Parks put up a hand and the man hitting Dante stopped. I looked at my lover, who, like me, was on his knees, and saw blood trickling from a cut above his eye, another on his cheek and his busted lip. His cheek was already starting to bruise and he seemed to have trouble seeing out of one eye that was beginning to swell shut.
Parks straightened and held out the note Dante had written. He glanced at it and began reading.
"I'm here, baby brother. I'm taking you home. When you come out of the greenhouse, don't look for me, but know that I'm here. Leave a light on in your room tonight so we can find you. Você é melhor. Dante."
"Very sweet," Parks murmured as he flicked the note onto the desk. "Did you really think it would be that simple to come into my house and take what's mine?"
"He's not yours, you perverted piece of shit!" Dante snapped.
Parks seemed unfazed by Dante's fury. He glanced at Aleks and said, "Do you know this man, my pet?"
"No, Father," Aleks responded dutifully, his eyes downcast.
Rage went through me at the title Aleks used to refer to the man, because I knew in my gut there was nothing about their relationship that had anything to do with being father and son. Dante was in the same mindset because he snarled, "You're not his fucking father, you twisted-"
That was as far as he got before Parks nodded and the man standing over Dante hit him again.
"Show this man what you are," Parks said calmly. I watched in horror as Aleks began peeling off his clothes without any hesitation whatsoever.
"Aleks," Dante whispered brokenly as he watched his little brother strip his underwear off and step naked before the desk. He turned so his back was to us and I saw that it was riddled with raised welts – from countless beatings I suspected.
Aleks leaned facedown over the desk, spreading his legs so he was on full display for everyone. Rage went through me at the humiliation the young man was being forced to endure and any anger I had that he'd been the one to alert our existence to his captors died a quick death. Parks ran his hand over Aleks's ass and I saw Dante try to get up before he was viciously knocked to the ground again.
"Get your fucking hands off him," I yelled to the man who grabbed Dante by the hair and yanked him to his knees. The outburst earned me a punch to the face, but it was worth it since it got the attention off Dante for a few seconds.
Pain radiated out from my cheek. I saw Parks tap Aleks on the shoulder and the young man immediately straightened and stood quietly in front of Parks, making no effort to cover himself. I guessed he was used to being on display at his master's whim. The older man motioned to the floor and Aleks immediately dropped to his knees, his hands carefully resting on his lap, his eyes downcast.
"So, brother," Parks said as he approached Dante. I guessed the man to be in his late forties at most. He was dressed in an expensive-looking business suit and besides the gold wedding ring on his finger, he was wearing some kind of signet ring on his other hand. A heavy watch was at his wrist and he moved like someone who had all the confidence in the world and none of the concern.
Because he had the money to back up his sense of invincibility. How many years had he been hiding his perversions behind a veneer of respectability?
"What to do with you and your friend here?" Parks mused. He used his finger to tilt Dante's head up by the chin. "But I guess the bigger question is, how many people did you run your pretty little mouth to before you tried to take what's mine?"
"Fuck you," Dante snapped and then he spit a mouthful of blood onto Park's jacket. The man backhanded Dante hard and fast. The guy watching me grabbed onto me before I could even react.
Parks eyed his ruined jacket in irritation and then stripped it off. He sent the man standing near the door a silent nod and then turned his attention on the guy holding Dante in place. "Go find Vaughn. Tell him I need him to make two bodies disappear."
I closed my eyes briefly as I realized there was no getting out of our predicament and I let myself think about my grandson. Knowing he was going to have a perfect future was comforting so I turned my attention to Dante who was watching me. He shook his head, his beautiful face distorted by all the blood and bruises. He looked back at Aleks and began saying something to the young man in another language. I couldn't tell what he was saying of course, but I heard the words he'd told me were the game he and Aleks had played when they'd been younger.
Meu melhor …
My best …
Aleks, for his part, didn't look up, but I saw what looked like tears running down his face. He used his hand to dash at them while Parks's back was still turned to him so when Parks did finally turn around, Aleks was once again composed.
