Black and Blue

Twenty-eight

ACOMMOTION BEYOND THE CELL diverted Star’s attention from Blue, and the man frowned at his daughter.

Tiffany sat on a stool in the corner, watching everything that happened. She wasn’t happy to be there. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her cheeks red with tear tracks, and she whimpered every time her father hurt Blue. But Star had told her to stay and “learn the family trade,” and so she had stayed.

“Go find out what’s going on,” Star commanded.

“Yes, sir,” she replied dutifully, and tripped from the cell.

Blue was happy to see her go. He was strapped to a table, unable to move, and the extra set of eyes pissed him off. So did his failure. He hadn’t managed to steal Star’s health.

Now he was waiting for his body to heal on its own.

The spacious cell had no bars, only concrete walls and a door. It reminded him of the room he’d seen in the video, the one with John. There was a single light, a too-bright halogen bulb, hanging overhead, and his bomb-sensitive eyes burned as if they’d been set on fire.

Was Evie nearby?

Star faced him. “Ready to continue?” he said with a sigh, waving a scalpel in the air. “You should have walked away when I gave you the chance. Now I’m going to treat you to the same procedure I treated John to. A procedure I learned years ago while living on the streets. Did you know that? How poor I was as a child? Sometimes I had to kill for my dinner, and not just to steal what someone else had. People do terrible things when they’re hungry.”

Do not comment. Make the monologue last.

“I know, because terrible things were done to me.” Star’s hand tightened on the knife.

Won’t feel sorry for him.

“I learned to protect myself, though, and always went back for revenge. Now I help others who can’t help themselves. It’s a public service, really.”

“You also hurt innocents.” The words slipped out.

Star shrugged. “Is anyone ever really innocent, Mr. Blue? No matter our age, we’ve all hurt someone in some way.”

“Some of us are sorry about that.”

“That doesn’t make the pain go away.” Back on topic, he said, “Your flesh is battered and bruised and won’t fetch me any money, but it will make a nice trophy for my case. You’ve caused me considerable trouble, Mr. Blue.”

“You deserved it,” Blue gritted.

“For defending my empire? If anything, I should be commended. I couldn’t let you come along and cause my clients to doubt my capabilities. Couldn’t let them wonder how I could possibly punish their enemies when I couldn’t punish my own.”

A twitch in Blue’s fingers.

Movement?

He tried again. His finger rubbed against the plastic blanket spread out underneath him. Finally! He’d begun to heal. His power wouldn’t be far behind.

Can’t grin.

He grinned.

Star narrowed his eyes. “I would have injected you with painkillers so that you wouldn’t feel the worst of it, but I’m recording this to show to anyone who thinks to come against me in the future, and I’m going to need you to scream. I’ll start with your toes and work my way up. Afterward I may or may not put you out of your misery. You’ll have to beg. John did.”

“I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Come on. Come the hell on! Another twitch, this time in his wrist.

“No need to be rude, Mr. Blue. Especially since I control the fate of your girlfriend as well as your friend. Instead of hurting her in front of you, I did you the courtesy of placing her in the care of my son. He’ll make sure she experiences . . . pleasure.”

A tide of rage spilled through him, and his shoulder twitched. “How sweet of you.”

“Yes. It was. And now for your pain.” Star hunched over Blue’s left foot and slid the tip of the blade just underneath his skin.

Blue’s nerves were in the process of coming back to life. He felt the sting and hissed in a breath.

Star worked slowly, dragging out the terrible sensations. Finally he straightened and brushed his bloody hands together for a job well done. “The first toe is finished. Now for the second. The secret is in the angle of the wrist. Too far this way and you’ll tear. Too far that way and I’ll take muscle, too.”

As the blade slid underneath the nail of the second toe, Blue’s entire leg jerked to avoid the pain.

“Steady now. I’ll call the guards in to restrain you further if I must.”

A white-hot lance rode the waves of every nerve in his body, and Blue cried out. He’d never felt anything so terrible, and his rage grew. John experienced this. For hours.

“So dramatic,” Star said with a nod. “Keep it up.”

The blade began to move, and Blue waved his fingers. They were his to control again. He turned his head left, right, the bones popping. Good. No problems there, either. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop another grin.

His power hadn’t returned, but he was back in the game.

He had one chance to do this. Only one.

He closed his eyes and drew what strength he possessed into his core. Then, arching his back, putting his weight into his shoulders and elbows, he jerked at the straps confining his wrists. The material snapped apart.

Frowning with confusion, Star straightened.

Blue jolted upright and fit his fingers around the man’s neck, squeezing. Drawing from the man’s strength and health, his muscles began to plump; Star’s began to wither.

