Antidote by LC Lehesaho

43

My heart jumps to my throat as the icy chills rush down my spine.

This can't be happening.

"Step back, and don't even think about doing anything reckless." Luke's smooth voice comes from my back, and I do as told, lifting my palms, shocked to the bone.

Tiger looks over his shoulder, rage radiating out of him in waves.

"I will kill you." He stares past me to Luke, who is pointing a gun to my head. "I will fucking. Kill. You."

Luke's bouncy laugh fills the air, dripping now with sarcasm. "I gave you many chances, but you didn't take them. Feeling stupid now, huh, fucker? I should get a bloody Oscar for my acting skills. I swear, all the times you listened to everyone else, obeyed rules, and didn't kill me, those will haunt you for the rest of your life. And each and every one of those times is a score for me."

My head is spinning, unable to understand what is going on.

"Take their guns," Luke commands someone else, and another guy, dressed like a fucking commando, starts to search my body, taking every blade and gun I have on me. Another G.I. Joe does the same to Tiger, and he literally shakes with anger. Then I get a poke from the gun at my head. "Get on your fucking knees, both of you."

Tiger's jaw is ticking as he keeps staring at Luke, not moving even an inch, and I know he is going through different scenarios in his mind to get us out of here.

I'm too shocked to think.

"Now," Luke snarls. "Or I'll shoot her brain all over your fucking face, tough guy."

I follow Tiger's example, and after we drop to our knees—side by side—I try to get my head together.

Luke circles in front of us, and from what I had time to count, there are at least two guys behind us and over ten in front. I focus on Luke's face, while he grins at me—looking nothing like himself. The usual softness of his features has changed to malice.

"What the fuck is going on here, Luke?" I ask him, still unable to believe that he... my chest tightens. This can't be happening.

He places his gun-free hand to his chest, bowing slightly with a wide smirk on his face. "I'm not really Luke, darling, but close. My name is Levi." He winks at me, and from the corner of my eye, I see Tiger's knuckles turning even more white on top of his thighs. "The real Luke Buchanan has been fish food for the past two weeks. Surprise."

"What the fuck do you want?" Tiger says, his voice low and ominous.

His chest rises and falls as he breathes like an ox, ready to skin Luke—Levi—alive.

"What I want," Levi says, turning his bright blue eyes to me. "Is for you to open your fucking eyes and stop sucking your brother's cock." His expression turns angrier every waking second, and he scowls at me grimly. "I was nice to you, no, I was fucking perfect for you, but still, you run after him. I gave you everything you've been dreaming of, and you wanna be my friend?"

Tiger speaks while I still try to understand the situation. "Is that what this is all about? You're pointing a fucking gun at her 'cause she chose me and not you?"

Levi snaps his gaze to Tiger, moving the gun toward him too. "In a way, yes, but there's also the bigger picture. I'm on the payroll of someone who has a lot of things to say to you and daddy Hayes, but this has become a personal matter to me too. Besides, the only one I wanna shoot right now is you. I could give her everything, but you? Not so much." His eyes come back to me. "I know you enjoyed your time with me. I made you feel normal, didn't I, sweetie?"

"Fuck you, you psycho," I hiss through gritted teeth. I can't believe I was so stupid—how could I have not seen this coming? I trusted him.

I fucking trusted him.

Levi lifts his index finger in the air. "Wait, how did you say it..." He tilts his head back, thinking. "Oh, yeah." He gives me a sinister smirk. "We're all mad here, love."

"The fuck? You've been listening to us? Who are you?"

"Don't worry, darling, you'll get your answers in time. But it was pretty easy to install a bug into your phone while you were sleeping in my sheets. You gave us a perfect advantage by running to me when your brother fucked you over," he huffs, shaking his head. "I can't believe you forgave him after all the shit he did to you."

"You motherfucker, you're a dead man—" Tiger gets cut off when a big SUV pulls up into the driveway, the barrier of armed men dividing and letting it through to the spotlight.

"Ah, the boss came. Now, darling, you'll get your answers," Levi states, moving to the side a little.

I turn to look at Tiger at my side, and he meets my gaze. There's a storm inside him, thundering behind his eyes. The anger and worry are boiling in his veins as they are in mine. We're trapped.

He knows it as well as I do.

There is a helplessness in his eyes from not being able to help me. The rage of wanting to raise hell even though we'd be dead in the process. The fear that I'll end up dead, or worse.

Only when the SUV's back door opens do we break our eye contact and turn to look at it.

An older man dressed in a fancy suit steps out, smoothing his jacket. He blows out a cloud of smoke from a cigar, eyes honing in on us. The charcoal suit on his lean body and the slicked back blond hair makes him look like a Wall Street businessman, but this situation is far from that.

"Not feeling like such a beast anymore, am I right, children?" he says, voice hissing like a snake.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tiger counters through a clenched jaw. His fists tremble like he's ready to kill all of them. Just like I am.

"What an outstanding question, Anthony," he replies with a sinister smile on his face. My eyes shoot wide, and I glance at Tiger, who looks just as shocked as I am. No one knows his identity—onlyus. Before either of us can say anything, he continues. "I see you've become very close with your new family, especially with this little hussy here. I couldn't be more pleased about it, one more way to make your family rip each other to pieces."

He taps the ashes from his cigar and walks closer.

"I've been watching Leo for years, and when I heard that he killed Hernandez and no one found you, I knew that he'd taken you with him. You know." He lifts the cigar in front of him, observing the orange glow on its tip. "Hernandez had been one of my business partners for years. I got some precious information about Leo from him. But you, Anthony." His eyes focus on Tiger. "I lost quite a lot of money because of you, boy. That gorgeous sister of yours would've been a great slave for the Germans. They love their whores with a little bit of exotic blood. What would you say if I take this new sister of yours instead and sell her? Even though she's been a little slut and shared her pussy with everyone looking her way, she still has the body they'd pay good money for."

Tiger's shoulders sag; every ounce of fight leaves him at his words. I have the feeling that we're gonna die here anyway, so I reach my hand out to him, threading my fingers with his. I can feel his hand shaking, not aggressively, but from the pain of his memories. Anything I ever imagined about what happened to him, I know now that I had to have underestimated how bad it was. Tiger stares right in front of him, eyes looking glassy like he is in a totally different place than here.

"Don't you remember me, Anthony?" the man asks, cocking his head. "Well, you were occupied at the time... but I remember you and your sister very well when Hernandez showed us the new merchandise after he’d had enough of you. You two were the most wanted in the auction. The twins."