Dark Desire

Chapter Twenty-eight

WOLFF

I tipped the glass over my mouth and the liquid poured down my throat like acid. You can be drunk on lust and alcohol just the same. Only this time, I intended to numb everything that makes me feel. Every trickle of alcohol down my throat, every bitter taste lingering in my mouth, I savored it. The more I consume it, the more I forget the pained look on Mariana's face.

I threw the empty glass down the carpeted floor, letting it tumble over silently and clutched the neck of the whiskey, bringing it closer to my lips until its contents flowed freely into my mouth.

"I can't."

"I'm sore. It would hurt."

"Wolff."

Yet, no matter how much I poison myself, I couldn't dull the ache in Mariana's voice. She's saying it to me over and over and over and over again, relentlessly, until I'm soaking in my own tears and hatred. Even when I close my eyes, I couldn't unsee the hurt I put her to. I did exactly what I feared of doing and now the guilt was killing me.

***

I woke up to voices outside my door and the throbbing headache that seemed to be cracking my head apart slowly.

"...back home. He's not getting any better with you. We shouldn't have made you sign that contract."

"What are you saying? You can't just—"

"Look at him! He's suffering. You're hurting him, Mariana."

"Oh, fuck you. You have the audacity to tell me that I'm hurting him?"

"What he needs is someone he could fuck relentlessly. Not someone who's fragile and sensitive and whose emotions would get in the way of getting what he wants!"

When I heard a crash, I jolted up to my feet. Despite my whirling vision, I managed to step out of my room without stumbling over nothing.

What I saw caused my blood to boil over in rage.

Mariana was sprawled down Axel's feet, clutching her cheek like he might have just slapped her. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't notice the smirk etched on Axel's face. What the hell?

Enraged, I marched down the hall with closed fists, wasting no time to drive it towards his face and slamming against his jaw before he could even notice my presence.

Axel staggered back a few steps, shock taking over his features as he looked over to me. "Kurt, what the fuck?"

I ignored him and turned to Mariana, helping her to her feet. As soon as she's steady, I held her face, inspecting the reddish bruise forming on her cheek. It took everything in me not to strangle Axel in that moment. If it wasn't for Mariana leaning in to my touch, I would have lost it.

"I'm sorry," Mariana said to me, her chin wobbling. A tear fell down her face and I wiped it gently, leaning down to place my lips against her forehead.

"Don't be," I told her. "We'll talk about this later."

I didn't let go of Mariana as I turned back to face Axel—the man I've trusted my whole life. The man I've trusted more than myself. He's the only person I considered my family. Yet, I hadn't known he was capable of doing something as unforgivable as laying a hand on a woman.

He snickered when he saw the look on my face. "Really, Kurt? Disgust?" His laugh was unsettling, as well as the unfamiliar look in his eyes I had never noticed before. "Look in the fucking mirror first before you decide to look at me like that."

I couldn't form the right words to say to him. All I want was to smash my fists against his face. Jesus, I couldn't even recognize the person in front of me right now.

"We've always been the same, Kurt. Brothers. We understand each other in ways no one can. Why else do you think I stayed with you all these years?" He inched closer and I moved Mariana behind me. "Why do you think I can pretend to be you so well as W.K. Finnegan?"

Mariana's clutch on my shirt grew tighter, almost as if she wanted to haul me out of here. "It's okay," I whispered to her, wishing I could comfort her right now; make her feel less threatened the same way she rescued me in that diner with those women.

Axel snorted. "Your little redemption," he perused Mariana, shaking his head. "I should have known she was a wrong choice when it took longer for you to touch her. Don't you see it?" He turned to me. "She's taking control over you. What you need is someone to control, someone to use around as much as you need to get your high."

All those years of finding virgins for me, planning the arrangements and making the contracts...he enabled my actions no matter how questionable they were because he never intended for me to get better. He wanted to feed my fire—to make it burn brighter.

I turned to Mariana. "Go to my room, Mariana. I need to talk to him alone. Please."

Reluctantly, she nodded and locked herself inside my room.

Seeing Axel in a new light felt more than being stabbed in the back. It's a knife in the chest, right in front of your eyes, stabbing you over and over again until it hits you that this person was never the one you should have kept so close.

"Look at you," he spat. "Weak. Vulnerable. Guilty of fucking a girl. Guilty of loving the way she squirmed beneath your rough hands. Guilty of finding pleasure in the way she screamed your name in pain."

When I let my fist barrel into his face again, he fell onto the floor laughing. Blood trickled down his broken nose and sipped through his mouth, staining his teeth red.

"You fucking asshole. I trusted you." I pinned him to the ground and punched him again and again, my knuckles stinging with every hit.

"What are you gonna do, Kurt? Fire me? Imprison me?" He taunted. "I have a hold of every file in your office. Every account in your name. Every contract you've signed in the past."

His skin tore and bleed underneath my equally bruised knuckles. "Fuck you."

"Ah, yes. That's all you've ever known," he spat down the floor, wiping his face with the sleeve of his blazer. "Fucking," he grinned so big the split on his lips started bleeding profusely. "God, you're your mother's son."

At that, I gripped the collar of his shirt and dragged him up, coming close to his face as I growled. "The fuck did you just say to me?!"

Instead of answering, Axel picked up his phone and placed it on his ear, a smile on his face. His eyes never left mine as he spoke to the phone. "Victoria, he's here. I got Wolff."

That's when I heard the sirens.