallows hard again. “Where is she?”

I tip my head toward the foyer. “Upstairs.”

He gives me a nod, and I know this is when he’s going to kill me; I see it in his eyes. Guilt leaks from them, and he blinks, as if banishing the thoughts and allowing his training to take over. I’m no longer his brother. I’m his enemy. “I’ll take care of her,” he whispers, and raises his gun.

Before his gun points at my head, there’s a soft click of one behind his. “Drop it,” Finn whispers. Then a knife appears at Azrael’s throat, and Azrael decides not to pull out his knife and drops his gun to the floor. It skitters along the marble tiles, out of his reach.

I stand to my full height while Finn restrains Azrael’s hands behind his back, and the doors to the study burst open.

Bren throws a bloody Vector to the ground with a loud thud. His hands are restrained behind his back with cable ties, and when I cast my eyes toward Oscar, he’s using a handkerchief to wipe blood from his face with a grimace. “They’re all taken care of.” His sharp voice cuts through the sounds of Vector struggling on the floor.

“Stone, what the fuck is happening?” Azrael snaps through bared teeth as Finn pushes him into a dining chair.

Then I smile brightly back at him, exposing my teeth, and his eyebrows furrow and his head rears back. I suppose it is odd to find me smiling, especially one with such confidence behind it.

“I’m introducing you to my family.” I lean over him so our faces are only a breath away, with my blue eyes locked on his black ones. Realization takes over his face. “My real one.”

His face pales as I pull back to loom over him. “The O’Connells,” he whispers, the shock evident in his tone.

“Exactly.” I smirk.

“How? What?” he whispers in disbelief as his eyes ping-pong from one brother to the other.

A deep chuckle leaves Vector, and my blood runs cold at the familiar sound. The hairs on my back stand on end and discomfort filters through every cell in my body. It’s a cruel taunt, an act full of snide laced in awareness.

Azrael’s chest rises and his nostrils flare as his venomous glare lands on Vector.

The tension in my shoulders drops at knowing Azrael was unaware of who I was. Something I know he will be pissed about, if only because he wasn’t privy to all the knowledge. But that’s Benito all over. He only ever tells you what he wants you to know and, clearly, he didn’t want his heir to know.

Why is another question.

“Make him speak!” Azrael commands.

When Bren steps forward and grabs Azrael by his hair, forcing his head back, every dead cell in my body comes alive. Every part of me that was once defeated is now victorious. A fierce need to protect Azrael, who only moments ago was willing to kill me so freely, has me stepping forward.

“You don’t get to control things,” Bren seethes, his calm demeanor having vanished, and it has me more on edge than ever. I don’t know these men or what they’re capable of, their mannerisms or drive. But I know Azrael, and I know he won’t back down for anyone, even if that means he will die.

I lick my lips and shuffle uncomfortably from side to side, unsure how to play this.

“He’s right.” Oscar steps forward, relieving me from stepping in. He pushes glasses up his nose, looking like one of those computer geeks, and I smile as he glances toward his watch. “I’d really like things wrapped up before my children wake. I don’t like Paige participating in their morning routine. Quite frankly, she fucks it up.”

He has a family. I reel back on my heels: they have families, they all do, they have what was stolen from me. “You have kids?” I mumble, unable to imagine the carefully constructed guy let down his walls enough to have a family environment.

“We all do. You have a lot of nephews and nieces to meet, brother.” Finn slaps me on the back, and a flicker of something sparks inside of me. Hope maybe?

“Don.” Azrael’s voice slices through the air. “He did this, right?”

Vector’s face glows with mirth, and my hands ball into fists, desperate to eradicate his happiness piece by fucking piece.

“He did. He loved to fuck his little nephew too. Right, Stone? Or should I call you Keenan O’Connell?”

The use of my birth name on his taunting lips has me seeing red, but strong arms grip me, holding me in place.

“You’re going to destroy him. Do you hear me? You’re going to rip him apart while he squeals his apologies, then you’re going to dim the light in his eyes and take that as a lasting memory, knowing you killed the very evil that walked this earth. You’re going to do that, kid. But let us get what we need from him first, okay?” Bren’s words are whispered into my ear, his powerful hands banding my arms behind my back, holding me in place, and I allow him to hold me there. Why? I’m unsure, but in this moment, he grounds me when I could easily remove him from my touch.

“Okay,” I whisper back, and I hate how broken my tone sounds. When he releases my arms, I whirl around to face him. “I’m going to need a cattle prod.” His face scrunches, then it falls as if knowing.

“Take him into the basement.” He tips his chin toward Finn, who nods and takes hold of the rope behind Vector’s back, dragging him from the room as he lashes out.

Azrael’s eyes lift to meet mine and he shakes his head. “I only knew some of the secrets, not all of the lies.” He speaks as if they’re two different things. Is this how he justifies them in his head? Just how much did he know?

Most importantly, does it really matter now?

The sound of a chair moving draws my attention toward Oscar, and I take the seat I previously vacated.

Oscar’s smooth voice filters through the room opposite Azrael. “If you want to live, Azrael, I suggest you listen carefully. Here’s what I want from you.”