Madness: Part 2 – Chapter 68

I’m so tired and have a pounding headache. My ears are still ringing. I packed a bag, and we were out of the house within ten minutes.

We pull up to Carnage, and as we enter, Saint and Kashton are already standing right inside. They pay me no attention. Haidyn had called them on our way, and they were way more concerned that we were attacked than the fact that Haidyn mentioned I was with him.

“I’ll meet you in the office,” he tells them both, and they turn, heading to the stairs. Haidyn places his hand on my shoulder and turns me to face him. Cupping my face, he kisses my lips tenderly. “Go up to my room and try to get some rest, okay?”

“How long will you be?”

“I don’t know.” He sighs, and I know that’s as good of an answer as I’m going to get.

“Okay.” I pull away and choose to use the elevator. I have one of Haidyn’s duffel bags over one shoulder and Muffin in my arm. I didn’t want to leave her behind, and Haidyn didn’t argue when I put some cat food in a to-go container, cleaned out her litter box, and grabbed some extra litter. Adam comes and goes, and I didn’t want to be here worrying about her there. And what if whoever broke in goes back, and she’s there all alone? I can’t take that chance.

I purposely kept my left hand shoved into Haidyn’s hoodie to hide my ring when we entered. I feel like there’s a reason Haidyn hasn’t brought me to Carnage and has chosen to hide out at his house. We’ve been forced to be here. I understand why, but I’m going to lay as low as I can.

I’m in the elevator, making my way up to Haidyn’s room while he’s in their office explaining what happened and trying to find out who is after him. Muffin jumps out of my hand just as the door slides open, and I go to run down the hallway after her.

I come to a stop when I see the door at the opposite end of the hall open, and Ashtyn steps out. Her dark hair is up in a messy bun, and she’s wearing a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top as if she was in bed and woken up. She looks the same as she did in the pictures and videos that the Lords sent me except her hair is a little darker.

“Hey there, pretty kitty.” She bends down and picks up my cat. “How did you get in here?” Ashtyn scratches between her ears, making her purr.

“Her name is Muffin,” I speak.

Ashtyn looks up and gives me a warm smile. “Hi.” She begins to walk toward me. Her eyes quickly scan my busted face, but her smile doesn’t falter. “I’m Ashtyn. I’ve seen you before but haven’t had the chance to introduce myself.” She reaches out her right hand to me. “I’m Saint’s wife.”

“Charlotte,” I say, placing my right hand in hers while removing my left one from the front pocket of my husband’s hoodie. “Haidyn’s wife.” That’s something she’ll never be to him.

Her smile falls, and her blue eyes widen as they drop to my left hand. Her hand falls from mine, and I reach out, taking my cat she has tucked into her left arm. “Oh, uh…” She stumbles over her words. “I didn’t know Haidyn was seeing anyone.”

“Several months now.” Not a total lie.

She nods her head as if she’s supposed to know this. “Congratulations.” Her eyes meet mine, and she gives me a forced smile.

“Thank you,” I say. “It was nice to meet you.” With that, I put in the code to Haidyn’s door. Entering the room, I place Muffin on the floor. She immediately runs and jumps on his bed, and I quickly remove her stuff from Haidyn’s duffel bag, setting up her things in the corner. Then I undress and crawl into his bed as well, sighing as his cool sheets envelop me.

I probably shouldn’t have said anything to her because I doubt Haidyn has told his brothers that we’re married. But I wanted her to know that he has me. I’ve already protected him more than she ever did. And I’ll do whatever he needs in order to protect my Lord. I’m not going to turn my back on him. Instead, I’m going to prove myself to her or anyone else who challenges our marriage.

HAIDYN

I enter the office to see Kash and Saint sitting at their desks. Their conversation dies the moment their eyes meet mine, and I know they were discussing my wife being here with me.

“So Charlotte—” Saint starts.

“This isn’t about her.” I stop him from finishing that sentence. I have a feeling it is, but they don’t need to know that. I’m just here because I’m buying time for Adam to do some digging. I’ll send Saint and Kash on a wild goose chase in the meantime.

“Did you get a look at him?” Kash questions.

