...When in Hell Read online

  I can feel it as my eyes blank out, staring towards the balcony doors, out into the sunset that’s basking down, as I continue to lie underneath him no longer fighting I can feel his fingers as they brush against my clit, but my body doesn’t react. His other hand comes up brushing up my stomach, “Fuck,” he groans against my ear, “I would rip open this fucking shirt but I know Luce would kill me if I tore his shirt.” He groans into my ear as his hand cups my breast. His fingers fall down from my clit and I want to stifle a cry, but I stop and I press myself further into my fantasy world.

  I’m lying on a beach somewhere, I can feel the sun on my skin. Just listening as the waves break against the beach.

  Only the world shifts because I can’t keep it all out. I can’t keep all my present demons and my past demons in at the same time…

  He’s chasing after me down the hall. “Please, no.” I beg him as I duck into the room.

  Then I’m even younger as the darkness surrounds and the water burns as I gasp it into my lungs.

  “WHAT THE FUCK?” I hear being shouted as the door slams against the wall, it pulls me out of my dissociation as he’s ripped from on top of me, freeing my body. Pushing myself up the bed from the side, until I rest my back against the headboard, pulling my legs into my body, and holding my hand still to my face. “Get out.” He steps up into his face and glares down at him. “Everyone get out.” He snaps, without looking over his shoulder instead he’s only staring at me.

  “Nyx...” My predator trails as he comes over to the bed, sitting down and moving towards me. Pushing myself to the opposite side of the bed, I stifle a sob as it starts. “Nyx.” He looks at me again. And finally, I’m fully back in the present. He looks at me and sighs again before he gets up and walks to the door. He opens it and then I watch as he says a couple of words before he walks back over to me and sits down close to me. “I don’t know why he was in here alone.” He tells me honestly. “He’s not supposed to be.” The door creaks open and I look up seeing the man who was just hovering over top of me with a concerned look on his face. “What did I say last time we talked about this?”

  “That I couldn’t touch another girl.” He rolls his eyes and I realize that this isn’t the first time that he’s done this.

  “That’s right.”

  “Luce, look I don’t get it. What does it matter? We’re fucking selling them to men who are just going to do the same thing. I’m just getting them used to it.” He actually fucking laughs.

  “Whatever a buyer does is their fucking business and once you have enough money to buy girls you can decide, but I’ve fucking told you before that shit isn’t going down in my house.” Then he steps into him, saying something low to him before his eyes go wide and he glances at me.

  “Yeah, I saw.” He mumbles and then My Predator shakes his head. I jump when the gun fires and my eyes widen as I watch his body collapse to the ground.

  Then he glances back at me. “Slow or quick?” He asks me, but I can’t respond and he starts again. “There’s one in his gut. I can put one in his head and put him out or he can just bleed out right here. The choice is yours.” I’m still staring at him as I hear the man groaning from the ground.

  “Quick.” I whisper as he cocks his head, staring at me, and the look commands my eyes to lock with his as he sends me a slightly questionable expression. Even though I’m expecting it, I’m still surprised when the gun fires for a second time, causing me to jump again, but Luce still hasn’t taken his eyes off of me. I hear the body fall limp just past the foot of the bed.

  “Nyx,” he walks over to me and kneels down. “Are you okay?” He asks me, reaching up and brushing the hair out of my face.

  “What do you care?” I snap out, and he nods, standing up and looks at me.

  “Get up,” this time he snaps at me.

  “What?”

  “I said, get the fuck up, don’t make me repeat myself.” He snaps again before I stand, walking over to him. His hand on the small of my back forces me forward. The gasp falls out of my mouth as we walk through the room, and I can see a body lying dead on the floor. The door opens, and he ushers me out. He motions at the man at the door to follow us. Walking me down the hallway, he moves us up the staircase to the third floor, the same floor that we came up on the first night that I was here. He moves us in the opposite direction from where we were at the other night and then into another bedroom. He nods to my warden, who turns and waits at the door.

  I’m staring out the balcony doors as I remind myself to breathe.

  How the fuck did I get myself into this?

  “Nyx,” his voice in my ear causes me to jump. “Are you okay?”

  “Why do you care?” I snap back at him, still just staring out the window. Slowly, I turn around, making it until we are standing so close to one another. “You’re just going to use me like everyone else. You’ll use me to get at Jack and get him to pay his debt, then you’ll sell me to the highest bidder. He was right about one thing, if that’s just what you’re going to do, why the fuck do you care what happens to me before?”

  He just looks down at me. “Because I’m a monster.”

  “I guess the name fits then, huh?” He looks down at me curiously and somehow it’s the first time that I’ve seen him look almost human. “Everyone keeps referring to you as Luce, which is short for Lucifer.” He actually smirks at me for a second before a short, deep laugh rolls outs.

  “No,” he shakes his head. “But you’re right. It would be fitting.”

  “Then what?” I look at him.

  “You don’t need to worry about that.” He nods his head before he leaves the room.

