Page 17 of Tainted Essence
A shadow of darkness clings to him like a second skin. Fathers want their daughters to steer clear of the bad boy type for fear of them leading them down a dark path. But I have this urge inside me to walk down the path of darkness and succumb to it, let it drown me in its darkness so it will take away this feeling of guilt. Guilt for killing those men and guilt for fucking a man who used me and led me to think he cared, only to turn around and be the devil in disguise.
“I want you to break down the events of what happened, Destiny.” I shake my head to clear it as I look at Uncle Bishop.
“What more is there to say. I got taken, we fought, I got free and that’s the end of it.” My uncle narrows his eyes.
“Destiny, you need to tell us?—”
Before he can continue pushing me, Taylan cuts in. “They were Russian.”
“How do you know?” Dad asks.
Taylan looks at me when he answers. “Because your daughter is fluent and played translator, didn’t you, Slayer?”
“Is that true?” Mom asks. I grind my teeth forcing my anger to subside.
“Yes. They want your formula and were hoping that I would tell them. Andreas is losing control of Russia and the Crows are rising against him.” Everyone begins speaking at once but all their conversations become white noise as I stare at Knox and Taylan. I can tell from the way they are standing at the edge of the room near my cousins that they are hoping if I decide to rat them out that their friendship with Chaos and Royal as well as Artemis and Cronos will save them from my family.
“We need to go to Russia and meet with Andreas,” Mom announces.
“No. There is way too much heat on you right now to leave the country,” Uncle Knight says.
“Knight’s right, until we know who it is, going back home is out of the question. We know firsthand what they do to women, Anya.” Aunt Koby’s words are laced with an edge of pain and anger. Uncle Knight wraps his arm around her shoulders and draws her into his side. Chaos moves to stand beside his parents and places a hand on his mother’s shoulder. I smile at the sight. Ryat looks so much like his uncle, well of course he does, considering his father was Chaos’s identical twin.
“Gage, have all our men combing the streets, I want these cunts found. Vin, I need you tracking them.” Uncle Bishop turns his gaze to Royal and the others. “I need you back in Miami and shaking down every fucker for any intel. Artemis, you, London and Cronos are to head back to Greece and act like nothing is astray. Right now the only people we can trust are in this room. I’ll reach out to Ian and see if he knows anything.” I know what he is saying, the heads of the families may not be able to be trusted right now. The heads of the US are Uncle Bishop and Royal, The head of the Greeks is Artemis, which is fine because he is marrying into the family so he can be trusted but the other four, Andreas, Ian, Knox and Waverly aren’t family. They may be friends and they can turn on us at any time.
“Where is the girl that was with you?” At Uncle Rook’s question Taylan shoots me a look. He and Knox both shift their stance, waiting to see what I will say but ready to fight if they need to.
I hold his gaze as I answer. “She was a mess, she was one of the women Waverly rescued and was triggered, so Wave took her so she could get help. They thought she was Taylan’s girlfriend and wanted to use her against us. They tried to rape her,” I add on to silence any other question, knowing the mention of rape in this family shuts down every conversation. It’s a shitty thing to do considering how that has affected so many women in my family.
Uncle Bishop turns his heated gaze to Knox and Taylan. “She should have been here.” The reprimand in his tone is clear. Knox nods stiffly.
“She wasn’t one of mine to order, my sister made the call and I stand by her. I also stand by your family and will vow before you all that the Re Della Strada will stand with you and help however we can to eliminate this threat against your family.”
“You’ve proven to be an ally but given the situation, you can understand how your word won’t be enough,” Dad adds with an edge to his tone.
Before they can all start arguing, I cut in. “Taylan has offered to remain here in New York as my trainer. If they try to double cross us, then we have their underboss here within our grasp.” Taylan’s eyes burn with anger. I shoot him a smug look and purse my lips. The others begin discussing my revelation and move about the room. The moment my parents leave my side, Taylan is in front of me vibrating with rage.
“Within your grasp, huh?” I smile cockily.
“I sold it, didn’t I?” I sass back.
“Keep fucking with me, Slayer, and I’ll take it out on you during your training.”
I feign hurt and bat my lashes. “Oh please, don’t make me run laps.” I pout.
The dark glint that enters his gaze has me stilling. “Fuck with me and I’ll put your ass in the underground fights your family doesn’t know are still running.” My eyes widen as the bastard smirks and winks at me before moving back to stand next to Knox, while I stand here staring at him.
“Well, I guess you will make that title fight after all.” I turn away from Taylan to look at London and Artemis.
“Yeah… I guess so,” I mutter.
“Taylan is a good guy and will do whatever he can to help.” I want to snort and tell Artemis he is delusional about his friend but I keep my mouth shut.
“Yeah, I’m sure he is,” I mutter but suddenly feel exhausted, all the adrenaline is wearing off and right now all I want to do is go home, then sleep for a few days and try to process what the fuck happened. I know it’s gonna hit me hard when I finally come to terms with everything but right now, I just want to block it out and pretend that it never happened.
When London and Artemis join in the conversation with Royal and the others, I use everyone's distraction to my advantage and quietly leave the room. I know my dad will want me to stay with them but I don’t want or need them coddling me. I just want to be alone so I sneak out of the house like a rebellious teenager. I snag a set of keys off the mantel and make a dash for it. I smirk when I push the button on the key fob and the lights to Uncle King’s Audi flash. He loves this R8 and I feel bad about borrowing it but not bad enough to turn around and hand the keys back.
I slip into the driver's seat and caress the wheel for a second before pushing the button and smiling when the engine purrs to life. I probably should have been a boy given my love of fighting and cars, but my dad was unlucky and wound up with me. I’m closer to my dad than I am to my mom. He supports my dreams of wanting to fight but mom thinks I’m wasting my life and I’m too pretty to get punched in the face for money.