Madness: A Dark Revenge Romance

This afternoon, I found myself getting out of bed. I’m pretty sure I gave Adam a heart attack when I sat up and told him I was hungry. He immediately jumped to his feet and called Jessie in to feed me.

The food tasted like paper, and the water was sour. My body doesn’t know what’s good for it anymore, but my talk with Ashtyn last night made sense. They are going to find Haidyn, and when they do, he’ll need me.

I’ve taken a life before. The least I can do is live mine. If what the Spade brothers think is true, I’m going to fight for my life just to spite my mother. When I see her again—if ever—I’ll have questions. And she won’t give me anything if she thinks I’ve gone weak. I still have to prove myself. For my husband.

The elevator opens, and I step off with Adam and walk down the hallway. After I ate, I brushed my teeth and got dressed. I didn’t have to say a word to him. He just knew that I needed to get up and move. So he let me lead him through Carnage and I find myself walking aimlessly. He follows a few steps behind, and I can hear him typing away on his cell. I don’t know what he does for a living or why he left the Spade brothers, but I’m not sure I even want to know. Lords are raised to rule, so I hope whatever life he finds is worth being on the run.

I come to a stop and spin around to face him.

“Charlotte,” he grunts, almost running into me since his attention was on his phone. “Need something?” Adam pockets his cell.

“What did Haidyn mean by you helped force me to marry him?” My voice is still rough from lack of conversation.

“You made a choice,” he says.

You always have a choice, doll face. “How did he do it?”

Adam steps forward and grabs my left hand. He runs his thumb over the sapphire ring while his green eyes search mine. Instead of answering my question, he asks his own. “Knowing what you know now, would you have married him?”

He means my father. Would I turn my husband over to the Lords if I had known that he was the Lord who killed my father? No. I can’t say that I would, so I bow my head, avoiding his stare and his question.

“So this isn’t about revenge?” Haidyn had asked me the first time he drugged me. I thought it was weird, but he meant revenge on my father. He was under the impression that I knew what he had done.

“Sometimes love needs a little push.” Adam drops my hand. “And when a Lord decides he wants you, he makes sure he gets you one way or another.”

My eyes go to his left hand, and I don’t see a ring on it, but looking closely, I can see a tan line where one has been. If he’s not going to give me any information about my own marriage, he’s for sure not going to tell me anything about his love life. So I change the subject.

“What is a guardian?” I ask since I have him alone and in conversation.

“If Haidyn dies, he has left another Spade brother in charge of you.”

I flinch at the thought of my husband dying. No. He wouldn’t do that to me. I know how the Lords work and how my mother was regifted to my stepdad. “You mean regifted me to someone else?”

He shakes his head. “Spade brothers are different. Therefore, our rules are different. A Lady is regifted to another Lord because she can’t be let out into the world. She has to stay within the society to keep our secret. Same happens to a Lady of a Spade brother. You will belong to Kash but not in the way you think. You won’t become his wife or his whore, but you will be his responsibility. You will belong to Haidyn until you die.”

My husband left me to a man who currently wants me dead. “Why didn’t he choose you?” I whisper.

“I wasn’t an option,” he answers, and I wonder if it has to do with him not living at Carnage.

Giving him my back, I continue down the hall and open the door to their office.

Conversations instantly come to a halt when we enter. Saint and Kashton both glare at me before looking at Adam. Ashtyn sits on Saint’s lap, and she gives me a big smile of encouragement. She’s become an ally that I never thought I’d have. But I guess in a world full of men, you have to have the women’s backs.

As much as I hate that she and Haidyn have a past, she’s not my competition. She’s a woman who loves a man and knows how far a woman is willing to go to keep him.

A man has his back to me, and as the room falls silent, he turns to see who entered. I take a step back when a set of familiar eyes meet mine. Adam places his hands on my shoulders, making me jump.

“It’s okay.” The guy lifts his hands out to his sides. “I’m here to help.”

Saint snorts. “How do we know we can trust you? You’re married to the enemy.”

Bill looks at him and sighs. “You just have to take my word for it.” His eyes meet mine, and he gives me a soft smile. “Haidyn did.”

I step forward. “You spoke to Haidyn?” Hope fills my chest, making my pulse pick up at the thought of seeing him again.

He nods. “I’ve been looking for him.” Running a hand over his head, he takes a deep breath.

“Well…did you find him?” It’s Ashtyn who asks what we’re all wondering.

“I have an idea where he is, but…”

“But what?” Kashton snaps when he trails off. Everyone is on edge. Tired of waiting and not getting anywhere. We’ve had no leads and no tracker. My husband just vanished as if he never existed.

“Gaining access won’t be easy.”

Saint taps Ashtyn’s thigh, and she removes herself from his lap so he can stand. “Just tell us where the fuck he is. We’ll blow the goddamn place up if we have to.”

I want to smile that his brothers are going to do everything they can to bring him home. Even if I know it’s not for me. For all I know, they plan on trading me for him, and I’m okay with that. As long as I get to see him one last time. I never even got to tell him that I love him. He robbed me of that opportunity. I had tape over my mouth when he said those three words. Like a true Lord, he didn’t care what I wanted to say or how I felt.

“You’re going to need help.” Bill goes on.

