Madness: Part 2 – Chapter 37

It’s dark out. The clock on my dash tells me that it’s after ten o’clock. I woke up a few hours ago naked in my bed. I felt a little tired and managed to relax in the bathtub, trying to go over what the fuck had happened and how I got home.

Slowly, the pieces came back to me. Last night at Blackout. The call I got from the unknown Lord and then the call to Haidyn. Him showing up at the club, the drinks, the drive to his house. The water…me asking him to be my first. Then there was a gap.

Where had my entire day gone? Did I do ecstasy at Blackout? Had I taken something that I don’t normally do?

Then like a fucking baseball bat to the face, it hit me. Waking up taped to the chair this morning, him giving me something, asking me questions, and putting me to bed like a child.

I sat at my desk to log what we had done, only to find my laptop gone. The one that the Lords gave me. It was there yesterday before I went out, so he had to have taken it.

That leads to now and why I’m pulling into Haidyn’s driveway and slamming on my brakes. Getting out of my car, I rush to the front doors and shove them both open, not even bothering to knock. For a man who should always be on alert, his door isn’t locked.

“Haidyn?” I shout, slamming them shut. “HAIDYN!” I scream, stomping my way to the living room and come to a stop when I see him sitting on the couch, leaning back with his arms across the back cushions. His blue eyes are on mine, and there’s a smirk on his face. “Where the fuck is it?” I demand, my hands going to my hips.

“Hello, doll face⁠—”

“I’m not in the fucking mood, Haidyn. Where is it?” I step forward, my right hand gripping the strap on my purse. I’m not even going to bring up the fact that he drugged me. I’ll save that for another day.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Annabelle.” He slowly gets to his feet.

The sound of my name just infuriates me more. A reminder that I tricked him. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so goddamn stupid and did his homework before he and his brothers let me into their home. I huff. “I’m giving you one chance to hand it over. Right now.”

He no longer tries to hide his smile. Instead, he lets it light up his face, showing off his dazzling white teeth, and it just makes my skin boil. “Or what, doll face?”

I reach into my purse and pull out what I need. Dropping the Louis Vuitton to the floor, I point my gun at him.

If he’s surprised, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he takes a step closer to me, and I don’t retreat. Get as close as you want, motherfucker. It’ll just help my odds.

“Going to shoot me, Charlotte?” He arches a brow, but I can hear the laughter in his voice.

I square my shoulders. “In a world where it’s either you or me…I’ll always choose me.”

He stops as the end of the barrel hits his chest, and I glare up at him. “Pull the trigger, doll face.”

“Give me my laptop,” I bark out. He knows I can’t shoot him because then what will I tell the Lords? I’ll be fucked. My assignment isn’t to kill him. Will they give me another one? Will they allow the other Spade brothers to throw me in a cell at Carnage? Hell if I know. But I won’t allow them to punish me for killing him.

“Go ahead and pull the trigger. Make sure you aim for the heart. I’ve survived a bullet to the chest before.”

I’m not surprised that the bastard has been shot. No doubt a woman who he pissed off. “How about your face?” I arch a brow and lift the gun, aiming right between his eyes.

He just stares down at me, the gun shaking in my hands. I’m not nervous or afraid. I’m fucking pissed. “Haidyn⁠—”

He grabs the barrel of the gun and twists it out of my hand. I grind my teeth at the sharp pain that runs up my arm. Wrapping his hand around my throat, he shoves my back into the wall and presses the end of the barrel to my cheek.

I’m gasping glaring up at him. “Second time I’ve taken this from you.” He laughs, and it pisses me off even more. A burning feeling in my chest that I let him win. Again. I just want to stomp my feet and scream at the top of my lungs how much I hate him.

“Third time’s a charm,” I say through gritted teeth, knowing this isn’t the last time I’ll want to kill him.

He steps back and removes the gun from my face. His eyes remain on mine as he pushes back the slide, emptying out the chambered bullet and removes the magazine—which he pockets—then holds it out to me. “Never shoot to wound. Always shoot to kill. And don’t talk too much. Don’t ask questions or explain why you want them dead. Just kill them, doll face.”