Eyes wide, Star desperately tried to pull away and, when that failed, remembered he was holding a scalpel and stabbed Blue in the neck. Blue experienced a sharp sting, felt a warm spurt of blood.

But only a few seconds later Blue healed and the injury appeared on Star.

The man’s blood filled Blue’s hands and slicked his skin, and he lost his grip. Star clutched his neck and stumbled away from him, gasping for breath.

Blue yanked at the ankle straps, then stood at the side of the gurney.

Star fell to his knees, his strength depleted. Still, he managed to whip a gun from the back of his pants and aim. “You stay right where you are, Mr. Blue, or I’ll kill you.”

“The time for orders is over.” Lunging, Blue swiped the weapon out of his hand and turned it, pointing it at his opponent’s heart. “You were saying?”

Suddenly the door burst open and Evie raced inside, dragging Tiffany behind her. She took one look at the scene and cried out with relief. “Blue! Thank God!”

“Evie.” Somehow, his smart, intrepid woman managed to escape Tyson on her own. Of course she had. And, rather than saving herself, she came looking for him.

I have the best taste in women.

“The guards are dead,” she announced. “All of them. There could be more outside the home. I couldn’t tell. Get the answers we need, kill him, and let’s go.”

He swallowed a laugh. How easy she made it sound.

“Tyson,” Star gasped.

She smiled evilly. “Resting upstairs—for now. If you don’t tell Blue what he wants to know, well, I’ll let you fill in the blank.”

“If you hurt him . . .” the male growled.

“Oh, trust me. I’ll hurt him. The broken nose and destroyed ball sac were just the appetizers.”

Tiffany covered her mouth with her hands. “Not Tyson. Please, don’t hurt Tyson.”

Distracted by her, Blue didn’t realize Star palmed a second gun. One he aimed at Evie. He tapped at the trigger, and a stream of yellow light shot out.

Evie dodged, barely escaping.

Furious now, Blue aimed his own weapon at Star. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

He, too, tapped at the trigger. Intending to harm irreparably, but not to kill. Not yet.

With a shout of denial, Tiffany jumped in front of Star, acting as his shield, taking the flames into her own body. Her heart fried instantly, her eyes widening as her knees buckled. She tumbled to the floor.

“No!” Star shouted, horrified. “No!”

Blue leapt into action, kicking the second gun out of the man’s hand, then grabbing him by the shirt to lift him off the ground. His legs dangled in the air.

“We both know you’re not going to kill me,” Star gritted, his grief for his daughter vanquished by self-preservation. “You won’t find your friend without me.”

Eyes sparking with electric energy, Blue shouted, “Where is he?”

“Not here,” Evie interjected. “I’ve checked every room in the house and every room downstairs.”

“You need me,” Star said, gloating.

Blue’s fury knew no bounds.

He had another choice to make, he realized. Take Star with him and lock him up, as originally planned, leaving the filthy piece of trash alive in the hopes that he could somehow force the man to tell him where John was being kept. Or he could kill him, let off a little steam, and pray he would find his friend on his own.

It wasn’t really a choice, was it?

Blue patted the man down, found three daggers, a vial of some kind of poison, and a bag of pills. He threw everything aside. Removed the man’s shoes, then his clothes, leaving him in his underwear.

Humiliation burned Star’s cheeks. “This isn’t going to get you the answer you seek.”

“It’s not meant to.”

He tied Star’s hands behind his back, then shoved him forward. Evie trailed behind him.

“I used one of the guard’s cell phones to call Solo,” she said. “I left it up there and turned on so he could track the signal. He should be here—”

Boom!

The entire underground shook.

Overhead, footsteps pounded.

“—now,” she finished.

“We’re down here!” Blue shouted.

Solo descended the steps, his bones enlarged, his skin a deep crimson. He was breathing heavily, ready to kill everyone in his path . . . until he took one look at the stripped Star and ground to an abrupt halt.

“Won?” the warrior asked, clearly confused.

Blue nodded, a wave of pride washing through him. “We won this battle. Thanks to Evie.”

“Not just me,” she said. “Blue and I were a team.”

He kissed her temple.

Some of the red faded from Solo’s skin. “Your father is upstairs,” he said.

“Tyson’s up there, too. Someone needs to haul him away before I return and kill him. He’s still excellent leverage.” Evie raced past Blue and then Solo, and Blue wanted to call her back, because he didn’t want her far from his side, but she was well able to take care of herself, wasn’t she. He let her go.

As Star looked over the monstrous Solo, he trembled with fear.

