The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 91: Chapter 91

NOAH
It’d been three days since the tape was leaked, and I left Maddie in her room. Three days of tracking, planning, threatening, and tying up loose ends. Every lead brought us closer. Landon obviously hadn’t done it. I made sure of that. Tilly never had access to the tape. She might’ve seen it, shown by Landon, but she wouldn’t have had it on her phone.
My first theory was that Landon had a backup somewhere, but one quick visit where he shook in his boots and bent to his knees proved that theory wrong. The living room looked great, though. He’d come up with an elaborate lie that his mom ate up like a sweet treat, and they redid everything.
I visited Tilly and her family. The girl looked like she was going through it. Her skin was greyish, and her eyes were dull, like life was draining from them. Her mom gracefully invited me in for a cup of tea, but I wasn’t staying long. I asked my questions, Tilly answered to the best of her ability while coughing like a virus-infected human, and I told them I’d send a healer to check on her. That’s when something switched. The pain and worry in her mom’s eyes turned to pure fear, and she respectfully declined. I respectfully informed her that it wasn’t an offer. I was sending Nate with the healer to make sure we had eyes on them.
The suitcases still stood in the hallway, but at least they obeyed orders and stayed put.
Next up was Olivia. The last person I wanted to see and the toughest nut to crack. Whenever Logan needed new, fun ideas on how to torture someone’s sanity, she was thrilled to pitch in.
The door to my office opened. My back was turned toward her, and I listened as Trevor’s heavy steps and slightly sped-up heartbeat retreated, leaving us alone.
“Noah?” she mused, her voice delicate and seductive. “Miss me already, baby?”
I turned around, hands clasped behind my back, fingers entwined on the silver handle, the blade scraping against my jeans.
“No,” I said, and stepped closer. We met in the middle. Her head shifted to the side, exposing her neck, a sign of submission. A thing she’d always do when we fucked, making herself docile and willing, in any way I wanted.
“I will ask questions,” I said, and cupped her cheek. “And you will answer.” She nodded compliantly.
“Yes, sir.” I felt the heat rush up her arms, her hips tugging to get closer, her heart racing behind her ribcage. One purpose. She was a master at many things, one of them being the art of keeping calm and controlling her body’s reaction.
She wanted me to feel her, all of her, the blood rushing in her veins, pumping at high speed from her beating heart.
Desire and lust built in her eyes and surged down her cherry-red cheeks.
I listened closely, waiting for the only truth I’d believe. Her heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump.
“Will you be honest?” Our eyes locked. Her heartbeat stayed calm.
Thump, thump.
“Yes.”
Thump-thump, thump.
The blade slid across the leather of my belt, and the tip entered her side. Blood gushed out, painting my fingers crimson. Olivia fell onto me, hands fisting my shirt, eyes wide, veins bursting into a sea of blood, and her mouth agape with a shallow breath exhaling in disbelief.
“The wolfsbane will eat your intestines, fry your veins, burn your flesh until there’s nothing left for your bitch wolf to heal.”
I dug my fingers into the hair on the back of her head and pulled it back.
“Let’s start.” The door opened. Logan pulled a chair in behind him and positioned it behind Olivia’s knees. He grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back while I removed the dagger from her waist.
Trevor came in last, locked the door, and stood stiff as a soldier keeping guard.
“For every question you get wrong,” I informed her. I wiped off the blade and lit a candle. The flames licked the tip, down the rough edges, and the wolfsbane spread through the iron.
“We’ll up the dose. And the only way to distribute it is by stabbing it into your body. For every answer you get right,” I squatted in front of her, watching the sweat slide down the side of her head, following the contours of her jaw, “you get to live a little longer.”
When I noticed her feet turning inward, her legs locking in place from the shock of the pain, I knew it was time.
“Who sent the sex tape?” I asked and got up. Leaning back against the counter, eyes on the flickering flame, I kept burning the blade to make sure it was scorching hot and ready to peel through her flesh.
The heat would also slow the bleeding, giving us more time. Something I was sure we’d need.
“What tape?”
A nasty smirk pulled her lips back over her teeth, perfect and white, like pearls in a shell on the bottom of the ocean. She would say that on numerous occasions.
I wondered what they’d look like in a box. It could be a shell-shaped box. She could carry it in her pocket and show people. Maybe then she’d wait for them to ask.
A chuckle rumbled deep in my chest, echoing up to my lips.
“I assumed you wouldn’t make it easy.”
I pushed away from the desk, wrapped my fingers around her throat like a necklace, and sank the blade in just below her ribs.
“But I was hoping you’d make it hard.”
I pressed my forehead against hers, one knee between her legs. Logan kept her glued to the chair, his fingers digging into her shoulders when she writhed in pain.
“I’ve been dreaming about this since you came back. The way you talked to Maddie. That look in your eyes that I could read like a fucking book. Every idea you thought of in that moment on how to fuck with her. When you saw her broken in the gym, scared, vulnerable, you knew exactly how to torture her after that.”
I twisted the blade and looked behind my brother. Trevor’s face was made of stone. He stood as tall as ever, afraid to blink because he didn’t want to miss a single moment.
“Let’s try this again.”
The shaft of the blade was pressing against her skin. I couldn’t get any deeper, but I could make it hurt a lot more.
“Who sent the tape?”