What the fuck is wrong with you?
Alex was right. Will could take these guys. My God. This hurt more than the pain in my gut. I couldn’t watch.
“I like you,” Aydin told him, unknotting some rope. “I didn’t think I would. Life has a weird sense of humor, you know? I watched you with her at parties. I’d see you with her at restaurants. Then, lo and behold, you show up here, our new inmate.”
Her. Alex.
I straightened, a thought taking form in my head. It was strange that out of all the people in the world, they wound up in the same place. Two men who both knew Alex.
One who clearly resented the other for it.
“Remember when you asked me if I could get things other than alcohol and cigarettes?” he questioned Will.
And I gulped. No. He had Will brought here. Either for revenge or to take him away from Alex.
Oh, my God.
But then suddenly Aydin turned and jerked his chin, gesturing to me, instead.
What?
My heart dropped into my stomach, and Will gritted through his teeth, “You son of a bitch.”
I stepped forward, dropping my weapon. “Me?” I said, but I already knew the answer. “You brought me here?”
All the enemies and all the people who had something against me if they knew my secret, and it turned out to be someone I’d never met?
He didn’t sentence Will to Blackchurch. He smuggled me in for revenge.
Aydin’s eyes fell, and he tightened the rope around Will’s wrist. “I want him to know what this feels like,” he murmured. “To watch the one woman it physically hurts to look at, because you want her so much, give her time and loyalty and love to another.” He glared over at me. “I want him to feel this.”
Alex stepped up next to me, and I could hear her breathe.
“Then why not try to seduce me?” I charged before she could say anything. What was with all the big brother shit?
He just chuckled. “The only thing more powerful than the heart is the brain, and it was so much more useful to get into your head than into your bed.”
I shook my head. “Or maybe you didn’t want to take me away from Will, but Will away from Alex. Maybe she was the one you wanted to hurt.”
He shrugged. “Either way.”
The room fell silent except for Taylor’s shaking. I looked over, not that worried about him, but Aydin was going to have to help him. Close the wound or something.
My hand shot to my hair. He brought me here.
But that meant he also gave me the knife. Did he think that was going to be enough protection?
The floor above us creaked—as well as the wood in the walls—and I smelled smoke in the air, but then thunder cracked overhead, the lights flickered, and I raised my weapon again, opening my mouth to speak.
But Aydin spoke first. “You both will stay down here,” he told Will, “and if Micah and Rory know what’s good for them, they’ll fall in line.”
He turned to the guys, ordering them, “Take the women to my room,” he told them and then looked at us. “I’ll be up to see you ladies in a while.”
I tensed.
“Maybe they’d like some exercise tonight,” he said, staring at Will. “I’ll take them to the pool. Party of three.” His voice lowered, but I could still hear the smile in his tone. “Maybe Emmy will play out that little fantasy of hers and put Alex to some good use the way everyone else has.”
I lunged. “Will!”
Micah grabbed me, and I dropped the gun, shooting my palm up to his fucking nose as Alex shot out and caught Rory’s arm, spinning him around and shoving him into the wall.
He headbutted the stone, and I dropped down, picked up my bayonet, rushing to Will.
But Aydin was there, stopping me and taking me in his arms, wrapping them around me like a steel band and holding me hostage.
“Wendy, Wendy,” he taunted. “It’s true, then. One girl is worth twenty boys, it seems. So glad you’re on my team.”
His mouth came down on mine, his scruff and sweat grinding against my lips as he moved over me, stealing my breath.
Will.
I grunted, a sob lodging in my throat as I pressed against his blood-soaked shirt and tried to twist my head away.
Oh, God.
And then…a whisper came in close—calm, hard, and deep. “You’re not Peter,” it said.
I blinked my eyes open in time to see Will standing right behind Aydin, the ropes suddenly gone.
Slipping an arm around Aydin’s neck, Will grabbed his wrist, pulled him off me, and yanking his arm so far back that Aydin cried out, forcing him to the ground. In one quick motion, Will brought down his foot at the joint where Aydin’s arm met his shoulder, and a pop pierced the air, Aydin’s howl echoing throughout the cellar.
I gaped at Will who’d just brought Aydin to his knees in less than two seconds, not even losing breath.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
Alex and I stood there as Will stared down at Aydin’s form, a serrated knife in his hand and the rope around his wrists severed.
Where had he gotten that knife?
He inhaled a deep breath and straightened his back, cutting off the rope bracelets, sheathing the knife, and sticking it back into his pocket.
“Will…” I stepped forward.
He shook his head, telling me to keep quiet as he glared at the man on the brick floor.
Aydin shot up, but Will swung his fist down, landing right on his throat.
I narrowed my eyes, able to do nothing more than stare at him and blink.
Aydin gasped, hunching over and too disabled to speak or even breathe.
Will circled him as Taylor watched, and Micah and Rory stood frozen, clearly not sure what was happening.
“I was in prison,” Will said to Aydin. “A real one. Did you actually think I didn’t have any of this under control?”
Aydin looked up at him, a worry and puzzlement I’d never seen in his eyes now.
“I waited,” Will continued. “I was prepared to be as patient as possible to get you to follow.”
He dropped down, hovering over Aydin as he gripped the back of his head and delivered two punches to his face.
Aydin’s nose spilled with blood, and he reared back and hit Will, throwing him off and crawling away until he could scramble to his feet.
They both faced each other, widening their stances, and Aydin charged Will, throwing his body into his stomach. They crashed back onto the floor, and I lurched forward, but Micah shot out his arm, stopping me.
“I want to see this,” he said.
I darted my worried eyes to Will. His skin flushed and sweat pouring down his back, he rolled, hit, kneed, kicked, and did everything with rage in his eyes.
He wasn’t taking it like he had been since I’d been here.
This was Will.
Bloody and breathing hard, he punched Aydin in the stomach and rose, sending a hard kick to his head.
“It would’ve been perfect,” he growled. “You know that? Teaming up. Being equals, but I didn’t want to win you over with fear. I didn’t want to control you with violence.”
Aydin tried to get his legs under him, but he kept falling back to the ground.
“I wanted to be important to you,” Will told him. “If I were important to you, you’d follow me anywhere.”