Page 20 of Reaper

Shaking my head, I can’t help the grin that overtakes my face.

“No. I was going to, but I fucked her instead. She’s mine now.”

“Let me get this straight. You kidnap her, try to kill her, then she gets away, and you find her and kidnap her again, and now she’s yours? Is she insane?”

Using my forearm, I hit the stupid balls on his desk, sending it crashing to the floor.

“Say what you want about me, but don’t talk bad about Bella. She’s as off limits as Athena is.”

“Bella,” he says quietly.

“She is not insane, and she’s not quite on board yet, but she will be. Don’t act like you’re better than me, Bones. We all know what you did to Athena before. For fuck’s sake, you forced her to marry you. I’m not doing that.”

He holds his hands up.

“Look, I made mistakes. There are things I wish I could undo, but I can’t. That was before I had all the information. You could learn from my mistakes, but I know you won’t, so I don’t know why I bother wasting my breath.”

Finally, something we agree on.

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble with the Abruzzos. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

He glares at me.

“There’s one thing.”

I cock an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain what he’s talking about.

“It’s time you come to work for the family. You have,” he waves his hand in the air, “gifts,and you could use something to focus on.”

“Dad kicked me out a long time ago.”

He chuckles softly.

“With good reason, Reaper. Still, I think we can harness that darkness within you, to serve our needs.”

“Can I think about it?”

This time his laughter comes out loud, obnoxious, and annoying as hell.

“It’s not an offer. It’s a demand.”

I rise out of my seat and say, “Fuck this.”

“Nico, you did this. You started a war, and it will not be long until they retaliate. You put your family in danger, and now it’s only right that you help clean up the mess.”

I know he’s right, but I walk out anyway, because I’m pissed at the situation. My brother knows me well, so he doesn’t try to stop me. Once I clear my head, I can figure out how to handle things. Until then, all I’ve got is this fucking tingling in my neck.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BELLA

It’s funny how the worst time in our life suddenly becomes a place we would revisit, to escape our current hell. I grew up just outside of Detroit, and my childhood was difficult at best. I saw and experienced things no child should, and I swore I’d never go back to that area, however, Reaper has me changing my tune.

I was raised by a single mother, in low income apartments. Cherry Vale, on the outside, looked like a nice place to live. It wasn’t. Everyday on my walk to school, drug dealers would approach me offering ‘free treats’. On the weekends, I would be locked out of the house, while mom did cocaine with her friends. At eight, I was terrified for her well-being, as well as my own. When I was a teenager, she met a man, married him, and is now a religious nut that enjoys highlighting my transgressions, but forgetting her own. After all, she went to confession, and was absolved of all her sins. I guarantee you, she has no idea I’ve been kidnapped by a deranged lunatic. It will likely take close to a year for her to even begin to wonder where I am. Yet if my brother disappeared, she’d have some kind of sick intuition, and know instantly.

I sit on the bed, naked, shackled to the damn wall, and get more pissed off by the minute. How fucking dare he think he can do this to me? Evidently, I have the worst luck in the world, to have attracted the attention of this nut by simply doing my job.

Wedging my thumb and finger into the one shackle, I pull to try to break it, but only accomplish breaking a nail. Moving close to the wall, I grab the chain and pull as hard as I can. It doesn’t work, so I decide on a new tactic. I turn to the door and run, attempting to pull the chain away from the wall, but the ring connecting the shackles to the chain snaps. One and then the other. I smile to myself, becauseI’m getting the fuck out of here. I can’t leave naked, so I rifle through the dresser drawers, trying to find something I can wear. Grabbing a black t-shirt, I pull it over my head. Reaper is at least a foot taller than I am, and muscular, so the shirt falls nearly to my knees, covering me adequately.

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