Dark Passion (The Dark Brother Series Book One) (3 page)

“I need answers Jagger, and you’re clearly too much of a fucking pussy to get them.”

Jagger - the nickname definitely suits him better - whips a gun out and grips the other man, pressing it to his temple. The man goes white and his mouth opens in protest.

“What did you say?”

“Man, I’m sorry, but we need answers.”

“And we’ll get them, without all the beating.”

Jagger’s protecting me? Why?

“She’s bein’ a smart ass.”

“I don’t give a fuck what she’s doin’, it ain’t your place to be in here. I took her, she’s my business. If I see you lay a fuckin’ finger on her again, I’ll gut you.” Jagger drops the gun and shoves the man out of the way, and then he steps in front of me and grips my chin almost gently.

“
Answer the question for me Willow, please?”

“I did,” I whimper.
“I don’t know anything.”

“Tell me
the name of the police officer that came and informed you of your Father’s death.”

I close my eyes, trying to remember. I consider lying, but I know that won’t benefit me. My
Father deserves all he gets, he lied to us all and I have to protect the rest of my family.

“Officer Huck.”

“I knew it.” One of the men snarls.

“And what did they say happened to him?”

I swallow, keep calm, just answer the questions and they’ll leave. “He was in a car accident.”

“Did you overhear Huck saying anything
unusual, at any time?”

I close my eyes, trying to remember that time. I was devastated, trying to look after my
Sister, and trying to keep my family together. There was once though, because even through my hard time, I thought it was odd. I found Huck out the back on the phone; he was talking to someone rapidly. I open my mouth and begin repeating the conversation.

“Ben, you can’t breathe a word of this. If anyone finds out what is going on, we’re all dead. We’re dealing with bad people here, the kind of people you don’t want to fuck with.
Manchez and his…”

I pause and choke on my words.
Breathe Willow, just breathe.

“Keep going
…” Jagger encourages.

“
Manchez and his gang…” I whisper, closing my eyes and clenching them tightly, “Will do anything to get that information, we have to keep this on the low down.”

“
Is that all?”

I nod and he lets go of my chin
and turns, facing the five other men. “Well, that’s enough for now. Angel, Ace and Rusty, you lot go out and find Huck. It’s time we have a word.”

Three of the men retreat without another word, and the other two remain, staring at me with hard expressions. It never occurred to me until now, just wha
t I am dealing with. These men are part of something very dangerous. It seems like Jagger might be the only protection I have, and even that’s pushing it. Jagger has an angry side.

“Leave,” Jagger snarls to the other two, and they leave.

When they’re gone, he turns to me. “Come with me.”

We’re leaving the room? He’s letting me out? I follow him out the door and into the massive house. Holy shit, it’s huge. It’s very modern, with wooden floors, pale walls and shiny
finishing’s. We walk into a massive kitchen, with marbled benches and chrome fittings. Jagger shoves me down onto a stool and opens a cupboard, coming back a moment later with a first aid kit.

I don’t dare say anything. I’d rather him fix this,
then I would to get an infection and likely get sick. My pride wasn’t worth that much. He pulls out some swaps and begins wiping my cheek, neither of us speaks. He dabs all the blood away, then covers it with a patch. He grips my chin and turns it from side to side, before nodding to himself.

“
Why is your nickname Jagger?” I whisper.

He
pauses mid-way through throwing the bloody swabs into the bin. It seems my question has stumped him. He drops them in and then looks up at me with narrowed eyes.

“Does it matter?”

“No, but I want to know…”

“No, it’s not. It’s
just the name that we came up with. We’re like a brotherhood I guess, and it just stuck.”

“Why did you pick that?”

“Why are you asking questions?” He snaps.

“I just want to know, it’s not like I can tell anyone.” I growl, frustrated.

“Johnny, Aiden, Greg, George, Eddie and Rusty, that’s their first names and together it spells Jagger, so I got that name because I started the group. All the boys except Rusty go by created names, which is what you hear me call them; Angel, Ace, Bull and Snake.”

So they’re basically like a gang? Although, they don’t seem to like the idea of being referred to as one, however, as far as I can tell, that’s what they are in a simple sense.
I close my eyes a moment and listen as Jagger continues cleaning up.

“Please don’t lock me in that room anymore.”
I whisper, pushing his reasonable mood.

He’s over at the sink now
and he stops moving again. Without turning, he says, “You will stay in there until I say you can come out. If all goes well, I might let you come out and help around the house, but that depends.”

“Please…”

He spins around, and slams a glass down onto the bench. “This isn’t a hotel princess; you’re not here to enjoy yourself. If the room isn’t good enough for you, I have a dark basement riddled with rats that you might prefer?”

I shake my head, swallowing back more tears.

He stares at me for a long moment, and then sighs. “Look, for what it’s worth I’m sorry I had to do this. I need that information because if it gets in the wrong hands all hell will break loose. I don’t want to hurt you, and I’m sorry you’re here but I have to do this. I’m the nicer side of this situation. You have bad people after you Willow, it could have been so much worse for you. If Manchez and his gang had taken you, I guarantee you wouldn’t be sitting here chatting. You’d be in a basement, bound and raped until you couldn’t breathe any longer.”

I shudder at the thought.
“His name keeps appearing on everyone’s lips. Who is this Manchez?” I ask in a small voice.