“He was wearing a mask,” I answer.

“A Lords mask?” Saint asks.

I shake my head. “A black ski mask.”

“Hmm.” Kash speaks. “Like the guy who attacked Charlotte in the bathroom?”

I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest. “Yes,” I answer, getting a sickening feeling in my stomach as they exchange a look. It’s not uncommon for a criminal to cover their face, especially nowadays. Cameras are everywhere. The fact that there was no car in the driveway makes me wonder how far he walked to get there. Or was he dropped off from down the street? I hate having to rely on Adam to figure it out. But if anyone can, it’s him.

“Anything new from Benny?” I inquire, trying to get their minds off my wife.

Saint shakes his head, and Kash just snorts.

“What if I have something that could work?” I offer. While Charlotte dressed and packed a bag for Muffin, I packed a few things of my own.

Saint sits up. “Whatever it is, let’s try it.”

We make our way down to the basement and I follow them both past the cells and to the last one on the right. Saint unlocks the door, and we step inside. Benny lies in the center of the concrete box; he’s missing an entire arm from his elbow down and one eye is swollen completely shut. His right leg looks to be broken. Saint has spent some time fucking the man up.

I pull the syringe out of my pocket and bite off the cap. Once I inject it into his neck, I stand and step back, giving him a few seconds for it to kick in.

His head falls from side to side before his chest heaves through a cough. “Why are you here?” I question, testing the waters.

“Because…of Ashtyn.”

I look at Saint, and he frowns at me. “What the fuck did you give him?”

“Truth serum,” I answer.

We’re not ones to use that shit here. Carnage is about torture, but it’s obvious Saint’s beat him quite a bit, and the bastard still refuses to talk. So we’re going to consider this desperate times call for desperate measures.

Saint walks over to him and taps his steel-toed boot into his side. “How did you gain access to Carnage to kidnap my wife?”

His one eye looks around aimlessly, and he licks his busted lips. “She…she let us in.”

“Who the fuck is she?” Saint snaps.

“Costello,” he mumbles, and I stiffen.

Fuck! I was hoping it wasn’t possible and that Kash was wrong when he told me his theories.

“Why the fuck would she let you into Carnage? What does she get from it?”

“All of you,” he answers, and I run a hand down my face.

“She wanted us dead?” Kash asks.

He nods. “Yes.”

I shake my head. He can’t be lying, but I think that’s just what he was told and made to believe. Otherwise, we’d already be dead.

“How did you know where our trackers were?” I ask. We’ve had ours since after our training, but Saint gave Ashtyn hers when he brought her back recently.

“Em-emerson,” he answers.

Saint steps forward. “How the fuck would he know where Ashtyn’s tracker was?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“I do,” I say and they both look at me. “That day you had Emerson escort her to the office. He had ripped open her robe, and you could see the bruise on her hip,” I say.

Saint runs a hand through his hair. “I should have killed him instead of cutting off his hand. Thankfully, I can remedy that mistake.”

I pull the picture out of my back pocket and show it to Benny. “Who is in this with you?”

He’s staring at the picture, but I don’t think he’s really seeing it. Saint grips his hair and yanks him to sit up. Grasping the back of his neck, he holds Benny in place so he can look at it. “Answer the fucking question,” he shouts, shaking him.

“It’s…it’s my cousin,” he slurs.

“What’s his name?” I demand. I figured they were related somehow.

“Hudson Owens,” he whispers.

Saint shoves him to the ground, and I sigh. “Well, at least we have a name,” I offer.

“Where the hell did you get that?” Saint asks me.

“After I left, I went to Vegas. Benny had someone set his place on fire, wanting everything destroyed. I guess in case we found out where he lived. He didn’t want anyone leading him to Ashtyn. But the picture survived. I’ve been searching for answers.”

“Why didn’t you give this to me when you found it?” he snaps.

“I’m giving it to you now,” I argue. “You almost beat him to death.” I point down at Benny. “Obviously, you wouldn’t have gotten any answers.”

“You don’t know that,” he shouts.

“Guys.” Kash steps forward, placing a hand on each of our chests to push us apart.

