“There was.” He relaxes back into the leather of his seat. “But circumstances change. And I saw an opportunity. The Lords needed someone to do their dirty work.”
“Blackout?” I make sure I’m following.
He nods. “I was supposed to wear a suit and tie, run a multibillion dollar business—have the gorgeous wife with a dog, two kids.” He waves his hand in the air. “All that shit. Which, at one point, I thought I wanted. But just like anyone else, I changed my mind and presented the Lords with an offer. I choose to take Blackout for one reason.”
“Which is?” I ask slowly, wondering if I’m digging in too much, but he’s willingly giving me information. Ryat would never tell me about Tyson, and I respect that about him. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.
“They agreed to let me pick who I marry. When the time comes.” A slow devious smile spread across his face, showing off his perfectly white teeth.
My frown deepens. “You wanted freedom to pick who you marry so much that you gave up your higher title of a Lord?”
That smiles widens into something sinister. “I’m the kind of man who will crawl across the floor and lick the dirt off your shoes like a peasant begging a king for some scraps. Just to make you think I’m weak. So, when they look away from me, I can slit their throats.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
RYAT
I OPEN MY heavy eyes and smell the sterilized room before I even see the white walls and realize I’m in a hospital bed. I go to lift my right arm, and it doesn’t budge. “Not again …” My eyes fall to look at it, half expecting it to be handcuffed to the railing, but instead, there’s a brunette cuddled up to my side, sleeping on it.
Blake! Thank God. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead, letting my lips linger to feel the touch of her skin on my lips.
Her eyes flutter open, and it takes her a second to focus on me. “Ryat?” She gasps. “You’re awake.” She goes to get up, but I hold her in place.
“No, Blake …”
“But Dr. Gavin—”
“No. please.” I pull her into me. “Stay here.” I take in the smell of her hair, that familiar strawberry smell making me smile. “Stay here with me. For just a bit longer.”
“Okay, Ryat.” She looks up at me and gently kisses my cheek.
“God, I missed you,” I say, and her eyes fill with tears.
“Don’t ever do that again,” she growls. “Just so you know, I’m going to kick your ass when you get to go home.”
I laugh and kiss her forehead. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
The moment she answers, I see the bruise on her eye. “He hit you?”
“I’m fine …” She pulls away.
“Blake.” I growl. “Tell me what he did to you.” I’m going to make him confess his sins of LeAnne to the Lords at confessional but not what he did to her. I don’t want everyone knowing what my wife went through.
Sighing, she runs her hand through her hair. “He told me to run.”
I frown, remembering something about a game. “Why would he …？”
“He wanted to act out my fantasy,” she whispers nervously. “Told me to run from him. He wanted to catch me and rape me.”
My teeth clench, my muscles stiffening, making my already sore body worse.
“I was able to keep him off at first. Then he caught me, and Tyson was there …”
“We needed Matt to believe that Tyson was there for you,” I inform her. Matt was going to be suspicious no matter how it went down, but we knew he wouldn’t pass up on having the extra help to use her. “He had to play a part.”
She snorts. “He played it well. Tyson had me thinking he was in on the attack at Blackout. He even threw me onto the coffee table …”
“He had to get close to you,” I say even though I hate the fact that he touched her. Not pissed that he was rough with her, but that he put his hands on her in any way. Or the fact that Matt honestly thought he and Tyson were going to rape my wife. “We knew he’d have you restrained somehow. It was either rope, zip ties, or handcuffs.”
She frowns, her brows pulling together. “That’s why the key was in my pocket?” I nod. “Tyson put it there while I was lying on the coffee table.”
The moment that Tyson saw she was cuffed, he had to get close to her. “I’m sorry, Blake.”
“I’m fine.” She grabs my hand. Giving me a soft smile, she adds, “Matt never touched me.”