Page 4 of Descent
She’d get through this.
She had to fucking get through this.
With a groan, I squeezed my eyes shut. She shouldn’t have to get through this.
Not again.
When would I stop letting her down?
No answers, and no fucking way out. I stared at the door, willing it to disappear. Willing this solitary room to fade, to be replaced with the cabin on the island and Alex next to me, naked and warm and safe in bed.
But this wasn’t a nightmare.
This was real fucking life, and I had to be smart. Until I found out what Shelton wanted, I needed to keep my cool. As if my thoughts had summoned the devil himself, Shelton pushed the door open.
“Good to see you again.”
“Can’t say I share the same sentiment,” I said, lifting my shackled hands. “Seeing as how you’ve got me in cuffs.”
Shelton nodded toward his men. “Let him go. He won’t be a problem.”
One of the goons scrambled to follow the order. Afterward, I pushed away from the wall, hands at my sides, no longer bound by metal, and glared at the guy responsible for fucking up my honeymoon. Several seconds passed as we sized each other up. He was no less intimating than I remembered. Beefy inked arms, same shrewd gaze. Shelton was the epitome of brutality.
I was angry enough to take him, even with the same three men who’d brought me in waiting at the threshold as backup. It took every last ounce of my self-control not to lunge for him.
“Why am I here?”
“You’re here because I want you here.” He waved a hand around the windowless room. “Are you not happy with the accommodations?”
“Cut the shit, Shelton. Why the fuck am I here?”
His casual nonchalance faded. “You cost me a fortune the night you blew out of town and left my barn in flames.”
I should have known that mess would come back to bite me in the ass. “You didn’t have to bring Alex into it.”
“Do you think the men I answer to gave me the same courtesy?” He raised a brow, but I already knew the question was a rhetorical one. “They beat the shit out of my old lady. She was in the hospital for three goddamn months.” He paused long enough for his statement to percolate. “So I’m sure you understand why I had to bring Alex into this. Fair is fair.”
“An eye for an eye, is that it?”
“Something like that.”
“Zach won’t just put her in the hospital. He’ll break her.”
A smile curved Shelton’s lips, and a chill traveled down my backside. “I know exactly what De Luca junior wants with your whore.”
The rage festering inside me boiled over. My feet ate up the space between us, and I clutched him by the throat, lifting until he was on his toes. “I will kill you for this.”
His men lurched forward, but Shelton’s voice halted them, strong despite my hold. “Stay back!” His devious eyes focused on me and nothing else, and the fact that he wasn’t shaking in my grip pissed me off more. “He won’t hurt me,” he told his goons, and then he smiled in my face. “We have something he wants.”
William.
The fight bled from my soul until my fingers lost strength, and Shelton slipped free. Clearing his throat, he adjusted his collar. “You’re in no position to hand out threats. I’ve got you cornered from all sides.”
The truth had never seared so much. “What do you want?”
“That’s the question you should have started with.” He paused, and each beat passed with significance. The dread in my stomach grew as he exchanged meaningful glances with his guys. “We’re anticipating a hell of a payday around here, aren’t we, boys?”
I studied him, and the next few seconds slithered by with lethal intent as it started to sink in. “You want me to fight in the cage.”
“Oh, not just any fight. I want what you promised. What my business associates paid good money to see, but instead were sent home empty-handed after you disappeared and left me to clean up the goddamn mess.”
He wanted a death match. Shit. He was out for blood. Literally.
“Bring Zach back. I’ll gladly kill him in the cage.” I wouldn’t hesitate to put him down—just like the rabid dog he was.
Shelton tsked. “That opportunity has come and gone. De Luca junior earned his life…and his piece of ass. Something you could have done,” he said, pointing a finger at me, “if you’d stuck around to do right by me and mine.” He narrowed the space between us until we stood nearly nose-to-nose. “But you will fight, and you will win.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Your son pays the price.” He jabbed a finger into my chest. “I own you now, Mason.”
3. Game On
Alex
I couldn’t breathe.
A groan rumbled on my lips. I tried swallowing, but my mouth felt hot and dry and rough as sandpaper. I forced my eyes open, blinking against the pitch-black, and rolled to my side on the thin cot. Sliding my feet to the concrete floor, I braced for the coolness under my heels, but it didn’t come.
