Page 196 of Darling Wildfire
“I want exclusive rights to your supply line,” Demetrius said. “With competitive commissions of course.”
“Of course,” Vetticus agreed. “Anything else? I can throw in an Atrox team if you’re interested.”
Demetrius smirked and locked eyes with North. “That would be acceptable—when is the next game?”
“You’re in luck. It’s in a week—I’ll accept those terms—if you also throw in the rest of Kraven’s crew. I think putting them in this next game would be very lucrative.”
“Done.”
“When do you want to do the deal?”
“He’ll be by the club Elysium in two days.”
I was pulled out of my thoughts as I saw Atlas stir in his cell. He surged up, stumbled to his feet, and frantically gripped the bars. He shook his head, trying to clear it and took a few steps, muttering to himself. He slammed his fist against the rock wall behind him, a sound of anguish leaving him.
“Atlas…” I said his name, but I didn’t really know what to say to him.
He ignored me, turned his back to the bars and slid down them before burying his face in his hands. He went still and Tex and I exchanged a worried look. If this wasn’t going to plan, was anything else going to go as planned? Or was this just a disaster waiting to blow up?
I’d been ready to help North with his revenge because I understood all too well how far someone was willing to go for the people they love. I had to go through what I went through for my brother—I understood why North had todo this. While some of what I did in my past weighed heavily on me, I couldn’t imagine not having gone through with it. I didn’t regret anything and I hoped North could say the same. Even though I asked him if it was worth it—that would be like trying to tell me the same thing after watching my brother get dragged away. It would be like trying to tell me to move on while I was holding his dead body. Men like us just didn’t work that way.
“Now what?” Knox asked grimly.
“Now we find a way to get out before the game starts,” I said.
FLASHBACK
THERON
THE WARREN
“Kraven!” I turned and saw Cooper jog to catch up to me. “Hey man, I can’t have you killing my customers,” Cooper said although he didn’t look overly concerned. “It’s bad for business.”
I started walking again. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to let Roger live when I saw on the cameras what he was doing to Kaelin. I’d run out of that room with murder on my mind.
“I warned him not to touch my property,” I said.
“Technically, she’smyproperty,” Cooper said as he fell into step with me.
“Until I leave here, my 5.5 million says otherwise,” I said dryly.
He chuckled and nodded. “That’s fair—you know what you signed up for though. Some of the men who come here have…unique tastes in kinks.”
“What did you think I would do when I saw him torturing her?”
“Join in?” Cooper smirked and shrugged. My lip curled in disgust and his eyes glittered dangerously like he’d caught me in a lie. “Why are you here if you’re not a sadist?”
“Who said I wasn’t?”
“Alright, I guess I don’t know what you do behind closed doors but Kaelin doesn’t have any marks on her.”
I stopped and turned fully to him.
“I don’t need to make my woman bleed to derive pleasure from pain,” I said with contempt. “Is this a new thing? Questioning your client’s kinks?”
Cooper held up his hands. “Nah, man, I’m just making sure you knew what you signed up for.”
“There are other ways to torture someone.”
