Page 80 of Hideaway

“Not in the least,” Cade replied without a touch of remorse.

“Fucking sadist,” Kara huffed before closing her eyes and curling into the warm safety of Cade’s embrace.

Cade wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his body as tightly as he could without suffocating her. Barely. She fit against him perfectly, filling all the empty spaces as though they were two jagged halves of the same whole finally pieced together. One thing was certain, he’d never allow her to fucking escape him again.

Chapter Twenty

JACE had vanished like a cockroach in the dark. As hard as Cade, Braxton, and Ortega had tried to find the son of a bitch, he was gone without a fucking trace. That was, until the prick found the opportune moment to come crawling back. Cade stared grimly at the ominous text he’d received the night before.

bringme the book…or the next time i take kara i’ll cut her up piece by piece and leave her remains scattered for you like a goddamn scavenger hunt. you like games don’t you ashford? give me what i want or we’ll see how dangerous you like to play.

Cade would have offered the cunt any sum of money to keep him the fuck away from Kara, but—as was goddamn typical—Jace was asking for something far more costly than money. Cade had made the mistake of allowing Kara to become his one weakness, and the fucking bastard was more than willing to exploit it to his advantage.As much as Cade wanted to tell Jace to go fuck himself, he knew he couldn’t risk Kara’s safety. Much like himself, Jace wasn’t one to make idle threats.

meet me by the den of iniquity at 10pm tonight…come alone.

A second text had come in early that morning. The sound had startled both of them awake, and Cade had turned over to shield his phone from the sleepy, prying eyes of the beautiful woman lying naked beside him. The fact that Jace’s threats had put a damper on his intent to have a lazy morning fuck with Kara already had him storming around the house in a fury. If Kara could tell he was being secretive, she didn’t let on. He’d deleted the messages just to be safe, but he would only be half surprised if Kara somehow manage to tail him and show up at the rendezvous that night. As a precaution, Cade had arranged a distraction for her—courtesy of Declan and Mrs. Hughes.

The guilt of having to betray Kara’s trust to protect her safety twisted in his gut like a knife. She was wiling to give her life to protect that damn book, but Cade no intention of allowing that to happen. He would do everything in his power to keep her from harm, even if there would be hell to pay later on. But he wouldn’t be the only one paying. It might not be that day or that week or that year, but someday soon that traitorous piece of shit was going to pay with his life. And Cade would be there to delight in every scream, every beg for mercy, every drop of blood wrung painfully from his miserable carcass. And the thought of torturing Jace into his reservation in hell was the first thing to put a genuine smile on Cade’s face that day.

THE seedy streets of Chicago’s underbelly were sweaty and crowded. Whores beckoned seductively with spread legs and red-painted lips. Junkies chased their highs in a variety of ways. Everyone who came to that part of town was seeking either release or profit. Or perhaps a bit of both.

It was a licentious playground where one’s wildest fantasies could be granted, one’s darkest desires explored without prejudice. There was once a time when Cade had been lured to those very streets, enticed by the promise of freedom in all respects. He had since found more established venues for his particular appetites, but the wanton abandon being experienced all around still called to him like a soft, familiar hum. Cade ignored it and continued toward Jace’s chosen meeting place.

Jace had picked the perfect location for their exchange. There were hundreds of witnesses, all with eyes blind to the illicit, though some may take offense if Cade decided to take Jace’s life rather than accepting his cowardly extortion. Regardless of the consequences, Cade knew he would be tempted to try as soon as he saw the traitorous cunt.

The cathedral stood out pristinely amongst the other decrepit buildings in a state of disrepair due to overuse and neglect. It was a beacon to all sinners, though with an entirely different message than eternal salvation. More like delight in damnation. And hundreds flocked to the revamped kink club to do just that.

