SWNOVELS The Sacrifice: Chapter 29
The words that Tyson said to me keep repeating in my mind. The urge to remove the bands just to see if he really does punish me is big. But I refuse to let him win. It’s more of an I can do this type of situation.
Exiting the stall, I walk over to the sink and turn it on to wash my hands when I see the door open out of the corner of my eye.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Excuse me?” I look up to see my brother standing in the women’s restroom. “Miller?” I look around the room to make sure no other women are in here. “What are you doing in here?”
“I asked you a question,” he barks out.
I straighten my shoulders. What the hell is his problem? “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Lake.”
“I don’t—”
“I saw the hotel room,” he interrupts me.
My eyes drop to the floor, unable to look at him any longer after his confession. I thought my father finding my blood on the bed was bad, but my brother? “I didn’t have a choice,” I mumble.
“Did he hold a gun to your head?”
Frowning, I look back up at him through my lashes. “No.”
“Did he hold a knife to your neck?”
“No, but—”
“Did he tie you down and rape you?” He arches a brow.
Everyone in that cathedral knew I was going to be having sex later that day. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was Tyson or Luke. At least Tyson didn’t pay for my virginity like Luke has been doing over the last three years. He just took it. “You act like I had a choice,” I snap at him.
“Jesus Christ, sis. Didn’t you learn anything from Whitney? She may have been dumb enough to fall in love with him, but she was smart enough to know nothing would ever come from it.”
He’s not making any sense. “I don’t remember you stopping it.” I punch my finger into his chest. “You were the one who gave me over to him.”
His jaw sharpens, and he looks away from me. Sighing, he runs his hands through his hair. “I did what I had to do.”
I cross my arms over my chest and immediately drop them when it pushes against my banded nipples. I all but whimper and feel my face heat up with embarrassment. “Well, I’m doing the same thing.”
He throws his head back, giving a rough laugh. “You coming all over his cock is nothing that you had to do.”
“Excuse me?” I take a step closer to him, closing the small space. “What did you just say?”
“You know, I thought you were smarter than all the other whores who drop to their knees and beg him to fuck them, but as always, you’re just another disappointment. No wonder Dad didn’t try harder to stop it.” He turns his back to me to walk off, but I reach out, gripping the back of his tux, yanking as hard as I can to pull him back to me. He spins around. “What the fuck—”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I bark out so loud that I hope no one on the other side hears me.
“Think about it, Lake. There’s a reason why Dad did everything he could to make sure Whitney didn’t end up with Tyson, but he had no problem letting me hand you over to him.”
What does he mean everything he could to stop Whitney from ending up with Tyson? “No.” I shake my head. “Dad told me he had no choice. That the Lords let Tyson pick who he wanted, and I had to go through with it.”’
He snorts. “Dad has a plan, and you won’t fuck it up.”
“A plan? What do you mean? What kind of plan?” I mean, I know my father has something up his sleeve by the way he showed up at Blackout after our dinner and the fact that he has Bethany working for him. But what could it possibly be? To keep an eye on me? “Is this revenge for killing Whitney?” I ask softly.
He snorts. “You really think he killed her? Fuck, Lake. You’re so goddamn stupid.”
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling exactly that. “Why would Dad hate him so much, then?” After Whitney died, you couldn’t even mention her name in my father’s presence. It was as if she just disappeared. Never existed. Her social media pages were taken down. Pictures of her gone. All those memories we shared seemed more like I dreamed them. She just … vanished. But my family knew the truth. No matter how much the Lords tried to cover it up, Tyson had killed her.
“Just don’t get knocked up like Whitney did.” He ignores my question.
My heart stops. “What?” I whisper. “Whitney was pregnant?” I never knew that.
“Why do you think Tyson wanted you?” He snorts, ignoring my questions. “He doesn’t love you, Lake. And he sure as fuck doesn’t care what happens to you. And what I just saw out there … you hanging all over him, just proves how much of a worthless slut he’s turning you into.” He exits the bathroom, and I try to catch my breath. Bile starts to rise, and I rush into one of the stalls where I slam the lid up and bend over, unable to completely fall to my knees in this tight, form-fitting dress.
I start to dry heave, but thankfully, I don’t actually vomit. After a few seconds, I shut the lid and exit the stall. I come to a stop when I see two women now standing in the bathroom. Blakely Archer and Ellington Sinnett. Ryat’s and Sin’s wives.
“Are you okay?” Blakely asks me. Her hands on her growing belly.
Did they follow me in here? Did Tyson send them after me? Or their husbands? I’m not sure how close Sin is to Tyson, but I know that Ryat would throw me under the bus without thought. The fact that he stood next to him at the altar proves that.
I nod. “Yeah.” Walking over to the sink, I turn on the faucet and cup the water in my hand to take a sip. Swishing it around, I spit it out and turn it off, trying to get the sour taste out of my mouth. I still feel like I’m about to get sick. “Did Tyson send you two to fetch me?” I’m sure my time away from him has expired.
“No.” They both frown.
Ellington’s eyes drop to my stomach, and I know what she’s thinking. They just walked in on me about to get sick. I’m married to a Lord. It’s not their fault they think the way they do; it’s just how we’re raised.
“I’m not pregnant,” I state, and they look at one another. I hate that this is how I’m meeting them. I’d love to have friends. Like real friends. Ones that I can talk to about my day-to-day life, no matter how boring it is. But then again, they’re married to Lords, so the odds of ever getting close to them are pretty impossible.
An awkward silence lingers, and I take in a deep sigh. I want to punch Tyson in the face right now but also beg him to fuck me. Shit, I need another drink.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” Blakely says softly, probably overhearing my brother talking about her before they walked in.
