The Devil's Masquerade: The Poison (15 page)

“Okay Mom, I’ll look into it,” I sigh, trying to get her to calm down.

“And there is something else …” she pauses and starts to cry. “I messed up. I know it. I just know I messed up terribly. I’m sorry. Tell Dante I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay Mom. No one is angry at you.”

“You will be when you find out what I did. I didn’t mean to, but your father was right. I told …” she says, beginning to choke again. I try water, but her throat begins to swell. I scream for help while she grips my shirt to stay with her. “He knows about them.” She whispers through her tightening throat.

“Who knows? Knows about who?” I ask she fights to stay with me, but the nurse jerks her away to try and open up her throat. It only takes forty-five seconds, forty-five seconds for my mother to go from breathing to death. The apologies come immediately from her caretaker, but all I want is to be left alone. Everyone does as I ask, except Franky who tries to console me.

“Leave me alone, Franky.”

“Nick, you shouldn’t be alone right now.” She wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek when I suddenly tremble and feel a warm calming feeling come over me. I slip out of Franky’s arms and find Kayla in the doorway, waiting for me with open arms.

Chapter 17

Ryan

Our new house was just completed a few months ago, and Sam has been working nonstop to make it perfect. I gave her free reign to do as she wishes along with some experts to help her shop for just the right things, anything to keep from having to be part of the decision making process and to keep that beautiful smile on her face. Every night when I get home, I find her and pick her up so she can tightly wrap her arms around me and kiss me the way she wants to, and tonight is no different. I walk up behind her knowing she knows I am there, and kiss her neck. She turns and jumps into my arms, entwining me in her arms and legs with the excitement I love feeling from her.

“I thought you would never come home,” she says, kissing me ecstatically.

“Silly, I am home at the same time every night, and you know it. Do you think I’d spend even one unnecessary second away from you? Crazy girl, I can’t wait to have these arms around me, those lips on mine, or these great legs around my hips.” I laugh, carrying her to our new bed. “I certainly wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to get you naked and in bed.”

“All you care about is sex,” she sighs with a smile.

“No, that’s not true. All I care about is you. It just so happens that having sex with you brings you even closer to me, and I love having you as close to me as possible. Not to mention, it feels really nice, too,” I say, taking hold of her lips with mine.

“It’s that good huh?” she whispers

“You’re that beautiful. I can’t believe that I get to stare at such a beautiful woman every day,” I say, making my way in between her legs and letting my erection out of my pants to breathe.

“You know what would make me smile?” she says suddenly. “I would gladly give up on that puppy I have been bugging you about if you let me have something else,” she says as I groan my happiness against her bare breasts. “I would like to have a baby with you. You‘re the love of my life, Ryan, and I can’t think of anyone else I would want to do this with.”

She has been hinting her desire to be a mother for some time, but until Savage is gone, I worry about what a child of mine would be subjected to. My brother is going through hell right now, and Kayla the same. I don’t want that for Sam. “Don’t you want that big wedding that you have been working on for months first?” I ask, trying to divert her to another subject.

“I would, but you keep putting the date off because of work, so screw it. Let’s run away tonight. Let’s get married and get pregnant all at the same time,” she pleads with me.

“Baby, I will give you whatever you want, but let me talk to Nick first.” Her smile instantly fades. “Only to let him know that we are leaving tomorrow night for a few days. I will take you wherever you want to go for however long you want to go. No need to pack too much clothing though…” I take in one lip after the other in between mine, “you won’t be needing anything but me to keep you warm. We can have room service and sex for days.”

“Alright!” she says, happily jumping on me and ripping off the rest of her clothes. I love the way she feels down my chest. She knows every spot on my body that makes me squirm. I reward her thoroughness by spinning her back onto the bed and sliding my growing respect deep inside of her. Her wetness envelops my cock so warmly that I groan my excitement. Her breasts bounce against my lips, and her legs wrap tighter around my waist while my dick swells deep inside of her. My movements inside her are smooth and precise, provoking a whimper from her lips to mine. Sam grips my arms and lets her head fall back, moaning and climaxing to ecstasy before her exhaling breath releases her gorgeous smile. I come hard and with energy to spare that I use to cover her naked body with zealous kisses.