Its facade was uncharacteristically gothic for a chapel built in a country of such young architecture, reminiscent of thirteenth century cathedrals that embellished the timeworn cities and countrysides of France and Germany. The stained glass windows depicting biblical narratives were blacked out, shrouding its internal activities in mystery. Crimson tinted spotlights illuminated the stone spires, transforming the sanctuary into a hellish palace. Music thumped entrancingly, like the call of a siren, from the open doors. After his business was concluded, Cade had half a mind to return with Kara and introduce her to Chicago’s sexual underworld. He had given her a taste of depravity, and she hadn’t shied away. Perhaps, she was ready for more.

Cade’s musings were disrupted when he spotted a familiar figure amongst the throng.Jace. Cade felt like a daft twat for keeping such a deplorable specimen in his confidence and on his payroll for years. Kara had revealed Jace for who he truly was, and Cade would never recover from the overwhelming guilt at what she had suffered at his hands. Jace would receive his recompense for harming Kara. One day, when Jace was happy and free and enjoying life, Cade would come to rip away everything Jace held dear. And then he would take his miserable fucking life. And his death would be as excruciatingly torturous as humanly possible, for pain was a tool Cade wielded all too easily.

Jace signaled to Cade from among the crowd, unperturbed by the threats of death and destruction written upon his face. He had chosen their location for a strategic reason, knowing his safety was guaranteed among the mass of witnesses, knowing Cade wouldn’t risk being caught regardless of whatever indecencies Jace had committed against his precious little pet.

“Ashford,”Jace greeted causally as he had done nearly every day for years, as though nothing had changed between them.

“Jace,”Cade answered cautiously, as though meeting a stranger wearing a mask of the man with whom he had been so well acquainted. Cade toyed with the idea of peeling flesh from bone to discover what truly lay beneath—monster or man.

“How is dear Kara?”Jace asked, sounding deceptively conversational as though commenting on the weather.

Cade knew the comment for what it really was—the stab of a knife aimed straight at his heart.“Keep her name out of your vile, fucking mouth,”Cade answered through gritted teeth, his eyes glittering with the dark fury of death.

“Oh, I’ve had more than just her name in my mouth. I’ve tasted all of her.Thoroughly,”Jace responded, running his tongue along his top lip at the delicious memory.

Cade clenched his fists at his side, using all of his self-control to remain stonily silent in spite of Jace’s taunts.

Jace took Cade’s silence as permission to continue his brutal assault.“Did she tell you how she screamed when I thrust my cock inside her? How she begged and cried for mercy as I fucked her within an inch of her sanity? How sweet she tasted as I devoured her mouth and her breasts and licked the saltiness of tears from her skin? How hot and tight her cunt was as I poured my cum inside her?”

“You motherfucking piece of shit!”Cade shouted as he strode toward Jace and punched him squarely in the jaw, his self-control losing a battle with his body’s primal demand for vengeance and violence and blood.

“Damnit, Ashford,”Jace gasped in surprise as he clutched his smarting face, spitting out the acrid taste of blood that filled his mouth.“Why so fucking angry? Is some bitch really worth all this animosity between us? You and I have been partners for five years. You’ve known this girl for all of two months. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a great fuck, but she’s nothing special.”Jace wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, glancing at the red stain on the back of his knuckles thoughtfully.“Tell me, do you think of me when you fuck her?”

“Neither of us have given you a moment’s thought since you left,”Cade bluffed, his hand twitching to deliver another blow.

“Oh, I highly doubt that. I marked her just for you. A memento to remember me by. I bet some still linger on her skin even now,”Jace tormented.

Cade flexed his jaw tightly at the reminder. Jace’s horrific marks on Kara’s body had been dealt with rather drastically, effaced by his own form of violence as Kara had requested. Cade’s bruises mingled with Jace’s, the owner of each indecipherable. It was the only way he had been able to sleep with Kara with a measure of his sanity still intact.

“This immature taunting is befitting a child, Jace. Not a grown man supposedly in possession of both his balls. I believe an exchange is in order? Stop stalling and get to it,”Cade demanded gruffly.

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