The Salvation of Daniel (The Blue Butterfly Book 2) (13 page)

“You refused to cheat.” I whispered her sister’s words to her with a small smile. “And for that, Mae would love you unconditionally.”

“But don’t you see? I did cheat. I cheated death, I cheated Mae’s death.”

“No you didn’t, Connie. You just played the game with the only cards you had in your hand at that time. Anybody would have made the same decision. Giving up your own life is far from cheating, it’s the most honest thing you could ever grant.”

Sadness was thick and heavy around us. She nodded. “I need to be alone.”

I had a feeling this was the first time she’d ever openly dealt with what she had done, her sorrow and guilt drowning her.

Standing, I gave her a nod. “I’ll be back in a while.”

She gave me a small smile, the hold of her eyes on mine giving me thanks. I slid my thumb across her cheekbone, wiping away the stray tear that wasn’t fluid enough to make its escape. She blinked slowly, her face dark with burden but I heeded her wishes and turned away.

I didn’t miss the uncontrolled sob that echoed behind the closed door when I pulled it to.

WHAT THE HELL had happened? My sobs had died down, my guilt over Mae once more pushed aside. Daniel, or rather the last hour spent with him, filled my thoughts. Telling him my secrets was both a relief but worrying. I was usually a private person and the reason I opened up was a mystery. His love for Mae astounded me. I hadn’t thought him capable and if it wasn’t for the fact I’d seen him struggle to separate the two of us, then I’d have still never believed it of him.

My own words had fractured something inside me, because at one time, I’d thought them. I’d crushed my own sister at school, made fun of her with the rest of the small-minded bitches. Guilt and self-hatred had been my own form of self-harm since her death. What I wouldn’t give to go back and tell her the truth, tell her that I was the more insecure out of both of us. She’d been strong enough to embrace the gentle side of her, and to stick to her beliefs whereas I had been too weak to let mine be seen. I’d conformed to peer pressure, yet Mae had fought to just be herself. And that made her the toughest.

My head snapped to the door when it pushed open. A man stood in the doorway, his cold blue eyes narrow, his thin lips pulled into a cruel sneer. His head was tilted to the side as he studied me, his gaze slowly roaming over my naked body. My heart skipped a beat. I was unaware of him, my Intel hadn’t included this guy and I hated being unprepared.

“Ahh.” He smiled, but it was far from a welcoming one, his handsome face twisting into vicious grin. “Finally we meet.”

I watched him, bracing myself as he approached. He slid his hands into his trouser pockets as he came to stand in front of me, rocking on the balls of his feet as he locked gazes with me. There was something wrong with him. He stood rigid, almost as though he’d been frozen as he regarded me. He tutted and shook his head. “It appears Daniel is losing his touch.”

My eyes widened and I forced myself to sag when he snatched my throat in his hand and pulled me to the floor in front of him. “Kneel, bitch!”

Okay. Breathe. One. Two. Three….

He forced me lower until I sat back on my heels, my backside squashed under his forceful positioning.

Four. Five. Six…

I was struggling against the need to cut this bastard’s throat, my teeth clenched so tight I was sure I was pushing them into my gums.

Mae. Seven. Mae. Eight. Mae. Nine. You’re doing this for Mae…

“Where’s your fucking discipline?” He twisted my hair severely, pulling me across the room until I was slung the rest of the way, my body colliding with a large metal pole fixed to the ceiling and floor.

The Phantom inside me was battling with need to play the game. I wanted to break this fucker’s neck, rip his throat out with my fingers but I knew to get the final prize I had to succumb to what came in-between.

My eyes widened when a leather collar was wrapped around my neck and locked into place with a clasp. I pulled away from him but jerked back when the chain attached to the choker refused me any freedom. My fingers curled around it when I was yanked backwards, the bastard tightening the leash until my body was pulled up the pole, my feet leaving the floor, my body suspended from the chain.

“If you want to live then I suggest you grab onto those handgrips.”

I squinted at the pole, my eyes watering from slowly being dangled and choked. Two tiny metal bars stuck out from the pole above my head. Reaching up, I grabbed them, pulling my body with the action until the chain had some give in it, loosening the hold around my neck.

“I did wonder what all the excitement was about.” I stiffened when his palm slid down the curve of my spine. “You are stunning. The scars you bare are something of a concern but I’m sure we can work around those. Although I’m intrigued as to how you got them.”

“I was a stunt double for 007.”

I heard his gulp as he swallowed his amusement. “Really? Then you’ll be accustomed to the excitement of performance.”

What the fuck was this guy on? I had to be so careful not to fight him too much, yet I wouldn’t allow him to have free rein over me, the midpoint proving rather difficult to attain in my need for revenge and the schooled discipline implanted inside me from Isaac.

“Excitement of performance,” I echoed. “What did you have in mind?”

My hands started to sweat making it increasingly difficult to grip the bars. He needed to hurry the fuck up with whatever he was going to do.

He was silent and I turned to look over my shoulder. My gut clenched when he twirled a small knife in his fingers, his intense gaze on my face, his thin lips showcasing his vindictiveness. “Performance is everything, don’t you think Connie… or should I call you…
Shadow
.”

Shit! Fuck! FUCK!!