Sam hums her enjoyment of my touch with her eyes closed and her head rests comfortably back onto her pillow. “Ryan, what if I asked you to never leave me, to never stop touching me?” she asks, reaching out for my hand.

I take her tender hand in mind, and reply, “Well then, my love, I would say you have a dutiful shadow for life.”

She smiles, feeling my face for mine, and continues, “And what if I asked you to run away with me and hide from the world. What if I wanted you all to myself forever?” I delicately kiss her before running my hand through her hair.

.“I wouldn’t bother packing before I swept you off your feet and carried you far away from here to your angel’s castle in the clouds, away from it all and away from the judging eyes of everyone who would doubt my dedication to you,” I say, enjoying her giggling joy.

“Really? A castle? And why do I need such extravagance when I cannot see it?”

“Oh, my love, don’t you know, as your consummate shadow, it would be my pleasure to lend you my eyes so you could see all the beauty and wonderful luxuries I would build for you, find for you, and attain for you. There would be no end to proving my love for you.”

“Well then, my dutiful shadow, if there is no end to proving your love, does that mean there is no end to your love for me?”

I lean in close to her, wrapping my arms around her and making sure my strong hands reassure her that I am here by her side forever, before whispering, “Sam, my love, there is not a champion warrior brave enough to destroy my love for you. There is not a drug strong enough to cure my love for you, and there certainly is no place far enough for you to run that would keep my heart from ever giving up searching for you. Forever, my love. Forever, I will love you and only you.”

“You will never have to worry about running after me because, like you, I am your humble shadow and your forever pride-filled light that will shine brightly upon you day and night. No woman deserves a man like you,” she says, sinking deep into my arms with a soft sigh.

“Wrong, my bright shadow … you are more than deserving.” Her eyes open, and her smile spreads across her face. For a moment, I believe she can see me fully. Her blindness has never bothered me, but sometimes, I wish she could see how happy she makes me.

Sam makes a wonderful meal and has me look at a million different baby furniture pieces for the house on the internet, forcing me to describe them all to her while she sits in my lap and lays her head on my shoulder. I hate shopping for furniture, but I love every second of this. It is amazing how much my day can stress me out, but the moment I have this woman next to me, everything becomes perfect. After the hundredth crib, I shut the computer down and take Sam to bed. “It’s time to sleep my Shadow. We can design our future children’s rooms tomorrow if you want.”

Sam falls asleep in my arms, and I fall asleep breathing her sweet scent in, but I awake abruptly in the middle of the night with an odd feeling. I sit up straight in bed, listening and waiting. Sam wakes and begins to become frightened as she grips me for answers. “Stay here. In fact …” I take her by the hand and hide her in the bathroom with a gun. She does better than most, and I would rather her shoot me than risk her life. I step through the house quietly, watching the darkness. I see a blur cross the window outside, so I run to chase it down. The blond haired man runs through the yard and into the trees, and I follow. He turns on a dime and smiles at me, his eyes swirling with anticipation.

“I have seen you before, on the rooftop, wanting to kill my brother,” I say to him, preparing for any attack he may have in mind.

“Your brother, huh. I guess that’s why,” he says, backing off slowly from me.

“That’s why what?” I yell at him.

“That’s why Dennis wants you dead. If I were you, I would be running and not bothering with me,” he says calmly.

“Who are you?” I ask, looking him over quickly to find anything that might clue me in to who he is.

“A friend if you want it or an enemy if you prefer to come at me now.”

“I prefer you leave my family alone!” I stand my ground, ready to attack.

“Your family came after mine first.” He stands straight up as if he hears something I don’t. “He really wants you dead doesn’t he?” I have no idea what he is talking about. “Run young one, run far and hide before it is too late. I would stay away from your house, too because it is about to go up in flames.”

I turn and watch my house blow up into the air, brightening the night sky in full glow. “No!” I scream and run towards the house. “Sam!” Before I can reach the house, it explodes again. I fight to get inside, but Nick comes from out of nowhere and holds me back. “Let go of me! Sam is in there!” I scream at him.