Saint snaps his fingers at Kashton. “Make the call. Tell them to get here. Now.”

Kashton nods and pulls his cell from his pocket as he exits the office, wanting to make his call without us eavesdropping.

“If he contacted you, what took you so long to come here?” I ask. Haidyn left his phone behind, so he had to have reached out before he left me.

Bill’s eyes meet mine before they drop to my stomach. My hands go to it instinctively. His eyes rise to mine once more. “There’s a lot you don’t know about, Annabelle.”

“My name is Charlotte,” I correct him.

I’m who Haidyn knows me to be. I want nothing to do with the life I had before him. I might as well erase everything I thought I knew. It seems to have all been a lie. Haidyn is real. My life with him is real. The love I have for him is real. And the future I know we’re going to have is real.

He nods. “Charlotte.”

The door opens behind me, and Kashton enters. “They’re on their way,” he announces.

Bill looks at Saint. “Get the jet ready. It’s not far, but it’ll be quicker.” Then his eyes go to Adam. “You’ll want to bring Devin and Gavin with you.”

Less than thirty minutes later, more Lords arrive, and we’re on our way out the front doors when Ashtyn comes running down the grand staircase just like the first time I saw her here. But this time, it’s me she’s yelling at. “Charlotte?”

I walk over to her, meeting her at the bottom of the last step.

Her wide eyes go from mine over my shoulder and then back to me, lowering her voice. “Should you go…?”

“I’m not staying here.” I give her my back, and she reaches out, grabbing my arm.

“Char—?”

“I’m going to get my husband,” I snap, spinning back around. Reaching out, I place both of my hands on her upper arms and give her a soft smile, softening my voice as I see the unshed tears in her eyes. “I’m going to go help bring him back,” I promise her.

Ashtyn sniffs but nods softly. I pull her in for a hug, and then my shirt is grabbed, and I’m yanked away. A quick look over my shoulder tells me it’s her husband.

“Saint,” she snaps at him, and he just rolls his eyes.

“We’re in a hurry, sweetheart. We’ll be back as soon as we can,” he tells her, pulling me through the front doors before they slam shut.

“Don’t grab her like that,” Adam barks while standing on the porch. He pulls me from Saint and isn’t any gentler if you ask me.

“Get her in the fucking car, and let’s go,” Saint growls, walking over to a car that Sin and Ryat stand next to. Tyson is also over there, pacing back and forth, his head down with his cell phone in his ear. Everyone is trying to get a plan of action together so no one gets killed during this rescue mission.

“Come on, princess.” Adam takes my hand and ushers me down the steps and over to an SUV. Holding the back door open for me, I climb in, and he shuts it.

I’m sitting in here alone, and my legs start to bounce. Rubbing my sweaty hands on my thighs, I try to dry them off. I’m a nervous wreck. What if this doesn’t work? What if he’s not there and it’s a setup for the rest of the Spade brothers? I’d hate for Haidyn’s brothers to be in danger. I don’t want anything to happen to any of them.

The door on my left opens, and Bill hops in next to me. He scans the circle drive before he turns to look at me. “Are you willing to do whatever it takes?”

His question reminds me of the conversation I once had with my father outside of the cathedral.

“You will one day marry your Lord, but he will not define you.” Giving me a soft smile, he adds, “But a sacrifice must be made in order to get to the top.”

“What do I have to sacrifice?” I ask.

He looks away from me, staring out the windshield, and the silence lingers among us before he answers, “Whatever they want.”

My life is no longer about having power or being at the top. Now it’s all about the life I want to live with my husband. And I’ll give up anything for him. My father lied because my Lord does define me. I’m nothing without him.

“Absolutely.” I swallow the knot in my throat. Not because I’m nervous but because I know it will require a lot. My mother isn’t going to hand him over. Especially to me.

“The others aren’t really going to care, but Adam…” He shrugs. “He cares what happens to you.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I reassure him, and he pats my thigh.

Bill pulls his hand back just as both front doors open. Kashton hops in the passenger seat while Saint takes the driver’s side. The door on my right opens, and Adam jumps in, smashing me between him and Bill. His eyes drop to my shaking legs and then my eyes.

I look ahead and try to even my breathing out. Getting myself worked up won’t do any good. My mom will smell my fear.

We pull up to an airfield that’s close to Carnage, and a private jet awaits us and another car. The front and back doors open, and four men jump out. They begin talking to Tyson, who gets out of the car following us with Sin and Ryat.

Bill gets out, and I go to follow, but I’m grabbed and jerked through the opposite door. Then I’m pushed up against the side of the SUV. A hand wraps around my throat, pinning me in place as Adam presses his hard body into mine. Lowering his lips to my ear, he whispers, “Don’t leave my fucking side, princess. I don’t trust him; do you understand me?”

“Everything okay?” Bill calls out.

Adam drops his hand from my neck and steps back. We both look over to see everyone standing on the tarmac staring at us.

“Yeah,” I say to Bill, trying to give him a reassuring smile. Then I look at Adam and nod. “Yeah.” I’m hoping he understands I’m answering his question.

Adam grabs my hand and yanks me from the SUV and pulls me toward the plane.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re in love with your friend’s wife.” Bill speaks as we walk by him.

“You don’t know shit.” Adam snorts.