Page 12 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

Chapter five

H er eyes fluttered open. Her vision was hazy, her body groggy as she looked around. A chain rattled, making her aware of the coldness seeping into her wrists. Laziness vanished. Ashari bolted upward, tugging against the chains.

Movement came from the corner of her eyes, and she stopped struggling to look in that direction. Darkness made it difficult to see, but from the burning red circle cocked to a side, Ashari knew the figure was Jediah.

Only he would be so cocky.

Her hands tightened into fists as she sneered.

She opened her mouth to exclaim that she was going to kill him, then she remembered her case.

Ashari relaxed her hands, tugging lightly at the restraints.

“J-Jed… Why me in a chains?” Ashari asked, looking about the room with fear-stricken eyes. “Weh me deh?”

The room was empty, except for a long, rectangular glass window on the slate grey wall before her. The room next door was illuminated from a bulb in the ceiling, its white walls appearing to glow. Due to being seated, Ashari couldn’t tell if anything else was in that room.

She looked in Jediah’s direction when she sensed movement. Jediah took slow, calculated steps toward her. The light slowly revealed his face, and she sucked in a breath.

There he was.

The Jediah she knew.

His eyes were empty. The tiniest smirk shaped his mouth. He looked as sick and twisted as she knew him to be.

She gulped as he stood behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him. “Jed… explain. Please. You a scare me.”

“ Shh ,” he coaxed. “You don’t want to miss the show.” He pushed her chair forward.

The metal screech bounced off the walls. Ashari gritted her teeth as a ringing developed in her ears. Her brows furrowed as he continued to push the chair forward until she was close to the glass. She still couldn’t see what was in the room except for its bare walls. What was this?

Her eyes darted to the door of the room she was in while she wiggled her hands. The cuffs on her wrists were strange, ones she’d never encountered before. Its unique triangular shape was custom made, possibly needing a fancy key to open it.

A slam drifted through the glass window. Ashari’s head snapped up. Her eyes widened as she tugged her body forward. “No!” she screamed, pulling harder and ignoring the pain from the cuffs digging into her skin.

“Tell me why you’re here,” Jediah’s cold voice came from above.

“Me don’ know wa you a talk ’bout!”

“Drop the act.”

“Go to hell,” Ashari hissed, looking at her shoulder as something dropped on it. Her eyes widened as she realized it was ash. Did he just use her body as an ashtray?!

“Been there and loved it,” Jediah dismissed coolly.

Ashari’s lips trembled as tears fell from her eyes. Her vision blurred as she watched the two persons walk further into the room.

Charlie’s fear-stricken eyes stared at the glass window.

Beads of tears rolled down her rosy cheeks, soaking the cloth gag in her mouth.

Charlie’s mumbles poured into the gag. Ashari couldn’t decipher it, but she knew Charlie was begging Dimitri to stop pressing the gun against the back of her head.

Ashari held her head low, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “I’m sorry…” she whispered.

“Oh?” Jediah’s mocking voice came. “Just like that? Then yu wan’ seh she a yu friend?” He scoffed and moved around the room. Ashari couldn’t open her eyes to look at him, but she was sure he was by the intercom because he spoke, “Dimitri—”

“Wait!” Ashari exclaimed, her eyes opening to meet Jediah’s. “Don’t kill her… Please,” she begged, and Jediah lifted his finger off the intercom.

“Your move,” he said, waving the cigar at her before moving it to his mouth.

Her jaw clenched as she looked at the glass. Charlie’s eyes were still fear-stricken, but there was a mix of confusion, too.

More tears streamed down Ashari’s face as she considered her options. “If I tell you, will you let her go? She’s innocent.”

“Do you look like you’re in a position to negotiate?” Jediah asked, and Ashari glared. Jediah clicked his tongue at the top of his mouth before he pressed the intercom. “Kill her.”

A bang rang out. Ashari screamed as she looked toward the room, glimpsing the bow at the top of Charlie’s head as her body fell. Blood splatter trailed down the glass.

“A shame,” Jediah said over Ashari’s loud sobs. “How will you sleep tonight knowing you killed your friend?”

She glared through tears. Her hands were balled so tightly, her nails dug into her skin. “Good ’cause I’m gonna kill you next.”

