Blade (RBMC: Dallas, TX #4)

Chapter Eleven

“Abandoned”—GeminiSyndrome

Seventeen years old….

S age was in Luis’s luxury, beachfront villa in Miami. Despite how beautiful the home was, it was a prison, and I knew it. Hell, anyone who knew who owned it knew. The day she was handed over to Luis, I found a small houseboy who smuggled a note in and gave it to her.

I wrote:

I’m going to be as close by as I can. The boy will bring a message to me if you need anything. I’ll do my best and help as much as I can .

For four days we passed notes through Ricardo the young houseboy.

Each day her notes got shorter and more detached.

Finally, I told her to come to the balcony. I was there to deliver the money I’d collected from the product I’d sold. I figured out that if I parked my motorcycle on the side of the house, when I came out, I could walk over a bit and see the end of Sage’s balcony.

After making my drop with Jorge, I went outside. I took my time getting my gear on and Jorge went back inside. He had no reason to believe I wasn’t leaving immediately. The guard at the gate would let me out when I approached.

Once I was sure he was gone, I hurried to where she would be visible. Sage. Come outside on the balcony .

At first, I didn’t think she was going to do as I instructed. Then I heard the door, and she stepped outside. The breeze from the ocean blew the silk robe she held clutched in the front. It wrapped softly around her legs, then fluttered out, exposing her thigh for a heartbeat.

In that brief moment, I thought I saw bruises in dark contrast to the creamy skin of her leg. But as quickly as I saw it, the fabric curled back around to hug her.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she furiously whispered as her long, dark honey-colored hair blew across her face.

I needed to see if you were okay, I replied into her head. I’d never questioned how or why I could do that. The first time I’d done it to my mom she had looked like she’d seen a damn ghost.

Expression flat and emotionless, she looked away. “I’m fine, Fin. You should go. You don’t need to message me anymore. I’m no longer your concern.”

What? You will always be my concern, I insisted, shocked that she would think I could just abandon her.

“Don’t,” she pleaded. As she turned to go back inside, she glanced my way and I saw dark purple discoloring all around her eye.

Sage! I called to her louder, but she’d already gone inside and closed the door. She was done talking to me. My heart was pounding, and my stomach was rebelling against the Cuban sandwich I’d had for lunch. There was no way I’d imagined the wicked bruise on her face.

I’m gonna fix this , I projected to her. Somehow, some way… I had to fix it.

Knowing she wasn’t going to come back out and reply, I angrily got on my street-legal dirt bike and left. Chaos raged under the surface of my skin. I’d never been able to figure out exactly what it was, but it had started after I’d killed that guy over two years ago.

There was constantly that chaos. It only calmed when I drew blood. Then it reveled. Like it let out a massive sigh of relief and satiation.

I wondered if I was crazy. Maybe I was schizophrenic or something. I may not have known what it was, but I knew it wasn’t normal. It scared me a little, but I’d learned to harness it as best as I could and when to set it free.

The salt air hit my face as my hair whipped around. I had to find a way to get her out of there. If only I could just kill Luis. He was too well protected though. I’d never make it out alive and then Sage would be sold or worse. I felt like this was all my fault.

If I’d never gotten involved with her, Luis never would’ve known about her. I could’ve protected her better by staying far away from her.

Remembering the things that had happened to her over the years with her shit mom, I knew better. Because deep down, I was fully aware that wasn’t true, but it was hard not to bear the burden at that moment.

Since I’d been working for Luis since I was younger than twelve, I was fairly trusted. Fairly . Luis didn’t trust anyone completely. Though I was also still friends with Manny who stayed at the villa when he was on this side of town. That might be another reason he tolerated me. Naw… it was only because I was useful and did his dirty work for him.

“What’s up with you?” Manny asked me, his dark eyes barely visible from behind the sunglasses he wore. We were lounging by the pool the next day. My real reason for being there wasn’t to catch up with Manny though. I was hoping Sage would come outside so I could talk to her.

“What do you mean?” I asked as I tried to appear calm and relaxed when I was anything but.

“You’ve been on edge since you got here.”

“Huh?” I asked as if I was confused. I sat up and dropped my legs on either side of the lounger. My skin started to prickle.

“Don’t play stupid, man, I’ve known you since we were little kids. You’ve practically been burning a hole through the glass on the balcony up there.” He chuckled.

“Have you seen her?” I quietly asked, staring at the sparkling aqua water as I forced myself to quit looking up there.

