Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
“What?” Sin asks Tyson while turning to look at me over his shoulder.
“We’ll give you a two a minute alone,” Gavin states. He and my father walk over to the door, but Tyson doesn’t follow them out. Not sure if he’s staying for my benefit or Sin’s.
“Elli.” Sin turns on the bed and I watch the way his jaw sharpens at the pain he’s in. He’s not one hundred percent himself yet but he’s going to pretend as much as he can.
That also pisses me off. Now that I see him, I want to slap the shit out of him. Does that make me a bad person? Probably. Do I care? Absolutely not. “What in the fuck were you thinking?”
His eyes narrow on mine. “Elli-“
“Because your letter sounded like you were leaving me. Then once I saw you, I realized it was more of a suicide note.”
“I just went through this with your father,” he mumbles, and then speaks louder, “I was doing what was right.”
His words make my blood boil. How dare he decide what’s right for me. “You had divorce papers written up.”
“I didn’t sign them,” he says through gritted teeth. “They were shredded.”
I get to my feet. “You tricked me into marrying you, then you want to just throw me away. How fucking dare you, Easton.” Turning my back to him, I head to the door but stop and spin back to face him. “You don’t get to decide when we’re done!” I shout. “I get to decide that.” Storming over to him, I watch a smirk lift the corner of his lips. He thinks this is a game. That I’m joking. “Have me served with divorce papers, Sin, and see what I fucking do with them. I’ll shove them so far down your throat, you’ll fucking choke on them.” With that, I spin back around and run out of the room, making sure to slam the door shut behind me to further the point that I’m pissed at him in case he didn’t already get the hint.
I run out of the cathedral, thankful I don’t run into my father or Gavin, and to the parking lot to my mother’s Escalade. Tyson had given me the keys when he and my father were removing Sin from the back. I had stuffed them in my pocket.
Getting in and starting it up, I drive to my parents’ house. I’m so pissed at Sin that I need space to breathe right now. The fact that he left me after everything we went through makes me so angry with him. Why would he put me through more? Did he seriously think that I could lose him and be okay? Go on with my day-to-day life? Forget moving on and loving someone. I’d be miserable for the rest of my life.
Reaching over, I turn up the volume to drown out my own thoughts as “DARKSIDE” by Neoni fills the car while I watch the headlights illuminate the two-lane road as I speed down it.
Not much longer, I’m pulling up to my parents’. It’s weird being here knowing that my mother is gone. The thought hits me that she’s got the same brand that Sin has now. Well, the same one that he had before I watched Gavin cover it up with a new one. A part of me hopes it hurts her. That it feels like hell.
I thought my father and Sin were going to take care of her, make her pay for ruining our lives, but after what I saw at Carnage, she deserves whatever they have planned for her. And I hope she lives for years there. At least nine, anyway.
Entering the house, I look around and get a cold chill. It’s empty. Sin sent the staff home before we brought in Linc and Liam days ago. We haven’t discussed it, but I’m not sure what we’re going to do with this house.
I would say my father will move in but why would he want to? His twin brother was killed here. My mother has shared this home with two other men, even having one of the wedding receptions here. As far as I know, my father has to stay hidden from the Lords. They think he’s dead and I’m not sure it has to stay that way or not. I just know he can’t become a Lord again. That part of his life is over.
Making my way up to my bedroom, I grab a suitcase out of my closet. I’ve only got a few dresser drawers full of clothes at Sin’s and my house. I didn’t feel like going there just yet. I’d rather be here alone than there, knowing he’s at the cathedral. Who knows how long before he can come home. The way he was moving around, I’d say he’s going to push himself more than he should too soon.
I’m shoving clothes into my suitcase and grabbing things from underneath my sink when I hear something. “Hello?” I ask, stepping into my bedroom from the adjoining bathroom. Nothing but silence follows.
I walk over to my Bluetooth speaker on my desk and connect it to my cell, pulling up “Pray” by Xana, before blasting it.
Walking into my closet, I grab my belts, carrying them back into my room to where my suitcase is open and on the floor. I come to a stop when I see a man standing in my bedroom, over by the door, blocking it.
He wears black jeans, a matching hoodie, and a mask over his face. It’s a simple black mask with mesh over the eyes and white stitching where the lips should be. I place my hands on my hips, pushing one out. “Shouldn’t you be resting?” I shout over the music. He must have run out right after me. I’m guessing Tyson brought him here.
He just stands there, not moving or saying anything that I can hear. “I’m not doing this, Sin,” I shout once more and spin around. Going back into the closet, I start grabbing some scarves this time. Exiting, he’s still there. I drop them into my suitcase. “Knock it off. I’m not in the mood.” The song is interrupted when my phone begins to ring.
Rolling my eyes, I walk over to my desk and look down at my screen. Sin lights up on it and I spin around quickly to look at the guy standing in the doorway to my room. There’s no phone in his hand.
My father had it on him after he got the text. As far as I know, he gave it to Sin at the cathedral. So it’s him calling me. “How are you doing that?” I ask, taking a nervous step back. Maybe he hit call and then shoved it in his pocket. Sin is always thinking of ways to trick me. “Knock it off,” I repeat, my pulse racing.
He steps inside my room as my phone stops ringing and the song begins to play again. “I don’t want to play your stupid game right now, Sin. I mean it.” The music stops almost immediately, and the ringing fills the room. Blood rushes in my ears when I realize both of his hands are by his sides. It’s not Sin.
