Page 4 of Sweet Revenge

My brother looked exhausted by the time he dropped the last piece of metal into the bowl on the tray next to Daemon’s unconscious form. Silently, Drake sewed up the holes in Daemon’s bloody chest while I stood there, holding his limp hand, wondering what came next.

I didn’t dare ask, though. Not when Drake was clearly frustrated and angry. Without a word, he walked over to the sink and began to wash his hands with vigor.

Daemon needed to be cleaned up, too. He was patched and bandaged, but he had blood all over him. Since there were two sinks, side by side, I went to the other one and wet a towel. Drake pretended I didn’t exist. At the moment, perhaps he’d rather I didn’t.

I needed to ask him a thousand questions, but I also needed to show him my gratitude. As I walked back over to Daemon and gently began to clean the blood off him, I thought about what I needed to say to the only brother who’d ever treated me like I mattered.

“Thank you for saving him,” I muttered as Drake finally turned off the water and began to dry his hands on a towel. “It means a lot to me.”

He turned around with steel in his eyes, the glare I’d seen earlier when we’d first arrived cutting through me. “You’re not welcome, Elisa. This whole thing is bullshit.”

I didn’t want to argue, and I definitely didn’t want to disturb Daemon, who looked like he might finally be getting some peace after all that. I couldn’t just let Drake make accusations against me without him having the full story, though. “I know you can’t understand why I brought him here.”

“No, I can’t.” He cut me off, leaning back against the counter near the sink, his arms folded. “This is my one chance to finally get away from that life, and now, you’ve probably fucked it up for me.”

His words stung. I stood there for a moment, processing what he had just said. How was that possible? “Does Dad know about this place?”

“No, he doesn’t, but he probably will now. My name’s all over the fucking paperwork. If he realizes I’ve built something that helps people, something of substance, he’ll burn it to the ground, Elisa, the same way your new fucking boyfriend burned Dad’s goddamn house to the ground.”

Drake had a point. I hadn’t mentioned to him that Raven had to have been tailing us in order to know we’d gone to some random bakery to get a birthday cake. I almost laughed. It was my birthday. Happy fucking birthday to me.

No laughter rang out, though, as I weighed the implications of what Drake was saying. If I screwed this up for my brother and neither one of us was ever able to break free from our family’s hooks, I’d never forgive myself. “I’m sorry, Drake. You were the only person I could think of who could help and would be discreet.”

“Oh, I’ll be discreet. Nothing like opening a clinic to have your first patient be a fucking mob boss, especially when his family is the archnemesis of your own father. Yeah, I’m not exactly going to be putting that in any newspaper articles letting the area know that free healthcare is now at their fingertips. Jesus, Elisa.” He dragged his hand down his face. “This could be seriously bad, you know? I wish, just for once, you could find someone else to bail your ass out.”

“I did!” My patience had run out. “Daemon is the one that has been bailing my ass out, Drake. It’s not my fault Dad fucking gave me to him as a gift. I was supposed to be some fucking peace offering between the two families, but then Dad kidnapped me—twice. Well, once it was Ragno. If Daemon hadn’t gotten me back that time, Dad would’ve killed me. And this last time?” I shook my head, tears springing to my eyes as I thought about what our own father had done to me. “Do you have any idea how psychologically traumatizing it is to be waterboarded by your own fucking father? That bastard sprayed hot sauce and seltzer water up my nose—several times.” I ran a hand under my nose, the stinging sensation coming back as if he were doing it again just from me talking about it. “He beat the shit out of me, and the only reason he didn’t kill me was because he had to go to some stupid wedding.”

Drake stared at me for a second. I’d mentioned some of this to him earlier, but I hadn’t gone into any detail, and I wasn’t sure he’d caught any of it because of the emotional turmoil we’d both been in at the time. After a moment, he said, “Dad did that to you? For real?”

I nodded, crossing my arms and not meeting his eyes. It was difficult to think about a parent doing something so hostile, and it was even harder to talk about it.

“Let me see.” My brother crossed the room, his hands reaching for my face.

I shrank away. “I’m fine.”

“Damn it, Elisa, you’re not fine. Let me see. I am a doctor, after all.” Drake took hold of the sides of my face, but his touch was gentle.

Irritated, I growled. I hadn’t come there for him to treat me. “I’m fine,” I repeated, but he continued to look me over.

“I see plenty of bruises and split skin, now that you mention it.” Drake tipped my head up and looked into my eyes, making me follow his finger. “Doesn’t look like you have a concussion. Any pain elsewhere?”

“My ribs are a little sore.” As long as he was being nosy, may as well tell him the truth.

He poked around on my sides for a few moments until I grimaced and pulled away. “Probably a couple of broken or cracked ribs. There’s not much I can do for that. I can tape them up if you want.”

I shook my head. I’d be fine.

“All right. Let me get you some salve for those cuts and bruises, and I’ve got some pain medication you can take.” He turned and walked over to one of the cabinets.

“None for Daemon?” I asked.

He shrugged. “It’s not like he could swallow it now anyway. When he wakes up, we’ll give him some, but this stuff wouldn’t have done anything against the sort of pain he was in when you brought him in, Elisa. That one bullet was pretty shallow, but the other one, the one that went in the seam?” He shook his head. “That one was deep and really close to being fatal. I’m actually a little shocked that Raven didn’t finish him off with a headshot.”

I took a deep breath, remembering how I’d come into the cake shop to find her hovering over Daemon’s body as he bled all over the floor. “She would have if I hadn’t stopped her.”

Drake arched an eyebrow as he filled a glass with tap water and came over to me, extending a bottle of pills and the glass. “What did you do to her?”

I actually laughed. Not because it was funny but because I couldn’t believe what I’d done had worked. “I threw a tire iron at her.”

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