Page 8 of His Paradise

“He’s one of my men and deserves more respect than that,” I admonish him.

“Somebody on the inside helped orchestrate this.” Alec says as he holds his cell phone out to me. A split second before the camera’s cut out, a hooded man that was talking with the guard at our entrance gate pulled a gun and shot him. The guard was casual, leaning back with his arms crossed as if talking with a friend.

I curse under my breath, dropping my head into my hands as I try to recall anyone or anything out of the ordinary.

“The man I killed last night, we had never seen him before. He said I was going to pay for trying to kill their true leader. I thought he was just one of Stefan's lingering lackeys.” I say.

“Luna and Jared killed Stefan. We watched the cleanup team take his dead body away to dispose of it, so what did he mean by ‘trying to kill’ this leader?” Markus grumbles, leaning back as he stares at the ceiling in thought. I notice the rainbow macaroni necklace he begins toying with around his neck and he smirks at me.

“Don’t be jealous of my exquisite jewelry, one day your kid will make one for you. Not nearly as good as this one, but probably close.” He shrugs. I regret asking for their help with every passing moment. Isabelle rejoins us, humming as she rocks Leo.

“This little one is hungry, but Nina was nursing.” she frowns, brushing a thumb over his round cheeks. Guilt pulls me to my feet as I realize that I didn’t consider what I was going to feed my own son until his mother came back. Because she was coming back.

“Aden, I brought a can of formula. You’ve got enough on your plate and I figured it would be better safe than sorry.” She tries to reassure me as she grabs her purse, carrying the canister to the kitchen as she readies him a bottle. Wherever Nina is, I am going to hunt her down and bring her home. Any who raise a hand to her, or stand in my way, will be nothing more than another dead body for me to step over.

Chapter six

Nina

The car ride is long, and I have to pee, but I won’t dare speak with this man's hand gripping my knee. His hand was scarred, the fingers crooked from years of fighting and who knows what else he had been doing since I saw him last. My jaw is throbbing, but my hands are tied securely together and I’m afraid to move, let alone touch the swollen lump. As we slow down, reaching a private jet, I feel my stomach drop. My sister is standing, her spine straight with a polite smile as the man next to her holds his gun to her temple.

“Olivia,” her name is nothing more than a breath on my lips, but the man next to me lets out a boisterous laugh as if my suffering is enjoyable. For him, I’m sure it is.

“Isn’t she beautiful? We both know I like women with dark hair and little more curves than that. But I told you that you had more motivation to behave than you expected. Come on now, we have a wedding to plan.” His hot breath fans my neck as he leans close and I can’t help but to clench my eyes shut as he drags his tongue over my neck. I jerk away and know I’ve made a mistake.

“Your manners have devolved from the company you have chosen to keep.” He spits the words and grips my hair. Blinding pain erupts across the left side of my face as he slams my head against the window. I curl into a ball, crying out from the pain while trying to shield myself from more blows.

“Listen, baby, I don’t like hurting you. What I do is for your benefit, to remind you of who you are.” He almost sounds remorseful, but I had spent enough time with David Killinger to know better. He didn’t feel remorse for being a monster. When the car stops, David drags me through his door and pulls me towards the plane while I struggle to match his massive strides. As we board the plane he shoves me into a seat and buckles me in. I swallow down the bile that rushes up when he tries to brush his lips against mine, trying to pry my mind away. David sighs, dropping into a chair next to me as he pulls out his phone.

I watch in horror as my sister is dragged onto the plane and shoved into the seat on David’s other side.

“Little family reunion, how sweet. Little Olivia here has been missing you, nearly as much as I have. Of course, she’s just not the same as you.” He purrs, reaching towards my sister's face.

“No,” I say without thinking, lunging towards them. Olivia’s eyes widen a fraction as she shakes her head at me but it’s too late. David’s lips split into a malicious grin as the plane begins to take off, ripping me away from my family. I’m caught in his trap and he knows I won’t do anything to endanger my sister.

My original plan was to play along, kill him in his sleep and escape back to my life. All of these years that I have spent safe and protected in Aden’s arms has made me forget how smart David is. But he was meant to be dead after Markus shot him. Aden followed up to ensure it. As if he could tell what I am thinking, David reaches up and starts popping open the buttons of his blue dress shirt.

I look away, earning more of his disturbed laughter as he stands to get right in front of me, gripping my chin to wrench my head back. My eyes lock immediately to the mottled scar, just below his left collar bone. The gunshot that I find myself wishing would have killed him until tears well in my eyes.

“Seeing you so overcome with joy that I lived is so touching, baby. It almost makes up for the betrayal of you marrying another man and letting him fuck you when I own you.” He leans close, until his breath fans over my face, “I’ll make sure you forget him, you useless whore. You fucking belong to me.” My sister sniffles, and I look away from David to see her struggling to hold back tears.

“Everything will be alright, Olivia.” I try to comfort her, grateful that David releases his grip on me and takes his seat. She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath before she opens them again. Her prim and proper mask is back and my pride flares to life.

“When we land, the two of you will earn your fucking place in my home. One of you will keep my bed warm every night, so I suggest you do exactly as I say, Nina.” David warns me before motioning for his personal flight attendant. She flutters over him, bending low to give him a generous show of cleavage as she leans across his lap to set a glass of liquor in his cup holder.

“This is what a good girl does,” He murmurs, winking at the woman as she walks away, flashing me a pitying look. The pain in my chest only grows the longer we stay in the air, and the further Olivia and I are taken from home. But I had made this decision, and now is not the time for regrets. The flight drags on while also feeling too short, and I dig my nails into the seat as the plane bounces along the runway. David has his hired muscle escort us off the plane and shove us into another car, but this time Olivia and I are together as he climbs into the backseat.

I take her trembling hand in mine, squeezing tight to remind her that I will always protect her. She is going to leave here the moment I see an opening. I spend the car ride fantasizing about watching David choke on his stupid cigar, the noxious smell making Olivia and I cough every time he rolls his window up just to taunt us.

I’m almost grateful when we pull through a massive pair of gates at the end of a driveway. The house itself would be beautiful if I didn’t know what awaits us once we are inside, with palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze next to the white two story building. I take a deep breath, noticing the smell of salt that the wind carries from the ocean nearby. My teeth clamp down onto my lip as I imagine throwing David to the sharks beneath the waves.

Aden and Leo would love it here. The thought strikes me, sudden and sharp enough to steal my breath away. David grips me by my elbow, dragging me towards the massive double doors on the font of the beachside house. The paved pathway that leads towards the front door splits off in two different directions, one towards the beach and the other behind the house.

My curiosity stays silent, because I knew David wasn’t going to risk me getting away anytime soon. As we step inside, I notice he has more guards than ever before. Two standing outside the house, an additional two just inside the door and dozens more milling about the property. He knows I won't go far, not with the way one of his men is gripping my sister's arm in his massive hand. If it was painful, she did an incredible job of hiding it.

“Come now, my little butterfly. Don’t stray too far or I’ll have to break your wings.” David says, flashing me another bright smile. When our engagement was first announced, I remember thinking he was handsome and I was actually grateful to be matched with a man so high within his family's ranks. That dream crashed the first time he threw me to the floor for laughing at his friend's joke. He swore it wouldn’t happen again, and I knew better than to breathe a word of his actions to anyone.

At the top of the grand staircase, I’m faced with another massive sitting room with multiple branching doorways. The first few doors we pass are shut, and I don’t ask what is hidden behind each of them. One door in particular stands out, instead of white it’s a dark oak and I know what’s behind this one. David swings it open, shoving me inside with a smirk.

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