My eyes drop to the gun and yank it from his hand, and he turns starting to walk away from me. “Where the fuck is it, Haidyn?” He doesn’t stop walking toward the couch. “Goddammit, Haidyn,” I shout, starting to run after him.

He spins around with a smirk on his face, and I just want to knock it off. So I go to slap him with the gun, but he leans back, forcing me to miss. The momentum spins me around, giving him the perfect opportunity to wrap his arm around my neck, holding my back to his front.

I drop the gun, letting it clank to his marble floor, and reach up, gripping his arm defensively.

“You’re really turning me on, doll face.” He chuckles. “Did you come over because you need to be tied down and fucked in the ass?”

I wiggle, trying to get free, and I can’t miss the feeling of his hard dick pressing against my ass. “Hai—” His arm tightens, cutting off any chance to breathe, let alone talk.

I kick my feet out and try to twist my body out of his hold, but it’s no use. My face pounds, my ears ring, and my chest is on fire from lack of oxygen. My body begins to give out on me, losing its fight, and I go limp.

He lets go of me, and I fall to the floor, my side landing on the gun. I cough, turning onto my back to stare at his high vaulted ceiling with my knees bent.

“Go home, Charlotte,” he orders, sounding far away.

“What…do you want?” I ask, getting to my hands and knees. Fuck, this is not going how I wanted it to.

“Nothing from you,” he answers, not even bothering to look over at me. I’m no longer worth his time. He’s proved his point. Picking up the remote, he turns up the sound on the TV to drown out anything further I might say.

I grab my gun, get to my shaking knees, pick up my purse, and storm out of his house just as fast as I entered, slamming the doors and hoping they fucking break. Getting in my SUV, I begin to cry.

I wipe at the tears angrily because I don’t even have control over my own emotions right now. I hate how weak I get when I’m mad. My father once told me, “Feeling anything is a weakness, darling. No one will take orders from a woman who cries.”

Taking a deep breath, I throw my head back, staring at the starlight headliner inside my Cullinan as I try to get my emotions under control. Closing my eyes, I count to ten, taking a few deep breaths until I feel like I can think clearly.

Starting up my car, I pull up “Acid Annie” by Natalia Kills on my phone and connect it to my Bluetooth and turn it up all the way. I know what I’m about to do will fucking piss him off, but I no longer care. I’ll hit him where it’ll count and then face the consequences later.

HAIDYN

“Honeymoon stage over already?”

I look up to see Adam standing in the kitchen with nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs on. “What makes you say that?”

“I walked in on you and your girl fucking around earlier.” His eyes meet mine, and he smiles. “I was rooting for her to shoot you,” he jokes and wiggles his eyebrows. “I like her.”

“Don’t,” I warn.

“What?” He shrugs.

“I’ve had enough close calls with death that I don’t need any more.” At the mention of my close calls to death, my hand goes to my chest, rubbing the tender spot where I was recently shot. It’s getting better.

Her words drown out my previous thoughts. In a world where it’s either you or me…I’ll always choose me.

Fuck, she was on fire. I understand it was anger, but it was sexy as hell. The way she barged into my house. The fact that she came prepared to shoot me had me hard as a rock. I wanted to rip off her clothes, pin her down on the floor, and fuck her ass while she held the gun to my face. It’s an adrenaline rush that I haven’t experienced in a long time.

For someone who has a cunt, she’s got balls.

I like it. It’s refreshing. She’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in my repetitive life. Giving me something to do.

“Is this what she wants?” Adam asks, looking at the laptop on the kitchen island.

“Yep.” It was right there the whole time. She never saw it and didn’t even look for it. She thought I had it hidden away where she couldn’t find it.

“Find anything on it?” he asks.

“Not that I could see. I was wondering if you could look at it.” He nods. “She’s receiving emails from an encrypted address. They also seem to be deleted after she views them. I couldn’t get far, but I figured you could give it a try.” She had a few pictures of me saved, but other than that, there was nothing I could see.

