22
This much rage has no output, no way to be released. There’s only one thing I know that will remedy it and he is still yet to be found.
My hands grip the marble counter, my chest heaving with each breath I take, trying to steady the fury I feel sliding through my veins. I can still smell her on my skin, my cock is still wet with her arousal, the sweat beading on my skin and yet fucking her has not released a single ounce of this tension.
And I know why.
It’s no longer a game to keep the city, no longer revenge for the murder of my mother but it’s something else entirely. It is justice for my woman, it is ensuring she never has to see his face unless it’s ripped away from his shoulders.
I splash cold water on my face once I’ve calmed a little more and then climb into the shower, allowing the heat to release some of the tension coiling my muscles. I hear the door open and Wren enter but I don’t turn to her as she climbs into the shower behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and leaning her cheek to my spine. Her breathing is a balm on my soul, her presence a beacon cutting a path through the darkness.
One hand is flat against my abdominal muscles, the other resting over my left pec, my heartbeat beneath her palm.
I take in a deep breath, dropping my head so the water hits me in the back of the skull.
We stay like that, her curled and plastered to my back whilst I calm, fingers gently whispering against my skin.
Wren eats her breakfast quietly, seemingly lost in her head as she takes small bites of the toast on the plate in front of her and gently sips her coffee. Dark shadows line her eyes from lack of sleep but overall, she appears to be getting healthier once more, the weight she lost in the time she was with Valentine slowly filling her back out and the glow under her skin becoming more vibrant every day. I’m sifting through emails when Ryker stumbles into the kitchen, still sleep mused and in the same clothes he wore yesterday.
Wren instantly shoots to her feet, crossing the space between them before she’s jabbing her finger in his face, “I swear to god, if you touch a single finger on her body, Ryker, I will kill you.”
“Excuse me?” Ryker squares his shoulders, on high alert. He won’t touch Wren but it raises my hackles nonetheless.
“Rory.”
Ryker’s head snaps back, offended, “What the fuck is your problem!?” He growls.
“Watch it.” I snap.
“No,” Ryker hisses, “why the fuck would you even fucking say shit like that? I’m not your fucking father, Wren.”
I stand from the table abruptly, stepping up to Wren as she takes a step back, her hands clenching at her sides, “Enough!”
“Then why the fuck are you sleeping with her?” Wren growls.
“Because she’s fucking scarred,” Ryker furiously taps at his temple, “She’s broken. Won’t sleep. Won’t eat, won’t even fucking shower and for whateverfuckedup reason, the only way I can get her to calm is if I fucking hold her!”
I had told Wren this though I couldn’t blame her for not believing me, but she didn’t know Ryker like I did. There were lines we wouldn’t cross, even for us, the Silver family have never used or extorted women, let alone human beings for profit, it wasn’t something that interested us. The skin trade was a seedy, dirty place to be and there were better ways to make money.
Valentine however wasn’t just trading, he wasinit. Allowing his men in on the business, letting those girls be beaten, tortured and raped before he sold them off like livestock, something that would have happened to Wren had Kingston not been the one to ‘buy’ her in return for protection.
The reminder turns the breakfast I ate sour. I fucking owed him.
I hated debt.
Fucking hated it.
It was worth Wren’s life and I’ll pay, even if I loathed the idea.
“I need to see her, maybe I’ll be able to get through to her,” Wren murmurs, leaning back on me further, Ryker’s words sinking under her skin.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Wren,” Ryker softens, reaching out to touch Wren’s arm.
She stiffens but doesn’t pull away and he drops his arm, flicking his eyes to me.
When was it that women became more important than anything else in this business?
Before, I would have done everything to see this city thrive, burn everything to the ground to ensure the Silver name stayed on top but now, I’d level the entire thing to the ground if it meant keeping my little bird safe.