Page 77 of Captured

“What?” I barked again.

After clearing his throat, he took a gulp of the liquor before addressing me. “Look, I know what I said before about this woman staying in your house.”

“Emily. Her name is Emily. Have some respect, Rico.”

I was already annoyed. He was going to grill me on my choice of women?

“I didn’t want to say anything, but you’ve changed already.”

“She’s been here less than two days.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Styx. You’ve been stalking her for weeks, acting as if she’s the most important thing in your life. You almost lost full control today because you’re angry with yourself.” He noticed me bristling and threw his hand out.

“Don’t fucking psychoanalyze me!”

Rico grumbled under his breath. “Listen to me. What I’m saying is that don’t you find it coincidental that Creed called out of the blue? He knows better than to bother you.”

“Are you suggesting he’s responsible for the attack?”

“Do you forget the last time the two of you were in the same room? He did threaten to kill you.”

While my Capo knew certain aspects of the Saint children’s childhood traumas, he certainly couldn’t understand that one of us killing another wasn’t prudent in our world of business. Besides, we needed to keep up a basic front to keep our reputation intact. Did that mean Creed wouldn’t attempt to outmaneuver or sabotage some aspect of my life or business? No. And I certainly wouldn’t bring Easton into this. While I hadn’t talked with him in over a year either, it seemed he was content with doing nothing more than being the family accountant and CFO for our corporation.

However, Rico’s comment was a decent one, and something to think about. “Creed won’t try and kill me. First of all, he doesn’t have the skillset. Second, I am his brother.”

“You know that old adage that blood is thicker than water is crap. Right?”

I laughed because that was true enough in the world of power and greed. However, he didn’t know that there was one caveat that prevented one of us from killing the other. “We can’t kill each other. The one final act our beloved father did before we killed him was to change his will. It would seem he always wanted and planned for the three of us to work together. Therefore he placed a caveat that if one slaughtered the other like we did to him, then all this would go away.”

Rico stared at me, unblinking. “Whoa. Your father could do that. How… fascinating.”

“Oh, he found a way and I assure one or all three of us have checked. We’re stuck in this for life, or until another enemy takes us out by force.”

We both heard a noise, Rico turning, which allowed me to see Emily standing in the doorway to my office. The look of horror on her face meant she’d overheard a good portion of our conversation. I was briefly mesmerized by her beauty just as I’d been before. She’d fled up the stairs after our return, no doubt showering before putting on fresh clothes. She’d been scared. She refused to admit it, but the haunted look had returned to her eyes.

Now, seeing her standing in a red sundress and in bare feet, the sun kissing her porcelain white skin into a burnished bronze, I was both enthralled and intrigued.

And my hunger was off the charts all over again.

Rico exhaled, the sound exaggerated.

“You really are a fucking murderer. You killed your own father?” she demanded, the sound even more critical of me than I’d heard the first moment she’d awakened.

“All three of those left in the twisted Saint family did. I assure you, little sparrow. We had our reasons.”

“I might hate my father, even wishing him ill, but I would never resort to murder. You’re disgusting.”

My sweet Emily didn’t seem to notice or care there was someone else in the room with me. That kind of disrespect usually resulted in the type of punishment her fragile and far too beautiful body couldn’t handle.

Let alone her psyche.

However, with her, as I’d already thought countless times now, everything was different. I was more controlled. I found that odd and refreshing at the same time. “We did what we felt best for us to do, Emily. Our father was… even worse than yours as his acts of violence were predicated with playing horrible games with his children from an early age. He was the reason we are so good at hunting and killing.”

Okay, I had crossed the line, which I hadn’t intended on doing. However, I felt it necessary. This was no fairytale and there were people determined to take her away from me. My gut had already told me that. Right now, I needed the time to sort out who it was so I could cut them to shreds.

She stared at me with a blank look on her face before running out of the room.

“She has no clue about you and your past,” Rico said. “At least not really.”