Dante continued to talk to Aleks until Parks said, "Shut him up," and Dante received another vicious punch that seemed to stun him into silence. His eyes rolled back into his head and I was sure he was going to pass out, but he managed to keep it together.
"Get dressed," Parks snapped at Aleks and he quickly jumped to his feet and began pulling his clothes on.
Parks's hired man returned and I swallowed hard at the sight of the folded plastic in his hand. I was yanked to my feet and pulled backwards several steps, as was Dante, and then the plastic was being carefully folded out on the floor, covering the expensive looking Asian rug. Even though some of Dante's blood was already on the carpet, I suspected Parks didn't want to deal with the mess our bodies would leave behind.
I resisted when I was shoved back to my knees on the plastic, but it did me little good with both my hands and my feet bound.
I watched as Parks went to his desk and picked up a gun that had been sitting on it plain as day. As he began striding towards Dante with it, I shouted, "No" over and over again and tried to break free of the brutal fist that was gripping me by the hair. I couldn't watch the man I loved die. I'd accepted my own inevitable death, but even the few seconds between watching a bullet steal Dante's life and another one taking my own would be the worst kind of agony.
"Aleks, close your eyes, okay?" Dante said gently. "Don't look, meu irmão."
Parks came to a stop in front of Dante, his big body blocking my view of Aleks, so I wasn't sure if the young man had closed his eyes or not, but it didn't matter because my attention was only on Dante. His beautiful eyes held mine as he whispered, "I'm sorry." He shook his head and I saw a tear trickle out of his uninjured eye. "I love you, Magnus."
I shook my head in disbelief that this was really happening, but I held his gaze. "I love you too, baby."
Just as the gun discharged, I saw Park's arm jerk wildly and I heard a grunt of pain and watched in horror as Dante fell backwards. I shouted his name, but then saw him moving as he rolled to his side. Blood was flowing from a gash on his upper arm.
I jerked my eyes to Parks and saw him gasping like a fish as he reached behind his back with his free arm. When he shifted out of the way, I saw Aleks standing several feet away, a look of dismay on his tear-stained face. Parks turned to face Aleks and I suddenly understood what was happening. Aleks had plunged a gold letter opener into Parks's back just before he'd pulled the trigger. The action had caused Parks to swing wide and miss his shot, hitting Dante in the arm instead of the head like he'd been planning.
Time slowed down as the two men standing over me and Dante looked on in stunned silence as Parks swung out with his gun hand, hitting Aleks in the face and knocking him to the ground. I realized the injury to his back wasn't critical enough to slow Parks down and as he pointed the gun at Aleks, I leapt to my feet, hoping I could somehow throw myself against Parks and deflect his aim. But I knew I wouldn't have enough time as I head-butted the man behind me holding me down and used his body as leverage to climb to my feet. The sound of bone cracking above my head registered briefly as I broke the man's nose and I saw the other guy lunge at me only to fall as Dante swept his legs out in front of the man, but it didn't matter because Parks and Aleks were too far away.
"No!" I screamed at the same time Dante yelled Aleks's name. A gunshot rang out and I fell to my knees. But it wasn't blood from Aleks that sprayed all over the desk at Aleks's back. It was Parks's. He pitched forward onto the desk, his gun falling to the floor as blood poured from a gaping hole in his neck. Aleks was huddled in a ball on the floor, but he appeared unhurt. I looked behind me to see Parks's fourth man, presumably the one he'd referred to as Vaughn, still holding his gun pointed at Parks. Before Parks's body crumpled to the floor, Vaughn turned the gun on the two men who'd been holding me and Dante and put bullets through both their brains.
The man, who I figured was in his early thirties, strode into the room and headed straight for Aleks. He was heavily built with dark hair. His face was pulled into a mask of anger, but when he reached down to pull Aleks to his feet, his touch was gentle. I watched as his fingers skimmed the mark on Aleks's face where Parks had hit him and I was shocked when he carefully pulled Aleks away from the man's lifeless body before putting another bullet into him, this time into his head.