“
Manchez is the most feared gang leader in this city and he wants the information your Father has. He was after you also, you don’t even realize the danger you were in do you? I took you to get the information from your Father but I never planned on hurting you. Manchez on the other hand, would have killed you as soon as he got his hands on that information.”

“My
Sister…” I whisper. “Is she safe?”

“Yes, she’s safe. She’s only your half-
sister…”

I nod, thanking
God in that moment that she is only my half-sister. My Mother had her to another man, and my Father left her. It’s when things begun going bad…

“Then she’s of no use to those men.”

“How could I live so long and not know the whole time that I was in danger?”

“Your
Father knows too many things, and eventually people were going to find him and try to get that information. One way or another, you would have been taken.”

“Can I go back to my room?” I whisper, closing my eyes.
This is all too much to take in.

He nods and leads me back to my room, when he’s about to close the door, I whisper, “Thank you.”

He turns, looking shocked. His eyes meet mine and for a moment, I see something else in them. Quickly, he pulls on the hard front and nods stiffly. “Yeah well, I’m not a fuckin’ monster. Don’t get used to it though; I can’t be your friend.”

Then he slams the door and leaves, and I cry myself into a weak, exhausted sleep.

CHAPTER 3

Two days pass, and I am beginning to feel claustrophobic in this room. I pace backwards and forwards, kicking walls and smashing anything I can find. I’m angry, desperate and ashamed that I let myself get caught. I think a lot about my Father, and I wonder what he knows that’s so important. My dad was a cop for a long time; I never thought he would do anything illegal.

Seems I might be wrong
though, just like I’m wrong about a lot of things. I don’t know what’s real anymore, all I know is I’ve wound up in hell and I don’t know how to get out. I’ve searched every part of the room looking for a way out, but there’s nothing. Jagger has this room secured. I think about my Sister and Ava a lot, I know Ava will be blaming herself. I know she will be beside herself with worry, and I can only pray she’s gone to the police by now.

I think about the man holding me. How can someone so beautiful be so
tangled up in this dangerous world? He comes in every day now and he feeds me reasonably well, though I don’t eat half of it. He doesn’t speak to me anymore and when he does, it’s simple one word answers to a question. I wonder if he’s really such an ass underneath that exterior. I personally think he’s got a gentle side; he protected me from that man after all. He didn’t have to.

One afternoon, I’m sitting by the window just staring out. I’m desperate for sunlight, for fresh air on my face. I hear the door open and I
turn; Jagger steps in the room with my dinner tray. Today he’s dressed all in black, like he’s about to go to someone’s funeral. Heck, maybe he is. I can’t help the stupid flutters in my chest when I look at him; he’s the sort of man that can make any woman salivate, even if he’s being horrible.

Some women are strange like
that; I know I can tend to be one of them. A man can be an absolute ass, but if he’s gorgeous, she will accept it. I mean, whatever happened to personalities and all that? I blame my lifestyle. My Mother wasn’t exactly going to win Mother of the year and my Father cared more about his job. Maybe it’s built into someone like me to go for someone like Jagger.

I stare at my kidnapper. I think Jagger has a
personality; it’s just hidden behind his tough act. I nearly got him to smile yesterday when I sat in the room singing at the top of my lungs. I was trying to stop myself panicking and singing loudly really did release some tension. Isn’t it amazing how the simplest things can make one feel better?

“Food,” he mutters, pointing to the tray.
I snap out of my thoughts and stare at him, all caveman like and grunting.

“Me ca
veman, you little woman…ugh ugh,”

His eyes widen and a ghost of a smile plays around his lips, but he quickly
smothers it. Real Jagger doesn’t smile. The fake Jagger at the club that night, he smiled. I wonder if he’s in there somewhere.

“Joke if you wish, it beats your singing.”

I shrug. “What would you do if a crazy man was keeping you captive?”

“I wouldn’t be so stupid as to get caught.”

Ouch.

“That’s low, even for you.”

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to take drinks from strangers?”

“My parents weren’t the darling couple you assume. My
Father was never home and my Mother was….never mind…it’s none of your business.”

Jagger leans against the door frame and stares at me. “I didn’t assume anything.”

“You assumed I’m stupid.”

“I just assumed you would know better.”

“Well excuse me for finding a man attractive. I didn’t exactly think that you were a weirdo out to kidnap innocent girls!”

He growls at me and steps forward. “Careful.”

“Or what? You’ll hit me? Beat me? Starve me? Go right ahead, I couldn’t care less. It beats being in this room!”

His face hardens and he steps forward. “Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?”

“I don’t care.”

He steps forward and I shuffle backwards,
he smirks. I have learnt Jagger’s smirk is so far from a smile, it’s not funny.

“If you don’t care, then why are you shuffling backwards?”

“If you want to hurt me Jagger, just do it and get it over with. You’re either a nice guy, or a bad guy, no one can be both.”

He spins around
and walks to the door, then turns and looks back at me. “Can’t they?”

CHAPTER
4

“Willow, you can’t do this to yourself.”

“Why not
, Jenny? If it wasn’t for me being born, Mom would have never gotten sick and dad would have never wanted to be at work all the time. If Mom didn’t do what she did, we would be a happy family.”

“Life is like that Willow, you can’t change how things are. I could just as much blame myself as you, but I don’t.”

“You did nothing.”

“I’m a result of an affair…you think that didn’t contribute to Mom’s craziness?”

“Mom was crazy before your dad.”

“Willow, if you keep hurting yourself, one day there will be no coming back.”