My eyes lift to meet her blue ones. “You knew Whitney?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No, but I’d heard about her,” she answers vaguely.
“What did you hear?” I wonder.
Nibbling on her red-painted lip, she takes a second to debate if she should tell me. “Someone was telling me and my friend Sarah about the vow ceremony. Said Whitney cheated on her boyfriend with Tyson when she became his chosen.”
I frown at that. My sister never had a boyfriend. Not back then.
“But then I had asked Ryat about her, and he told me not to believe everything I hear. That she didn’t cheat on anyone with Tyson. That she had a stalker.”
“Who was it?” I ask, stepping toward her. This is news to me. Pregnant, boyfriend, stalker? Dear Lord, did I even know my sister?
“He never told me.” She gives me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you know her?” I ask Ellington.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t,” she softly answers.
My head hangs, and I watch Blake’s black heels walk toward me. “How are you doing? Are you okay?”
I look up once again and realize she doesn’t mean right here, right now in the middle of this bathroom. She means life in general. I nod and lie. “Yeah.” Unable to tell her that I’ve become Tyson’s whore. Her husband was the one who helped my husband. I can’t afford for her to tell Ryat anything and it get back to Tyson.
“Do you have your cell on you?” Ellington asks.
I open up my clutch and pull it out. Blakely takes it from me and after a few seconds, she hands it over to Ellington. “Let us know if you need anything,” Blakely says, giving me a kind smile. “We may be married to Lords, but us Ladies have to stick together.”
I pray that Tyson will let me see them again. I’m suffocating at Blackout. I’m not sure if that’s Tyson’s plan or what, but if so, it’s working.
TYSON
A server sets another drink down for me when Ryat asks, “How are things going at Blackout?”
I look over toward the hallway that leads to the bathroom, wondering what’s taking my wife so long before I answer. “You guys see the girl all over the news who’s gone missing?”
He and Sin both nod, already knowing who I’m talking about. You can’t miss her. Her picture is everywhere.
“Had two detectives show up a couple of weeks ago looking for her. Said she was last seen at Blackout before she went missing.”
Sin raises both of his hands. “Wasn’t me.”
Ryat snorts at the fact that Sin had brought detectives to my club a while back for killing a man who was last seen at Blackout. And although I wasn’t happy with him about it at the time, it did end up working out for him in the long run.
“One was a Lord,” I inform them.
Sin frowns, his eyes glancing around before they land on mine. “The Lords gave you Blackout. Why would they send an officer that is also a Lord to investigate you? Plus, they know Blackout doesn’t cooperate with the cops.”
“Right? That doesn’t make sense,” Ryat adds.
I nod and growl. “The Lord used to date my wife.” I guess date really isn’t the correct word, but it’s more than what I’d like. Lords aren’t good at competition. We’re taught to win. Always be the best. And no matter why I ended up marrying Laikyn, she is my wife, and I will be her first for most, if not everything her body experiences.
“Oh.” Sin nods. “That makes a lot of sense.” He picks up his drink and takes a sip.
“Well, that also raises some new questions. You think he’s in on the missing girl?” Ryat wonders. “Trying to bring heat to Blackout?”
I shake my head. “I’m not sure he’d have the balls for that. Plus, he didn’t seem to know she was my wife until he was already there.” I didn’t like the way Collin looked at Lake, so I made sure to mention she was mine. The atmosphere immediately changed after that.
“Think her father sent him to give you a hard time?” Ryat goes on.
I shrug and answer honestly, “Not sure. I need to find out more about the girl.”
“I’ll make a call,” Ryat offers. “See what I can find out.”
I see my wife walking toward us with Blakely and Ellington. I figured she’d make some friends while we were here. She deserves to have a couple of people in her life other than me as long as they’re women I approve of.
Walking up to us, Ryat notices his wife. “Everything okay?” he asks her, his eyes dropping to her pregnant belly in her form-fitting black dress.
“Yeah.” She smiles, leaning in and kissing his lips.
Sin drapes his arm over his pregnant wife’s shoulders and pulls her chair closer to his when she sits down next to him. Blake and Elli aren’t that far apart. Pretty sure they’re due around the same time.
I look at Lake, and she’s avoiding me. Her back is ramrod straight, and she has a new glass of champagne in her hand. I’m about to ask her where she got it when my cell vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to see it’s Colton. “I need to take this,” I say to Ryat, then slide my eyes to my wife. He nods, understanding that he will keep an eye on her for me.
“Hello?” I answer, stepping away and walking out the back sliding glass door to outside.
“Sorry to call you, boss, but we’ve got a problem I wanted to let you in on,” Colton rushes out.
“What is it?” I ask, turning to face the glass to look inside. My wife is already glaring at me while sipping on her champagne. I hold her stare, daring her to look away first. When she does, I smile to myself.
“The cop showed up.”
I groan. “What did he want?”
“Well, that’s the thing. He asked to speak with you. I said you were unavailable at the moment.”
“He knows I’m here.” The house of Lords throws a party for their seniors around this time every year. But not every single Lord attends. I know for a fact that Collin didn’t even get an invite. He’s nothing in our world. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He said he wanted to see the cameras from the night the girl went missing.”
“Why the fuck would he think I’d show him that? I already told him she wasn’t there.”
“Not sure, but he was already inside the club when I spotted him, asking around.” I’m about to ask who all he spoke to when he adds, “He was trying to speak to Bethany when I escorted him out. She was too busy to pay him any time.”
Sighing, I run a hand over my hair. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. You and the guys meet me at Blackout at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. We’ll review the cameras again and see if we can find anything.” I’ve already gone over them once and didn’t see anything off. The girl came in with three guys and left with one of them. But nothing made me question if her life was in danger with him.
“Sounds good.” He hangs up, and I pocket my phone.