  Chapter 3

  Luce

  The phone rings as I sit at my desk. Answering it, I say nothing.

  “Luce?” I hear Jack say.

  “What?”

  “Is there a possibility that I can get another week?” He tells me.

  “No.”

  “Come on. You know I’m good for it.”

  “No, Jack, I don’t. You stole from me. Instead of paying me back, you and your wife left town for vacation. Now you still owe me my money and are trying to dick me around. So, no I don’t know that you’re good for it.”

  “Luce,” he mumbles, “I have some things in the works. I’ll get you your money. I just need a couple more days.”

  “Fine.” I don’t know why I’m giving him extra time, but the thought of having her here for a little longer makes me give in to him. “But Jack, I fucking swear to God. If you call me in a week and say you don’t have it. Your wife will give it to me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The hefty life insurance policy you have, will be more than enough to cover it.” He objects until he hears me laugh. It’s not loud, but I’m sure the sinister tone behind it is enough to make him stop. “Don’t worry. I’ll give her plenty of opportunities to earn it back.”

  “Okay,” he sighs, “when I bring you the money. Are you going to give me the girl back?”

  “What girl?” I ask him.

  “You know what girl I’m talking about.” He snaps out. “I saw her leaving with your men on the security footage.”

  “You know, Jack. I don’t really think she appreciates you offering her up as payment.”

  “You told her that?” He snaps out.

  “Of course, I did.” I laugh, which I’m sure sets him on edge. I don’t laugh, and when I do, it’s never because something is actually funny. “You get one more week, Jack. Get me my fucking money.” I slam the phone down. After Nyx finally told me her name, I could pull a bit of information on her. 19-year-old who has practically raised herself. She was taken from her parents when she was 8, going to live with her brother, who is 10 years older than her. Her father ended up in prison after he killed her mother and attempted to kill her.

  The only thing that the report really said was she had to be rushed to the hospital. After hackin
g into the medical records she was diagnosed with hypoxia and treated with oxygen therapy.

  He drowned her.

  ❖

  Mexico is fucking hot all the time, but this time of year it’s even fucking worse. I’m sweating before I make it off the helo that landed on the top of his building in the middle of Mexico City.

  “Lucian.” I hear the man I’m here to meet with, call out to me.

  “Arlo,” I nod at him as I step out from under the blades as they whirl over my head. Straighten the sleeves of my jacket out before I step close enough to him to shake his hand. Arlo is the head of the cartel and in his 20 years of running it, he has made it the number one crime syndicate in the world. He’s powerful. He’s ruthless. He’s also not an enemy that I ever want to make.

  Or I guess I should say that I have a complex history. He’s someone I’m trying to convince that I’m still nothing like my father.

  They were rivals. They started many wars between the two of them. Too much bloodshed.

  “Lucian, it’s been a long time.” Oh yes, and because of the rivalry, I spent a while living in Mexico.

  My mother and I did because Arlo thought that if he took us… that it would make my father react how he wanted him to. But it didn’t because my father didn’t give a fuck about us. The only reason that he kept me around is so one day I could take over for him.

  My mother got lucky, actually. She had a 50/50 shot. Had she had a girl, my father would probably gladly kill them both, because that would only be an inconvenience. He proved this fact to me later on as well. As is, my father had my mother killed as soon as I was old enough to take care of myself. Apparently, that age in his mind was 13. Just old enough that he didn’t need to take care of me, but I could raise my goddamn self. Well, that and the fact that my mother had gotten pregnant while we were in Mexico.

  Don’t get me wrong, if a woman purposefully got knocked up with my kid to trap me, I’d probably be out for fucking blood as well.

  “It’s been too long, Arlo.” I tell him as I walk with him into the building and down a couple of stairs, then into his office.

  “My condolences, about your father.” He nods his head at me again.

  “Don’t be. It was years ago.” I nod my head. He really does not need to send condolences about my piece of shit, father. He should know that. “You knew him.” I just look at the man who took better care of me and my mother in the year that I was ‘held against our will’ than my father did the whole time we were there.

  ❖

  “We’re leaving.” Mother nudges me awake. My bedroom of the last year is dark with the window open since it’s December and actually cool enough outside to let in the fresh air.

  “Why is Father finally here for us?” I ask her, praying that he wasn’t. Praying that he hadn’t yet found us. Mother looks around quickly as she walks to the door and I see Arlo standing waiting for us, a worried expression on his face.

  “Luce, get up.” She snaps at me and I do as I’m told, moving out from under the covers and following them out the door, through the house and into the Suburban. “Get in the car, sweetie.” She whispers to me and I turn when Arlo calls for me and I look at him as he sighs.

  “Son, take care of your mother.” He tells me before he reaches over and hugs me.

  “I will.” I tell him. Trying to hold back the sob that threatens to break out of my throat. My father has never hugged me or, for that, called me son. I can see Bash peaking around the corner at us, trying to see around his father. I wave a quick goodbye and do as my mother tells me to.