“He thinks he can keep John’s location from us,” Blue said.

Solo cracked his knuckles, and despite the lessening of his monstrous visage, his claws were still so long they sliced into his palms, drawing blood. “I would love a chance to change his mind.”

Star raised his chin. “You might scare me, but you won’t break me. You have no idea the things I’ve had to endure over the years. Worse creatures than you have had a go at me and failed.”

Trying to gain pity?

Please.

Blue kicked him in the backs of his knees, sending him crashing into the concrete floor. Then Blue pushed him the rest of the way down, to his face, and pressed a bloody foot into his neck. “That’s enough out of you. For now, at least.”

Evie came back down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. She stomped on Star to get to Blue. “Michael’s good,” she said, jumping up and down with happiness. “Badly bruised, but he’s got all his parts and they’re working, so I can’t complain.”

“What happened to him?”

“He made it into the forest outside the cabin, evaded the men hunting him, and called Solo.” She twisted to eye the warrior in question. “When I called you, you didn’t tell me you knew where we’d been taken and that you were on your way.”

Solo shrugged his wide shoulders. “For all I knew, you were under duress. I didn’t want anyone to know how close I was.”

“Forgiven. I guess.” She focused on Blue and her grin returned. “We did it. We really won.”

His chest constricted. Oh, how he adored this woman. “You okay? Was anything done to you?” From the looks of her, she hadn’t been hurt, but he needed to hear the words directly from her.

“No. I’m fine, I promise. You?”

“Better every second.” He increased the pressure on Star’s neck, and the man gasped for breath. “If Star had been smarter, he would have realized you were the greater threat.”

Beaming at him, she cupped his cheeks. “You keep saying stuff like that and it’s going to go to my head.” After kissing him, she said, “So what’s next?”

He nuzzled her nose. “Now we get to a secure location and have our chat-up with Star.”

Since Michael could officially come back from the dead, everyone was able to congregate at his house, in the basement. The dungeon, Evie liked to call it, where multiple cells awaited, as well as torture devices stained with the blood of past victims.

She watched as Blue and Solo took turns interrogating Star. She’d never seen two men more focused, driven, or—to be honest—cruel. But they had to be. It wasn’t until the end, six hours later, when there wasn’t much left of Star, that the male who’d caused so much death and destruction finally broke.

He’d proven to be immune to compulsion and truth serum but, ultimately, not to pain. Blue and Solo were merciless, cutting off Star’s fingers and toes one at a time, then removing hunks of his skin the way he’d done to John, and then . . . She shuddered. She didn’t want to think about what they did to Star after that, but it worked.

Star spilled his secrets, along with everything else.

Evie stayed with Michael, keeping Star alive while the boys rushed to the address they were given. A place Star reached through underground tunnels in his country estate. As soon as she got a call saying John was in custody, unconscious but alive, she pulled the plug on Star’s life support.

He died soon after.

Tyson had to watch it all from a cell. Now he sobbed quietly in the corner.

Finally, it was all over. The mission. The worry. The guilt. Over.

Evie and Michael hugged and, okay, both of them cried tears of joy.

“I’m sorry,” he said into her hair. “For everything.”

“I know. Me, too.”

“I love you, sunbeam.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

After that, Evie drove home. She didn’t know if she’d see Blue that night or not.

She should have known she would.

He arrived a few hours later, still covered in soot and much more blood, his clothing torn, his feet bare but healed.

Honestly? He’d never looked better to her. He was there, he was alive, and he was with her.

He stalked into the bedroom, jerked her into his arms, and buried his face in the hollow of her neck. She immediately wrapped herself around him, thankful that, despite the horror of the circumstances, they’d come together, they’d opened themselves to a relationship, and they’d fought for it. Fought for each other.

“He’s going to live,” he said. “John’s going to live.”

“I’m so glad.”

“We took him to the medical facility where your father was held those first few days. I want you to . . . Evie, will you take over his care? They’re stabilizing him tonight, but if you could visit him in the morning . . . if you could make sure he’s receiving the best . . . I just . . .”

“Of course I will,” she said. “You don’t even have to ask. I’ll call in the best Rakan specialists. I won’t let anything happen to him, and I’ll make sure everything possible is being done for him.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you, princess.”

“I’m glad about that, too, because . . . Blue? I’m not falling in love with you anymore. I’m there. I’m so in love with you I’m sick with it. I just thought you should know.”

He froze, even stopped breathing, as if he couldn’t bear to disrupt the moment. “I wanted you to love me. Wanted it so bad, because I love you, too, Evangeline Black. I love you so much, it’s pathetic. I’m whipped. Head over heels. Obsessed. Possessed. I’m thinking about having you permanently glued to my side.”