“It’s too late Ryan. It’s too late. She’s gone.” Nick yells back at me, holding me tight while Eli jumps in and holds me down, too.

“Sam!” I cry out to her over and over, but the flames overtake everything. “Sam!” Nick grips me tight to his chest until he sees attackers coming. While he goes after them, I fight to get to my flaming house and to her.

“Ryan, she’s gone. She is gone, Ryan. There is nothing you can do now,” Elijah says, grabbing hold of me and forcing me to the ground again. I fight him, screaming out for her. I plead with the night that she, somehow, left the house before it was too late. Elijah grips me tighter and holds me, and all I can do is cry and wish I was dead.

Nick returns and drops to his knees in front of me. “I’m so sorry. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t answer your phone.” I fall against his chest with nothing left.

“I should have been with her. I should have died instead. I …”

“No. No, I should have protected you both better. It was my job. It is my fault Ryan, not yours. They were after you because of me,” Nick says, but all I can feel is the pain of losing her.

Nick takes me to his home where Kayla awaits. I didn’t allow anyone to console me on the way here. I didn’t want anyone to touch me or talk to me at all. I just wanted to be left alone, but somehow, the moment I see Kayla with tears already in her eyes, I welcome her arms around me and release screams and tears that I didn’t even know I had inside me. She lies on the floor with me and holds me, listening to my cries and crying even more along with me.

Chapter 18

Nick

As I watch my brother fall apart and struggle with his broken heart, I recall the moments prior to me calling Sam, prior to her dying so horribly in that explosion. I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what:

Elijah is kind enough to meet me at an out of the way place.

“You called?” he immediately says with an attitude.

“Yes, I need to make sure you watch out for Ryan. He is out of control and reckless with me around. I can’t imagine how he will be when I am not.”

“Are you planning on leaving us?”

“You know damn well that I don’t know what is going to happen,” I say to him.

“Damn it Nick! You know you have to let him grow up at some point and make his own mistakes. Not everyone and their actions are your responsibility.” He curses me, and everything around us, knowing I am not listening to him.

“Normal mistakes I don’t mind, but the mistakes he is making will cost him his life if he is not careful. All I want is for you to make sure he stays under the radar when I am gone, and you better fucking make sure he gets the hell out of here if …” Elijah sighs and looks away from me

“I can only imagine how sick Ryan is hearing your constant requests to desert you when you merge over to the dark side. I don’t know why you think I can get all these people out of the city and make sure they stay away. I only have two hands, and it will take more than that just to keep your wife in check. I don’t want to even think about your brother.”

“Well, you’re lucky that Brady is seeing to Lena or I would ask you to deal with her, too. Brothers for life, remember Eli?”

“Yeah, but you know I originally made that deal because I thought we were talking about women. I only agreed because I wanted to make sure you stayed away from the women I wanted to fuck first. Now, it’s turning into this whole life and death bullshit.”

I laugh at him and his scrunched expression, “You’re the one that wanted a family. I have one if you will just take it.” He walks away from me. “My wife and kids mean everything to me, and I know you will die to protect them as I would you.”

“Ahhh damn! You had to pull the,
I would die for you
card. Nicky, fuck, at least say something that I can yell at you for, not this crap that makes me feel like shit. You could have at least trained that wife of yours first. Damn Nicky, I thought we were friends?” He says with a smile. Before I can respond, I get a bad feeling rushing through me. “What’s wrong?”

“Ryan. Ryan!” I quickly dial his number and repeat, but the fucker doesn’t pick up. Sam does.

“Nick, something is wrong. Ryan is after someone, and I don’t know where he is. Please come quickly,” Sam says in a panic.

“I’m on my way. Don’t worry.” I speed through the streets until I come up on his house. Elijah pulls in right after and jumps out of the car, trying to keep up with me until the house begins to explode. Fire shoots out from every window and begins to blaze through the roof. “Ryan!” I scream. And then I hear him. I look over and see him running toward the house screaming for Sam. “Ryan!” I scream again, running after him. It takes Elijah and I both to tackle him and keep him from running back into the house.