“Just now. Our final building was a bust. They’d burned it down to nothing. It’s going to take a lot of money to do some rebuilds.” I was only grateful that so far, my father was happy to irritate me, not to kill any more of my men.
Ashley shook her head. “Wait, what?”
“What is it?” Earl asked. He went to Ashley’s side and I saw the way she tensed and his jaw clenched.
What the hell did that mean?
Ashley looked from me to Earl. “Emily got a letter with a single white rose. It told her to meet you at the family graveyard.” She looked between us. “She’s been gone an hour. “Tell me you were there.”
My blood ran cold.
“Show me this letter,” I said.
Ashley rushed out of the room and I followed closely behind her. She handed me the small rectangular letter. It wasn’t my writing, but I recognized it instantly.
“Where’s Drake?” I asked, already heading toward the door.
“He got a call before Emily saw this, from you.”
“I didn’t fucking call him.”
They had her and because I’d been too damn focused on finding them myself, I’d put her in fucking danger.
I was an asshole.
Chapter Twenty
Emily
Pain.
That was all I felt.
In my head. All over my face. My back where he’d landed a blow.
They’d also stripped me down to my underwear. So far, they hadn’t gone far, but I’d curled up in a ball, hating myself so damn much.
When I got the rose and the letter, it had confused me, but rather than question it or wait for Drake to return, I’d followed the directions.
Big fucking mistake.
The moment I walked into the graveyard, Daniel and Dean had been waiting. They’d slammed me against a tree, I’d been punched in the head, and then dragged to this crypt. I’d never seen the family graveyard before. It was nearly a ten-minute walk from the house, and that was if you were speed-walking.
Crypts and graveyards freaked me out in a big way.
“I wonder what they will think when they find your body,” Daniel said. “What I can’t decide is if I should cut you up, fuck you, and then slit your throat.”
“It has been years since I’ve fucked someone covered in blood,” Dean said.
“You were always a sick and horny fucker.” Daniel looked toward his friend with affection.
“Takes one to know one.”
Daniel crouched down on the floor next to me and ran a finger down my body, going from my neck, sliding down toward my thigh. He grabbed my thigh, his fingers digging in so deep that I whimpered.
He enjoyed this. Relished my pain. I couldn’t stand it, but I put up with it. Not making a sound. Accepting what he was doing to me. I’d been too dazed from the blows to the head.
This wasn’t me. I knew this. I was a fighter. I didn’t quit, and yet here I lay as if I’d given up. As if I’d given them the key to my soul.
I closed my eyes as he released me.
If they didn’t find me soon, I was going to die. I knew that.
The sound of metal on stone forced me to open my eyes. Dean approached. He carried a blade in his grip and he smiled at me.
“You know, River was taken once. He was held in a similar place to this, bound, tortured. All because your fucking dad ordered it! I should do to you what was done to him. Make you pay for your father’s sins. I should have killed you when I had the chance.” The tip of the blade pressed against the skin of my stomach. I tried not to breathe but panic began to build within me. I was terrified, and as he pressed the blade to my skin, I released a whimper.
“I wonder if seeing you all cut up will remind him of what happened to him.” He pushed the blade against my skin, not stabbing me but nicking my skin so it hurt so damn badly.
Tears filled my eyes. “Please,” I said.
“Are you going to beg us to stop, is that what is about to happen?” he asked.
I’d begged my father until I’d stopped. He never did. The beatings came regardless and even now, if I begged them, pleaded with them, offered them whatever it was they wanted on a silver platter, I knew they wouldn’t care. None of them would. They wanted to see me hurt. To watch my pain.
I couldn’t give them the satisfaction.
All I could do was accept the pain.
Endure the suffering.
I stilled as he moved to another part of my body. The blade pierced my skin. I screamed. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to take this.
Fight!
I didn’t have to lie down.
They were going to kill me regardless. Why not surprise them in the process?
With my screams, I kept them distracted. I used my hand to try to find something to hit them with. I reached out, trying to grab something, anything, and when I felt a rock, I grabbed it and slammed it against Dean’s head, knocking him backward. In the process, he dropped the knife. Before Daniel could get it, I had it within my grasp and I got to my feet, glaring at them.
“I bet you weren’t expecting that.”
I felt the blood from my wounds dripping down my flesh. It made me want to vomit, but somehow, I kept it all inside and glared at both of them.
I waited. Desperate for one or more of them to attack me.
Daniel came in first, but