“And to who do I owe the pleasure?” I was stalling, my brain trying to work through several scenarios as I strived to locate a plan. I winced, clamping together my teeth, as he drew the tip of the blade down my back, blood already trickling over my naked backside.

Shit!

My eyes flew around the room, hunting for anything that could give me either a plan or a way out. How the fuck had he found out? It didn’t make any sense.

“You really didn’t do your homework did you? And for a Queen Phantom, that surprises me.”

“I think you should allow me the privilege of a name before you kill me.”

“The only thing I should allow you is a very painful death,” he spat as he twisted the knife into the flesh between my hip and waist. My jaw trembled with the pain but I locked it down, concentrated on the adrenaline. The vitality coursing through my veins enlivened the Phantom inside me; every thought, every sensation and each single breath pushed aside to make way for the assassin to manifest. Calmness surrounded me, slowing the beat of me heart and most probably saving my life as my blood thickened and the rush slowed each bodily function.

My head fell back when he sliced another line adjacent to the first. I needed to do something quick. Concentrating on the hold of the grips, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my thoughts on nothing but the position of him.

“My name is Darren Trent. Ring any bells?”

Shit!

I wouldn’t let the guilt consume me, not at that moment, it would destroy me. Nodding, I gave him the attention he deserved. “Did Isaac send you?”

He narrowed his eyes on me, his cold stare sending chills through me. “Isaac sent me here a long time ago. Do you know nothing?”

Confusion caused me to frown. “What? I don’t understand.”

I hissed when he dug the knife into more flesh, his hand twisting, burrowing it deeper until the pain became almost unbearable. I wouldn’t allow myself to die before I’d enacted my revenge. I owed Mae that much.

He scoffed, leaning into me. “You know,” he sighed heavily as though bored, “for husband and wife, you two really don’t share pillow talk, do you?”

“Listen, Darren.” I tracked the metal chain, my eyes following its length up to a metal ring secured to the ceiling then down into Darren’s grip. “Blade, your brother, gave me no choice. You know how it is, kill or be killed.” I slipped one hand off the pole and onto the chain above my head making sure not to pull on it.

“He wasn’t sent to kill you though, was he? He was ordered to carry out an order you couldn’t fucking fulfil. He was sent to fucking ASSIST YOU!”

“She’s my niece and she’s innocent in all this!”

He snorted. “And he was my brother and your friend.” The forbidden gasp that left me fucked me off when he stabbed the blade into my shoulder. Shit, I needed to do this fast.

“Why did he send you here?”

He didn’t answer until he moved in front of me – right where I needed him. He grinned smugly. “Because he knew you’d go rogue, Shadow. How does it feel to be stabbed in the back by your own husband?”

I locked him in my stare, sighing as many different emotions swirled through me. “I’m sorry, Darren. And for what it’s worth, your brother was a good person and one of the best Phantoms there was.”

His face contorted into fury, his attention solely on the hatred that my words initiated. “Better than you were,” he bit out as he stepped forward to drive the knife into my stomach.

I swung my legs, wrapping them around his neck as I let both hands yank at the chain, pulling him up with the help of my body weight and the secure hold on his neck. The excess slack in the chain gave me enough leverage to twist and snap his neck. His dead weight wrenched the chain, his body dropping to the floor and heaving my own body upwards sharply. The choke was suffocating as my lungs struggled to cope with the restriction of air, my throat burning as I was slowly strangled. I grabbed the chain again, attempting to pull it but Darren’s bulk refused me any leeway.

Fuck! I refused to die there, like that. I knew I didn’t deserve much out of life, but I’d hoped death would be a little more accommodating.

Swinging towards the pole was impossible as I reached out to it with a leg. My system was starting to shut down as I clawed at the clasp on my collar. My eyes shot to Darren then zeroed in on his pocket knowing the key to the collar was in it, but he was too far away, his corpse resting on the floor. God damn! My vision blurred, my heart beat slowing as my organs started to go into shock.

“Fuck!”

Daniel rushed over to me, shifting his body under me until I was straddled on his shoulders. My lungs filled rapidly, my gasps for air sending my brain into a panic.

“Slowly, Connie. Take long slow breaths.”

I knew how to breathe, stupid arsehole! I rested my hands on his head and dropped my forehead onto my hands as a wave of dizziness came over me. “Are you always this late to the party?”

He chuckled as he kicked at Darren, probably making sure he was definitely dead. “Hold onto the pole while I get the key.” He directed my body back to the pole and I took hold of it once more.

He caught me when he unlocked the collar and I fell. “Fuck,” I blew out.

“What the fuck happened?”

“We need to get out of here!”

“What?” He blinked at me, his forehead creased in puzzlement.

“They know who I am.” I dropped from his hold when he lowered my feet to the floor.

“Shit. Your back.”

“Superficial. Don’t worry about it.”

“It doesn’t look superficial, Connie. They are quite deep.” He turned me round to get a better look at the wounds.

“We can deal with them later. Right now, we don’t have time.”

He sighed, giving me a cautious look. “Are you sure. There’s no other way? This will ruin everything.”

I stared at him. “My death will ruin everything, Daniel. Don’t worry, this doesn’t change the end game, just the route we take across the board.” He shrugged but nodded. “Are we clear?”

“Yeah, the house is empty.” He dropped his eyes to Darren. “Well, it is now.”