I turn to head upstairs and crawl into bed with my wife. The idea of being buried balls deep in her pussy is already helping my sour mood, but Saint ruins it when he speaks next.

“How’d you get Charlotte into your bed?”

I come to a stop and turn to face him. “Excuse me?”

He smirks, and Kashton runs his hand through his hair, growling, “Saint.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I demand, stepping back toward them.

“I’m just curious.” He crosses his tatted arms over his chest, widening his stance. He’s mad at me and wanting to start a fight.

“You know if it wasn’t for us, she wouldn’t be in your life.”

“Goddammit,” Kash hisses, giving us his back.

I highly doubt that, but I’ll bite. “Meaning?”

Saint steps into me. “We made a deal with the Lords.”

His words make my pulse race. I look at Kash, and he’s avoiding eye contact with me as he paces the hallway. “What kind of deal?” I demand, getting a sickening feeling that they know who she really is. Did they find out that she was lying about her identity? If so, what are they going to do about it? They can’t turn her in. She’s my wife. They just don’t know that I made her my Lady, and I’d prefer it to stay that way.

“We make sure you see a therapist, and they make sure you don’t end up down here in a cage,” Saint answers.

I frown, not understanding what he means.

Kashton sighs, his eyes finally meeting mine, and he softly speaks. “The Lords wanted us to lock you up, Haidyn. Not in a prisoner kind of way, but to protect you. After…” He swallows. “To make sure you didn’t off yourself.”

I grind my teeth. “I didn’t try to kill myself.” I’m really fucking tired of having to say those words.

“She hated you for what you did.” Kash states the obvious about the bitch who moved in to train us. “She saw our training as a chance to get revenge. And you took the most punishments⁠—”

“I did.” I step closer to them. My narrowed eyes go to Saint’s. She hated me for other reasons, but my brothers didn’t deserve what she had planned for them. “Because I was the one who helped Ashtyn escape.” He stiffens at my confession although this isn’t fucking news to him since Benny ratted me out. “I did my best to keep her attention on me because it was my fault the Lords sent her,” I growl.

“Haidyn—”

“But I never tried to kill myself because of it,” I spit. “You guys can believe whatever the fuck you want but tell the Lords the deal is done. I don’t want Charlotte involved.” It could cause them to dig into her deeper. Or the Lords may out her to them, hoping that my brothers take care of her. I won’t let them near her. It’s one of the reasons I’ve kept her as far away from here as possible. “And whoever I choose to fuck is no one’s business.”

“And apparently where you are and whether or not you’re alive is no one’s business either.” Kash snaps getting mad at me. “Where the fuck have you been, Haidyn?” he demands.

I look at Saint. “Saint knows where I’ve been. Don’t you? He dropped by my house the other day and said hi.” It’s a cheap shot but I’m ready for a fight. I’m also testing him to see if he mentions Adam being there. If he’ll add fuel to this fire or try to put it out.

“What the fuck, man?” Kash turns to face him. “His house? How the fuck did you know where he’s been?”

Saint’s jaw sharpens but he doesn’t answer. Instead, he just glares at me. Good choice.

Kashton turns his attention back on me. “Has it all been about her? Have you two been shacked up somewhere just so you can fuck her?” He scoffs at his own question. “As if you’ve ever needed privacy to fuck a woman.”

I step into him, and it takes everything I have to not break his goddamn nose. “What I do with her and how I choose to do it, is none of your business. So back the fuck off, Kash.” He needs to drop this conversation about my wife right now before he goes too far.

His nostrils flare and his chest bows out. I’m not in the mood for this shit. Not tonight.

Kash takes a step back, shaking his head as if disappointed in me. He’s not the first and definitely won’t be the last.

Giving them my back, I exit the basement and make my way to the birdcage to find Charlotte and Muffin asleep in bed.

After undressing, I crawl in next to her. She rolls over to face me, her arm going to my chest, and I run my fingers up and down it while I stare up at the ceiling.

“Everything okay?” she whispers.

“Everything’s fine, doll face. You’re safe,” I assure her and turn onto my side, kissing her forehead. “Go back to sleep.”