Spinning around, I go to exit the French double doors to the balcony, but they burst open. So hard, they hit the interior wall and one shatters. I try to scream but nothing comes out when I see another guy dressed the exact same.
Turning back, I see the one by the door has stepped farther into my room and all I can think of are the guys from Carnage. How many of them were there? Two? No, there were three. That means there’s one more here. They’ve followed us. Want to make me pay for helping free him. How would they have found me? My mom. She’s thrown me to the wolves before. This wouldn’t be any different. Especially if she gave me up in exchange for her freedom. That’s what she’d do.
The guy by the open bedroom door steps to the side and I take advantage of the situation and run out of my room. I don’t look back, my heart hammering in my chest. I take the stairs, running down them, trying not to trip while telling myself to breathe. It’s not working.
I’m halfway down when I see a figure jump in front of the bottom of the stairs-the third brother? All I see is black clothes and another mask. I jump the last three, throwing my shoulder into the body as hard as I can.
I knew it was them. The brothers. They want to drag Sin back and torture him. I won’t let them take him. I won’t let him turn himself over because of me. Or anyone else. If they plan on using me for bait, it’s not going to work. I’ll make them kill me first.
I hit the body so hard that I shove them into the opposite wall where there’s a rectangular table with a crystal vase and mirror above it. We fall to the floor, and I curl up into the fetal position to protect my face when I feel the shattered glass fall down on top of us. The table making a loud crashing sound as it hits the floor as well.
Rolling onto my back, I whimper at the burn in my side. My shaky hands reach down, and I feel blood. I cut myself on something but thankfully there’s no glass sticking out of my body.
Rolling back over to my stomach, I come face-to-face with the person I hit and it’s that same mask as the other two in my bedroom.
A moan escapes their mask-covered face, and they move faster than I expected for being thrown around like a rag doll because my body is slow as fuck right now.
Moving, they jump on top of me, straddling my hips. I reach up, trying to shove them off, but their leather-covered hands manage to wrap around my throat. I arch my back and thrust my hips, shoving theirs farther up my body but not knocking them off completely. I raise my hand above my head and bring my elbow down hard, managing to knock their right hand free and I suck in a deep breath as I roll over just enough to reach a piece of glass lying on the floor next to me. Grabbing a hold of it, I feel it dig into my palm. Before they can choke me again, I stab it into the bottom of their mask, right at the neck.
I yank it out and blood squirts everywhere, splattering on my face, neck, and arms.
I grab a hold of it in both of my hands, lift them above my head, and scream as I shove it into the black hoodie, over and over, making more blood splatter until the body falls off of me and onto the floor.
My arms fall to my side while I try to catch my breath and my eyes fall shut, needing to take a second, but a hand grips my hair, yanking me to my feet and making me cry out. My fall and fight gave the other two upstairs in my room the chance to catch up with me. I’m kicking and screaming as he drags me to the family room where I’m shoved to my knees.
A knee is shoved into my back, holding me facedown into the floor, and I scream at the top of my lungs as my arms are yanked behind my back. I feel the familiar rough material of a zip tie wrap around them before I hear the zipper being pulled tight, pinching my skin. I’m picked up and thrown onto the couch, lying on top of my now tied arms. I breathe heavily, staring up at the two men through my watery lashes.
“Sin is going to kill you both,” I shout angrily, knowing he will do whatever it takes to save me. After all, the devil thrives in hell.
The one that dragged me in here by my hair slaps me across the face. So hard it knocks me onto my side. The glove making my cheek sting and my ears ring. Grabbing my shoulders, he rolls me onto my back and jumps on top of me, pinning me down and making it hard to breathe with his heavy weight.
He grips my cheeks, and my eyes begin to water at how rough he is. “Sin can’t save you, baby.” His voice is a low growl, making me shiver. “He’s dead.”
“No.” I manage to mumble through my squished cheeks. They killed him? Why would they let him go only to kill him? Did they follow me here from the cathedral? What about my father and Tyson?
The mask nods once before lowering his face to my ear and whispering, “He’s gone, Elli. You’re ours now. Forever.” Pulling back, he squeezes my cheeks, forcing my mouth wide open while shoving my head back, making me arch my neck. I look up to see the other one standing at the end of the couch.
He drops something into my open mouth and before I can spit it out, the one straddling me lets go of my cheeks to place his gloved-covered hand over my mouth. My body convulses as I choke on whatever it is. The taste of chalk makes me gag.
“Swallow them.” The one standing by the couch orders and tears fall from the corners of my eyes. Them? What did they give me? How many are there?
He kneels down, reaches around the guy that’s still straddling my waist, and slides his hand through the collar of my shirt, stretching it out. His hand dips inside of my bra and pinches my pierced nipple, making me scream into the other guy’s glove that’s still covering my mouth.
The fresh tears blur my vision when I feel the pills finally slip down the back of my throat, and I can’t fight the sob that shakes my shoulders “That’s a good girl,” the one playing with my breast praises me. He removes his hand from my shirt and speaks, “Now we wait. You’ll be begging to swallow our cocks in no time.”
SIN
I THROW MY phone down and begin to pace. “She’s ignoring me.”
“You need to take it easy,” Tyson urges.
I snort. “We’ve been branded before.”
Gavin scoffs. “That’s more than a brand. Hell, it looked like you slit your wrists in a suicide attempt.”