“Of course.” He pulls a beer out of the fridge and pops off the cap before taking a sip.

“What do you think they’re looking for?”

I run a hand through my hair. “I have no fucking clue.”

“It could be Benny,” he guesses.

“He’s locked up inside Carnage.” I shake my head. “I know it’s been a while since you’ve spent significant time there, but we don’t allow prisoners to have screen time.”

He chuckles. “I mean whoever he was working with. Maybe he had to check in, and now that he’s not, they’ve sent someone to keep an eye on him.”

“No. That wouldn’t work because I was seeing Charlotte before Saint found and brought Ashtyn back.”

“Found anything new with the guy in the picture with Benny that you got in Vegas?”

I shake my head. “Bones sent me some footage from Glass, but he was always solo.”

“I’ll take a look,” he says, giving up trying to guess because it’s pointless. We can stand here and try to figure it out until we’re blue in the face. We won’t know we’re on the right track until we get confirmation.

I have an idea of who it is and what they want, but I’m going to keep it to myself for now. It gives me more time with my new toy. Charlotte made me realize I’ve gone easy on her. I’m more than willing to up my game.

There’s a knock on the door, and I look over at Adam. He shakes his head and raises his hands. “Not for me.”

Sighing, I make my way to the front doors with a smirk on my face. I knew she’d come back, but I expected her to rush in just like last time. “Hello, doll⁠—”

My words are cut off when I see Saint on my front porch. The smirk disappears, and he pushes his way past me into my house. I slam the door behind him.

He comes to a stop when he sees Adam standing in the kitchen drinking his beer and spins around to face me. Glaring, I cross my arms over my chest.

“Should have known I’d find you two together.” Saint shakes his head.

“I’d ask how you found me, but I don’t need to.” Annabelle.

“She’s very worried about you,” he says in a tone that tells me he’s still pissed at me for lying and helping his wife run away from him. But obviously, he couldn’t pass up the chance to show me that he knows where I am.

Adam snorts. “Ashtyn didn’t seem to worry about him during the four years she was gone.”

Saint looks at him over his shoulder. “Charlotte.” He corrects Adam, then looks back at me. “Charlotte came to me worried about you.”

I can’t help the laughter that escapes. Fuck, she’s good. I told her that Saint, Ashtyn, and Kashton didn’t know where I lived, so she ratted me out.

His eyes drop to my wrists, and I stiffen when his eyes meet mine again. “What the fuck do you want, Saint?” I growl, getting to the point. What the hell did Charlotte tell him? I hate that they even think I could be suicidal. That I would do that to them.

“Why are you hiding out here?” he demands.

“I’m not hiding,” I say through gritted teeth.

“So you left without getting a new tracker put in?” he asks skeptically.

I hate the fact that they removed it when I was shot. They didn’t want my brothers to find my body once I was dead. “I needed to do this alone,” I say, changing the subject.

He snorts. “Alone?” Then he looks over his shoulder at Adam. “You don’t seem alone to me.”

Neither one of us says anything, and as the silence lingers, my blood pressure rises. I’m going to strangle her.

Sighing, he runs a hand down his face. “I just wanted to check on you.”

Fuck that! He wanted to show up to tell me he knows where I’m staying since I’ve been ignoring Ashtyn’s phone calls. I’ve only spoken to Kash a couple of times. “Well, here I am. I’m alive and well.” Walking over to the front doors, I open one. A not-so-subtle gesture to tell him to get the fuck out without physically kicking him out.

He gets the hint and walks out of the house with his head held high and shoulders back. I slam the door shut as he goes to turn around and speak to me.

I look over at Adam, and he just picks up the laptop and disappears into his room. Grabbing a water, I enter mine and catch sight of the notebook she gave me sitting on my long dresser.

Opening it up, I look through the untouched pages and get an idea. Slamming it shut, I smile to myself. Act like a brat, get treated like a brat.