“Who?” It was his turn to appear as if he had no idea what I was talking about. He lifted his sunglasses and blinked innocently.

“You know who, Manny. Sage.” I motioned toward the room that Sage was essentially a prisoner within.

He sighed heavily.

“Dude. If she was yours, I’m sorry, but you need to let it go,” he quietly replied as he sat up and leaned closer to me.

“She was like a little sister to me,” I furiously whispered.

“Fuck,” he muttered as he dropped his head. Then he lifted his gaze and stared me in the eye. “There’s nothing I can do. Even though I’m his son, I’m one of seven. I’m not his heir or favorite and therefore, I’m expendable. He’d kill me as easily as he would a fly buzzing around his food.”

Even though I knew that, it only made me more frustrated to hear it spoken aloud.

Suddenly there was a commotion behind us, and a small voice cried out. We turned in time to see Ricardo stumble outside and fall to his knees. Luis was hot on his heels. He grabbed the boy and dragged him over to one of the tall palms that lined the pool.

Two of his henchmen took over. One ripped the young boy’s shirt off, the other tied him to the palm tree. Ricardo was crying by then and his thin, tan back was shaking with fear.

“I’m going to ask you again, boy,” Luis announced with his usual deadly calm. “Who gave you that note?” That’s when I noticed what he had coiled in one hand. The sun that had been creating happy little glints in the water, was bouncing off the metal in the cat-o’-nine-tails. Luis released the coiled length and it fell open like the sinister slither of a serpent.

Ricardo began to openly sob, and his soft, golden eyes met mine through his shaggy bangs, but he quickly averted his gaze. He remained silent and I knew I couldn’t let this happen.

Immediately, I started to get to my feet. Manny grabbed my arm, halting me before I made it an inch off the seat. He shot me a look of warning, but I shook him off and got to my feet.

“Luis… he’s just a little boy,” I cautiously began.

Behind me I heard Manny whisper, “Fuck.”

Luis’s gaze moved to mine in what seemed like slow motion. “Are you telling me what to do?”

In an attempt to placate him, I held up my hands. “I’m not saying that, I’m just asking you to think about this.”

The seconds ticked by ominously as he stared at me. Finally, he grinned, but it didn’t sit right with me. The maniacal look in his coffee-colored eyes had warning bells screeching in my head.

“You’re right,” he announced jovially. Then he motioned to his goons, and they released Ricardo. The boy glanced around before backing away, then darted off before Luis changed his mind.

Smart kid. I’d go to his house later and give his mom enough money to go somewhere far away and start a new life. It would mean I’d need to work for Luis longer to save up again.

My heart was pounding and the longer Luis was silent, the more I was finding it hard to suck oxygen into my lungs. Luis snapped his fingers and pointed at me. Before I could process what was happening, the two assholes were on me.

“Dad,” Manny blurted as he stood.

“Don’t, or you’re next, son of mine or not,” Luis warned, eyes flashing. For a split second I saw true evil. Not just a crooked sadistic piece of shit.

Unadulterated evil.

Though I struggled and fought, I couldn’t break free. At seventeen, I was no match for two full-grown meatheads. It took them no time at all to have me secured to the tree Ricardo had so recently vacated.

They cut my shirt off and Luis grabbed my jaw in a bruising grip, turning my head to the side to look at him.

“Was it you? It was, wasn’t it? You always did live up her ass. You were probably the little fuck that took what was supposed to be mine, weren’t you?” he demanded, his words practically dripping ice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I insisted though my heart was now racing at breakneck speed. “I haven’t had anything to do with her since I hit puberty. She was just a kid.”

“Hmm,” was the only reply I received. He stepped back. The crack of the whip barely registered before fire and pain erupted across my skin. I kept telling myself that I deserved it for putting a young boy in danger. I deserved it for all the shit I’d done. I deserved it for everyone in my life I’d let down—Sage, my mom.

Determined not to show him any weakness, I gritted my teeth and swallowed my scream. After more lashes than I wanted to count, I was on the verge of passing out from the agony, but he didn’t stop. Over and over, I told myself I deserved this punishment.

I could feel the warmth of my blood running down and soaking the back of my swim trunks. Eventually, that was impossible because Luis seemed to be on a mission to prove a point. By then, I couldn’t even feel my back anymore. Everything was numb and I was afraid I was going into shock when everything went black.