He loves me, too!

Joy swept through her. She wasn’t sure how she’d won the heart of the world’s most notorious playboy, but she was glad that she had. “I’m strangely okay with being glued to your side,” she said. “I even know a surgeon who’d be willing to do it, if the price was right.”

He gave a hoarse laugh. “I’ll pay double if he’ll make sure our parts are lined up properly. That way I can just stay inside you for the rest of our lives.”

Dirty-minded man. She loved that, too! “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up, fed, and rested. I could use a nap myself. That way I’ll be at my best when I visit John.” She led him to the shower, stripped him, pushed the right buttons, and waited as the mist cleaned him.

Afterward, she drew him to the bed. Then, as he’d once done for her, she went to the kitchen and dug up some food. Wearing only a robe, she straddled his lap, facing him while they ate. He received the peep show of a lifetime.

“By the way, if I wasn’t clear with the whole surgical, stay-inside-you thing, we’re getting married,” he said, “and our prenup is going to stipulate that you have to do something like this every day.”

Married? Yes, please! She wanted this man legally bound to her. “Do you seriously think I’m going to let you have a prenup? I want everything you own, including your soul.”

“Princess, it’s already yours. To prove it, I want to do a human and an Arcadian ceremony. One with vows. One with blood. And before you start to panic on me, you won’t be a slave like Dallas is to the king. I will take your blood, too, and it will bond us. You will age slower, like my race, so I won’t have to live a single moment without you.”

Slowly she grinned. “You, Corbin Blue, are a sappy, sappy man.”

“But you love me anyway.”

“I love you always.”

He squeezed the tops of her thighs. “Since I’ll be Mr. Evangeline Black, you have to wipe out my bill.”

“I will . . . just as soon as you pay it.”

“Can I get a discount?”

She thought for a moment. “Well . . . I think you once mentioned paying in orgasms.”

“This is true.”

“Then no discount. You’ll pay every cent.”

He laughed. “Good.”

“Anything else we need to cover before you knock out a few dollars?”

“A few dollars? Ha! A good orgasm is worth thousands. But, yes, one more thing to cover. You once told me you were done with agenting when the case was over. Is that still the plan?”

“I . . . don’t think so. I liked getting back in the game, I admit it. But I also like being a doctor. So I’m not sure what I’ll do.”

“Maybe you can do both. I mean, you managed both with me. Every time I did something stupid, you were right there to patch me up.”

“True.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Yeah, I like the idea of doing both. Of working cases and patching agents.”

He toyed with the ends of her hair. “Thank you for everything. For being you. For saving me in every way.”

Warmth flowed through her. “You saved me, too. You gave me your strength and took my weakness, and as much as I love you for it, I will seriously hurt you if you ever do it again. I would rather die than lose you.”

“I will die if I lose you.” He traced a finger down the center of her robe, widening the lapels, revealing more of her breasts. “You are so beautiful,” he said. “So sweet. So soft. So perfect. So utterly mine. You could have done so much better than me, but I’m glad you didn’t.”

A slow grin spread across her face. She would never tire of his compliments. He made her feel beautiful and sweet and soft and perfect. “Silly man. I happen to think you’re the best there is.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“You’re making me question your intelligence, panda bear, but that’s okay, because I’ve always liked ditzy women.”

She gave a fist pump toward the ceiling. “Finally. I’m officially your type.”

His fingers wound around a thick lock of her hair, not stopping until he reached her nape. He pulled her down for a kiss, and when that wasn’t enough contact, when the heat sparked between them, he rolled her onto her back and loomed over her.

“My type is Evie Black. Everything I like revolves around you. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. And before either of us takes another case, I want to whisk you away for the best vacation of your life. Sun, sand, and mandatory nudity. Then maybe I’ll spend my billions buying the world for you.”

“I’m on board with everything but the present. I’d like something I don’t already own, please.”

He snorted.

She had never thought she would end up with a guy like him. Had anyone suggested it, even a few months earlier, she would have laughed—and then maybe pulled a gun. But Blue burst into her life, infiltrated every aspect of it, and definitely turned everything upside down while he chased away the darkness inside her and ushered in the brightest of lights.

“Actually, as long as you’re with me,” she said, “I have everything I need.”

He grinned and challenged, “As long as I’m with you . . . or in you?”

She laughed, the sound genuine and tinkling like bells, surprising her. When had she become such a girl? “I’m greedy. How about both?”

“I can get on board with that.” He fit his hands on her hips. “So let’s get started, shall we?”