  She doesn’t explain why, but when I glance past the head rests, I watch her hug him tightly before I turn back around.

  As she slides back into the seat, I can see the water glistening in her eyes. “Mom?” I send her a questioning tone and she just shakes her head.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Where are we going?” I ask her as the driver pulls out of the garage, and we are leaving the compound.

  “Mom,” I finally look over to her as we sit on the private plane and she stares out the window. “Where are we going?”

  “We have to go back to the States.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Lucian, your father.” She pauses as she looks over at me again. “He found us. He was going to infiltrate the compound tomorrow.”

  “So we’re just going back to him?” I shout at her as I fight my own tears, thinking about having to deal with the unemotional dealings of my father after living a year with a man who actually showed me more love and affection than he ever did.

  “No, sweetie.” She smiles slightly. “We’re running away.”

  “Where to?”

  “Anywhere but with your father. And anywhere but where he can find us.”

  But she lied. We were gone for a month before my father found us.

  It only took a few days before she disappeared as well.

  He told me he couldn’t trust her. That she had told Arlo everything about him.

  ❖

  “Plus,” I laugh, looking back across the table at Arlo, “who do you think fucking killed him?”

  A small smirk forms on his face as he nods his head, almost as if he is actually impressed that I killed my father.

  “That makes sense then for you to take over for him.” He tells me and I just shake my head.

  “I didn’t take over his organization.” I laugh. “Everything I’m doing is mine. It’s a different organization altogether. His men who are still with me, they all understand that I will not do things how my father did things. And if they think they can disobey me.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard about your reputation.” He just laughs, shaking his head. “Did you really hang one of your men from the chandelier in your house?” Slowly I shrug.

  “You taught me well.”

  In the year that I lived with Arlo, he taught me more about not only the business but life than my father ever tried to in the rest of the years that I lived with him. He shakes his head, looking down. “I’m not sure if I taught you that.” It causes me to laugh.

  “No, you taught me how to be fair, but ruthless. My father took that and created the monster.” I motion to myself as if I’m presenting something to him.

  “Luce, you’re not a monster.” Laughing, I shake my head.

  “Arlo, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen one another.”

  “Your mother—” I laugh, shaking my head.

  “My mother,” leaning across the table I look to him again, “was an idiot who couldn’t protect herself or her child.”

  “Luce.” He snaps at me, causing me to laugh slightly as I look over and then back at him.

  “This isn’t about our past, Arlo.” I nod my head to him. “This is business.”

  “So it is.” He nods his head as my phone buzzes, but I ignore it.

  ❖

  Exhausted, I walk back into the house. It’s late, and the house is dark as I walk up the stairs. Reaching the top of the third floor, the scream comes from down the hallway.

  I look down and see Marcus’ eyes wide even in the dark as he looks at the door and then at me. “What the fuck?” I look at him and just see the worry in his eyes. “Who’s in there?” I ask him as I move towards the room

  “No one.” He tells me as another shrill scream comes from the room.

  “Shit,” I shake my head and he opens the door. “Close it, don’t let anyone else in.”

  “Nyx.” I move across the room, seeing her thrashing in the bed, and I sit down next to her. “Nyx, wake up. You’re okay…” placing my hands on her, trying to wake her up as she shoves against me. She’s pushing against me, actually moving me when I shake her. “Nyx, wake up. It’s a dream. It’s just a dream.” And then I do the only thing that I can think to do. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest. “Wake up.” I say, trying to keep my voice calm but loud enough to wake her up. Her ha
nds push against my chest hard, trying to push me away again and if this was any other situation, I would pull them off of me and chastise her for it. She’s shoving me and then I know the exact moment that she wakes up before her hands are no longer pushing against me and I hear a sob break through. “Shh, it was just a dream.” I tell her as I hold her. Her fists grab onto my shirt tightly.

  The only thing that surprises me is how when I pulled Scar off of her this morning, her eyes gave away that she wasn’t even there. Especially when she moved away from me quickly. As horrible as a person that I am, she doesn’t fear me. Even after I chased her down, pinning her to the floor, she doesn’t fear me because as much as she knows she shouldn’t want to, I can tell that she feels the same tension that I do.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers as she pushes herself off of me quickly and moves into the bathroom. The door slams and I hear the shower turn on quickly.

  I let her shower alone as I sit on the bed waiting for her to come back out.

  Chapter 4

  Nyx

  As much as I scrub, I can’t scrub away the feeling.

  This is the 3rd shower I’ve had today and I still can’t get the feeling of his hands off of me.

  Stepping out of the bathroom, I’m a little surprised when I see Luce still sitting on the bed. He’s looking at me with a strange look. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that he almost looks human, but I do know better. I know that he’s the closest thing to the devil incarnate.

  But the devil is still somehow an angel, which explains his alluring appearance. In fact, the devil may be the most intriguing angel. Beautiful, powerful, yet with no morals to hold him back from doing whatever he pleases to.