"Good things are going to happen," asserts Holt Enterprises' board member Charles Johnson in interview.
Sources report that LeVieux fire was indeed arson. Police search for suspects.
Rowan Ellis. The name hit Darius like a knife lodging in his throat. He had fallen in love with Tyler Ellis' son, a man who was now holding him at gunpoint. "Owen," he tried. He stopped speaking when the gun was shoved harder into the back of his neck.
"That's not my name." The omega's voice was hard, but Darius heard the pain in it. Whatever his mission, he still felt something for Darius. "You know my real name now, so use it."
Tyler laughed, and he seemed proud of Rowan in some twisted way, even though Darius knew how much Tyler hated his son. Unless Rowan had lied about that too. "Well, it looks like little Rowan grew a backbone." His tone was so sharp with patronization that it could have sliced someone's jugular open. No, Rowan had not lied about his father's hatred.
Rowan stiffened, and Darius saw his hand tighten around the grip out of the corner of his eye.
"Rowan," Darius whispered, not quite hating the way that name felt in his mouth, "what are you doing?"
Rowan let out a shuddering breath that sounded like a breathy sob. "Darius, please don't make this harder than it already is." He loved him. He still loved him. Why else would he say something like that?
"That's right," Tyler crooned. "Make him suffer before you pull the trigger."
Pull the trigger. Rowan was supposed to kill him.
Tyler pulled out his phone and held it up. "I think we should record this kill for posterity, don't you agree, Rowan?"
Darius could feel Rowan's trembling through the gun barrel. "Shut up!" he snarled at Tyler. "Haven't you controlled his life enough?"
Tyler looked taken aback for a moment before his smirk slipped back up onto his face. "Oh, you really love him, don't you?" He clapped slowly, the sound echoing around the office. "Now that's an achievement you should be proud of, Rowan. Making a rich alpha fall head over heels for you so bad that he still loves you even while you're betraying him." He whistled. "I guess I underestimated your value. We'll do things like this from now on." He made a carry-on motion with his hand. "Well, let's get on with it, shall we? Kill him."
A choking sound crept from Rowan's throat, and it shredded Darius' heart. He did not want to, but he would. Because he had to. Because he feared his father more than anything else.
Darius focused his eyes on the city lights outside the window. Maybe while he was dying he could imagine they were stars and he was simply becoming one of them.
The gun peeled away from his neck. "No." Rowan's voice was soft and scared, but it did not waver. He did not waver. Darius had never seen him stand so defiantly. "I won't do it."
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Stop messing around."
"I'm not." Rowan's voice rose into dangerous territory. "I'm done being your slave, your pawn, your gun. I won't do it."
Tyler slid his phone onto the desk and slowly stood up, menace oozing from every inch of his body. "Rowan," he said quietly, his tone the biggest warning Darius had ever heard.
"No!" Rowan was almost screaming now. "I won't do it!"
Tyler's face screwed up in disgust. "You stupid, pathetic, filthy omega," he spat out, every word full of vicious venom. "Keep forcing my hand and you'll regret it."
Rowan stared him down. "Regret what?" Damn, he was attractive with this new attitude.
Tyler held out his hand as if Rowan was a dog whose leash he needed back. "Hand me the gun."
Rowan's eyes went huge, as if his mind had caught up to his words at last and realized he should be freaking out. But he held onto the gun. "No."
Darius carefully stepped in front of Rowan, shielding him from Tyler with his own body. "Leave him alone, Tyler."
Tyler made a motion, and two of his people grabbed Rowan from behind Darius and dragged him around to the other side of the desk.
Darius stepped forward, instinctively going to protect Rowan and get him back, but the desk slammed into his thighs and stopped him in his tracks.
Tyler ripped the gun from Rowan's hand and pressed its barrel into his cheek. "Obey me the first time, you slut."
"Don't call him that!" Darius snapped, beyond furious at the slur. "You know that he's never slept around! That's not just cruel, it's not true!"
Tyler lowered the gun, but then his hand snapped out across Rowan's face. "Your alpha talks so much shit." He leveled a devious smirk at Darius. "He doesn't seem to realize that I hold your life in my hands. Yes," he purred as horror pushed the blood out of Darius' face, "step out of line and I'll hurt him again."
Darius wanted to lash out, beat Tyler bloody, but he could see that he would be stopped before he got near Tyler and Tyler would punish Rowan for even Darius' unfinished actions. "Don't hurt him," he whispered, hating how pathetic he sounded. But he could not stand the thought of Rowan in pain.
Tyler grinned. "That's what I thought." He tipped Rowan's chin up with the gun barrel. "Head over heels." He motioned to the door. "Take him back."
"Back where?" Darius asked frantically as the bodyguards gripping Rowan's arms hauled him from the office. He tried to step around the desk, but Tyler shoved the gun in his face.