“There she is.” Jediah smirked, then placed his cigar on the top of the intercom. He took long steps toward her while a door opened. Ashari didn’t look at who entered the room. She couldn’t take her eyes off Jediah as he stooped before her. “I’m unkillable, Ashari Payne ,” Jediah stated smugly.

Ashari spat on him. She smirked while the big blob trailed down Jediah’s cheek.

His eyes narrowed while he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

She opened her mouth to hurl more curses at him, but he gripped her by the chin, making her lips pucker.

Jediah slipped his thumb between Ashari’s lips, forcing her clenched teeth apart until her lips slackened.

Ashari fought against him, but he held her steady and spat into her mouth.

Disgust coursed through Ashari’s veins as a faint taste of tobacco soaked into her tongue while Jediah released her face. Ashari was about to spit out their mix, but a cloth got placed over her mouth from behind.

Ashari flailed against the chair as someone muscular held her tight.

A strong chemical aroma drifted up through her nose.

Despite knowing she shouldn’t breathe in, Ashari’s desperate body swallowed a large gulp of chloroform.

It burned her throat as it went down. Her body was weakening, but she didn’t peel her eyes off the malice in Jediah’s eyes until they fluttered closed.

Ashari awoke with a start. Memories rushed to her as she lay in bed. A pain shot across her chest at the thought of Charlie. She’d hoped it was another nightmare, but the crusts of dried tears on her cheeks told another story.

She couldn’t loiter on it for long. Something else was more important. When did she get home?

She grabbed her gun off the nightstand along with her phone. She checked the chamber before sneaking out of the room with her gun drawn. Ashari was on high alert while moving around the dark apartment, but nothing was amiss.

“What are you playing at, Jediah?” she asked, expecting his taunting voice to drift in from somewhere.

When silence answered, she became satisfied that she was alone.

Ashari searched the house for bugs before dialing Romar while running to her room.

She peeked through the window, observing the quiet street, and pressed the phone against her ear while it rang.

There was the nondescript car that Sanjae stayed in while Jaia would be—

Ashari froze as the call was answered.

Jaia.

So much had happened within the last few hours, she’d almost forgotten she’d killed one of her bodyguards.

“Ash!” came the yell from the other end of the phone.

Snapping back to reality, Ashari’s grip tightened around the phone while anger surged through her. She sat on the edge of her bed while placing the gun beside her. “My cover is blown. Jed knows I’m Senior’s daughter.”

“Need to get you out of there immediately,” Romar rushed out, and Ashari shook her head.

“No. I can’t leave,” Ashari replied, her mind drifting to the gun that was removed from her safe and placed on the bedside table while she slept.

She shuddered at the thought that Jediah had access to her private space.

“Jed has a strange attraction to me, more than we anticipated, and he’s taking this for a game.

I think I can use this to my advantage.”

“Are you sick in your head?!” Romar hissed while shuffling about. He paused suddenly, and his next words were gentler. “Ash… I know this means everything to you, but you need to know when to give up. I love you too much to lose you.”

“I love you too, but Jed needs to go to prison. Especially now.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, and she closed her eyes to quell tears.

“Just come over, Romar. We need to discuss how we’re going to move on. Don’t bring Lyssa.” She hung up.

While she waited, she searched the apartment again for hidden bugs. There were none, which she expected. What was Jediah playing at? Not being able to read him was frustrating.

Why didn’t he kill her? He had so many chances to.

The question bothered her until she heard a shuffling from the living room.

She exited the bedroom as Romar slipped through the faux wall that connected her apartment to the empty one next door.

She sat on the sofa, grim, as Romar pushed the wall back in place before sitting beside her.

He tossed an arm over her shoulder and listened as she recounted the events of the night before.

“You’re getting too close to this, Ash…” Romar said.

She leaned off his shoulder and looked at him. “I’m not making it personal if that’s what you’re trying to say. It’s just business, right?”

“Not all of it…” he answered, and her brows furrowed.

“What do you mean?” she asked, and Romar quieted.

Then, he leaned in and kissed her.

Ashari’s eyes widened. She forgot how to function as her brother pressed his lips harder against hers.

When he moaned, Ashari shivered and jolted back to reality.

She pushed him away and slapped him across the face.

“Are you crazy?!” She yanked herself away and moved to stand at the other end of the room.

Her heart raced while she harshly rubbed at her lips.

Romar stood. “You have Lyssa eating your pussy every day. Why can’t I get a chance, too?”