"I wouldn't try it," Tyler warned. "I'm not your weak boyfriend. I won't hesitate to pull this trigger."
Darius knew he meant it and carefully took a step back. He sat down, feeling like he was in one of his worst nightmares. "What do you want?" He forced his voice to be even and professional.
Tyler pursed his lips. "I originally wanted you dead, but keeping you alive seems like a lot more fun now. So I'll let you live. I'll even let you pretend to the public that you're still the CEO of Holt Enterprises. But take a single step out of line and Rowan will pay for it. And," he added, leaning in, "you'll watch every single second of it."
A shudder ran through Darius' body, and he swallowed down the urge to vomit at the thought of what Tyler was capable of.
Tyler pocketed the gun and snatched his phone off the desk. "I'll be back when we've found your nosey friend." He tossed Darius a mocking salute as he left the office with his seventeen remaining people filing out after him.
Fuck. Darius had forgotten about Marlowe. What would Tyler do to him? Kill him? Hurt him to torment Darius? Would Darius ever see either Rowan or Marlowe again? The way Tyler had been speaking, he doubted it. He was meant to be an imprisoned puppet, the welfare of his mate and friend held over his head as a constant threat. How did he escape from this vice grip that Tyler had so cleverly manufactured?
Somewhere around two in the morning, he fell asleep on his desk, misery exhausting him. It was light outside when he lifted his head off of his arms. He tried to straighten his suit, but his heart was not in his appearance. His heart was wherever Tyler had taken Rowan. At a knock on his office door, he sighed and called, "Come in."
One of the secretaries poked her head in. "Mr. Holt, were you here all night?"
Darius pushed his laptop open to make her think that he was busy. "It's my company." Except it was not anymore. He gritted his teeth. "Is there anything else, Nancy?"
"No, Mr. Holt. I'll leave you to it."
The office door shut with a soft click, and Darius was alone again. He tried to do the things he had done every morning since becoming the CEO, but everything felt empty and pointless. Even so, he eventually fell into his work rhythm and started getting things done.
Until Tyler showed up again, this time with only five bodyguards trailing behind him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Holt," he said smoothly, just as if they were business partners and he was not holding the love of Darius' life hostage. He stood aside, and the bodyguards threw Marlowe forward onto the floor. "I'm back, just as I promised, with your nosey friend." He kicked Marlowe's side but made a disgusted face as soon as his foot made contact. "I must admit that I thought you were above such company."
Marlowe lifted his head, giving Darius a glimpse of the black eye blooming on his face. "I'm from the underworld, bitch." His tone betrayed how much joy he took in calling Tyler a bitch. "What else did you expect? A dog who'd lick your shoes?"
Tyler's eyes went wide with rage. "Who do you think you are?" he hissed as one of the bodyguards stepped on Marlowe's neck, pinning the hacker to the floor.
Marlowe's hands fisted against the tiles, but he made no other sign of pain.
Tyler crouched down to look into Marlowe's face. "I had my people find out everything about you. Like the fact that you carry fake identification as a beta. You dare to talk to me like I'm inferior when you're at the very bottom of society?" He spat onto Marlowe's cheek. "I guess Mr. Holt really does enjoy the company of filthy unclaimed omegas."
"I know you are, but what am I?" Marlowe shot back, not missing a beat.
Darius nearly snickered. Marlowe had never taken an insult personally in all the time Darius had known him.
Tyler stood up. "You are one of the most uncivilized creatures I have ever met."
"I could say the same," Marlowe replied with a bloody grin. "Last I checked, kidnapping's illegal."
Tyler motioned the bodyguard back and yanked Marlowe up off the floor. "I don't care," he snarled. "Nothing's illegal when you have enough money and power." He grabbed a fistful of Marlowe's hoodie and pulled him in. "You're too mouthy for your own good."
Marlowe smirked. "That's what my exes said."
Tyler slapped him hard, and the sound echoed around the office. "You've forgotten your place, omega. Perhaps I should remind you of it."
Panic rose in Darius' chest, fear for Marlowe. "Tyler, he just works for me. He's not a threat to you." Darius was well aware that he was pleading, but he would do anything to keep Tyler from hurting someone else he cared about. Even though he spent most of his time annoyed with Marlowe, Darius did not want to see what would happen to him if Tyler did indeed try to remind him of his place.
Tyler glanced over at Darius. "Any omega who doesn't act in accordance with their status around me is a threat. This one is no exception." He slid the zipper on Marlowe's hoodie down and pulled the ripped, blood-stained hoodie off Marlowe's body with a fierce yank that made Marlowe stumble. He tossed it to the floor with a careless movement.
"What are you doing?" Darius started to stand up, but a bodyguard he had not realized was behind him shoved him back down into his chair.
"Teaching this omega his place," Tyler replied calmly, running a finger down the front of Marlowe's ruined white shirt.
Marlowe tried to punch Tyler, but one of the bodyguards grabbed his right arm and then his left in quick succession. There was a fear in his eyes that Darius did not quite understand.
Darius did not understand until Tyler pulled a knife out of his pocket, flipped it open, and cut Marlowe's shirt off. He tried to get up again and intervene, but another bodyguard had joined the first behind him and the two of them held him down as Tyler continued stripping Marlowe, wicked delight on his face. "Tyler, stop!" he yelled, just to have one of the bodyguards pull out a handkerchief and gag him.
Marlowe kicked at Tyler, but the bodyguard yanked him back so his foot missed Tyler's face and then bent him over the arm of one of the couches in the office.
Darius closed his eyes. He would not watch this. But he still heard it: Marlowe's whimpers of pain and Tyler's diabolically satisfied laughter. He hated it. No one should treat another human like this, but he knew that Tyler did not think of omegas as humans. He wanted to wring Tyler's neck for his abuse of Rowan and now Marlowe. But he was stuck. Helpless. Powerless.
Tyler's hand smacked into Darius' cheek. "You can open your eyes now, Mr. Holt. I'm done…deflowering your friend."
Darius swallowed down the bile rising in his throat and opened his eyes in a glare he leveled straight into Tyler's eyes. "You're dead."
Tyler laughed. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that was a threat against me. Good thing it isn't, because I'd hate to hurt your sweet little boyfriend." He patted Darius' still stinging cheek and then left the office, his smirking bodyguards in tow.
Darius shot up from his seat, snatched Marlowe's hoodie off the floor, and wrapped the light blue fabric around Marlowe's bare shoulders.
Marlowe had slid down to pool in a mess of tears and dissociation at the side of the couch. His fingers automatically tugged the zipper up after he slid his arm into the oversized sleeves. He accepted the tissues Darius handed him, but it looked like his mind was on a completely different plane of existence. After he cleaned himself up somewhat and got his pants and shoes back on, he just sat with his back against the couch and stared out the office windows.
Darius crouched opposite him, unsure of the correct course of action to take. With a sudden thought he got up and went back to his desk, digging through his stash of snacks until he found what he was looking for. He came back and offered Marlowe a chocolate bar.
With a disbelieving laugh, Marlowe broke off a square and took the tiniest nibble off the corner. "You're ridiculous."
"I made you laugh," Darius pointed out, breaking off a square for himself and biting off half of it.
"Touché," Marlowe replied with a smile, but he still seemed dead inside.
After a moment, Darius dared to voice a quiet "I'm sorry."
Marlowe's eyes tightened. "For what? Existing?"
Darius shook his head. "Everything that's…happened to you is my fault. I slipped up and told Tyler that I had someone investigate him. He hunted you down because I couldn't keep my stupid mouth shut."
Marlowe took a slightly bigger nibble of chocolate. "There's risk in every job, especially in mine."
"It's not supposed to be this kind of risk!"
Marlowe rolled his eyes, his attitude coming back. "You don't know shit. I do highly illegal things, and I'm an omega. Whether it's the police or someone like Tyler, this sort of thing would have happened eventually. Don't blame yourself, Darius. It's not your fault at all." He pointed at Darius with his middle finger since his pointer finger and thumb were holding his piece of chocolate. "I forbid you from feeling guilty about this."
"But–"
"No," Marlowe interrupted, his tone final. "Don't feel guilty or worry about anything. I'm on a million suppressants that act like birth control. And even if that didn't stop it, I take some hard stuff that'd kill anything." That had to be the understatement of the year. But at least Marlowe would be okay.
Darius had never thought a day would come when he would be grateful that Marlowe was drugged up 80 percent of the time. "You're nuts."
"Good thing I like pecans."
Darius shook his head, but he could not hide his relief that Marlowe was acting like himself again.
"So," Marlowe said, switching topics, "how the hell does Tyler Ellis have you pinned down?"
Darius picked at the spotless grout between the tiles. "Owen."
"Ah."
"As you guessed, his real name isn't Owen Mitchell. It's Rowan Ellis."
Marlowe's jaw dropped. So he had not seen that one coming either. That was a small relief. "Ellis, like Tyler Ellis?"
"Yeah, his son."
Marlowe shoved the rest of his chocolate into his mouth and said around it, "That's bad."
"It'd be worse if they didn't hate each other."
Marlowe nodded like a wise sage. "Okay, so let me guess: Rowan pulled out of his dad's plan at the last minute, so Tyler feels threatened."
Darius stared. "How'd you figure that one out?"
Marlowe smirked. "Part of it was your very obviously depressed tone. I also might have overheard some things as those thugs were bringing me here."
Darius rolled his eyes and crushed the wrapper in his fist. "You're impossible."
"No," Marlowe corrected, "I'm astute. I pay attention to people, which is why you pay me so much." He cracked his fingers. "Now, let's put my other skills to use and get the hell out of here before Mr. Fucking Ellis comes back for round two."