The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy (The Devil's Eyes) (29 page)

“Yes sir, but he is just a child, right? How much harm can he cause?”

“He is not just any child. He is my great grandson, and that alone should put a fear in you enough to never let your guard down around him.” My man seems curious, but he nods and moves on to do as I asked with a team of others following. I breathe a little easier and go back to the room above the party, to supervise my Masquerade Ball.

Chapter 33

Kayla

“Are you going to follow me around everywhere I go?” I yell at Gideon. He just smiles and folds his arms. I roll my eyes and pace in front of the window, searching. “I’m going to the bathroom. You aren’t going to go in there with me are you?”

“No, but I am timing you. Don’t think I don’t know there is a window in there,” Gideon yells at me.

He is as irritating as the rest of them.
I don’t know what I have done to make people think I am not trustworthy.
I lean against the wall and stare out the window, waiting, and just when I start to give up on him, he walks through the door. I run out of the bathroom with a little too much excitement, considering Amery’s worried expression, and receive a quick motion to calm down.

“Amery what are you doing here?” Gideon asks.

“Ryan is hurt. He got inside but was found soon after. We got him out sort of, but Savage hurt him pretty bad before we could. He is hiding at the edge of the estate, but there are so many guards he can’t get by, and he certainly can’t run. We need Kayla’s seductive ways to distract some guards so Dwayne and Terrence can sneak him out. I have to get back into the Ball and help Cat and Elijah escape, there is no way either will survive on their own. Elijah won’t leave without Cat and she is heavily guarded, I have to help them get out of there before the bombs go off. We are in a full retreat right now.”

“Maybe I can help instead. Aren’t you afraid she will sneak into the ball?”

“No, I am pretty sure when she sees Ryan, she will be more concerned about getting him out than getting herself in. You look nice Gideon, but not as nice she does,” Amery says, taking my hand when Gideon nods.

“Well if anyone can, she can, be careful,” he says as we leave.

Once we make it into his car Amery shakes his head and lets out a heavy sigh. “Alright, we only have so much time to get you in. Catriona said they are holding her offsite so they can bring her in by herself in an open carriage, like she is fucking Cinderella. All we need to do is get you there. Have you change, and then Cat and I will sneak in with you in your carriage.”

Amery quickly drives me to Cat, where she helps us sneak in through a side door. “Come with me. We can change in here,” Cat says. Both Amery and I follow, and he is kind enough to turn away while we change, but not without an impatient sigh. We brought something for Cat to wear so she will blend in with the rest of them, but she does have trouble squeezing her heavy ball gown into the back of the carriage and remaining out of sight. I have to make some odd adjustments to my dress to help her out. Nothing like having a woman hidden under your dress. Amery and Cat sneak out of the carriage just after we enter through the gates and stop for direction from one of Savage’s many security people.

The moment I arrive at my special entrance, the butterflies start flying, and I have to take several deep breaths as I am escorted to a special place within the estate, where I am told to wait for my escorts. Fagan comes in and tries to sit with me and talk to me about how good this will be for “our family” as he says. He says that I should be proud to take on such an important responsibility. He is one spineless fuck, but I will give him some credit, he does seem to feel guilty about his choice to betray his own daughter. Nick would never do this to his daughter. Of course Nick would kill anyone who breathed near his daughter without his permission. There is a noticeable difference between the two men. After much pacing and sighing, Fagan leaves me to attend the party himself. I begin to pace as I wait for my escorts when Ria steps in.

“Hello, dear sister, I just came in to say how happy I am for you,” she says, dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t know how you are expected to please Nick when you have no idea what you are doing. That is fine though. He can have kids with you, and he can play with me. We will see whose child comes out on top and which woman ends up becoming the woman at his side.” I want to say something to the bitch, but I know I can’t. She wouldn’t hesitate to give me away, and with guards right outside, she wouldn’t have to go far to spoil our plans. I bet Savage would have a fit if he knew he had men actually protecting me. I laugh before I realize the heinous whore is still talking to me. “So, enjoy his luscious cock while you can because it will soon be mine, I promise you,” she says with a sinister grin. “I will say, you are better than that awful whore he is married to. I wonder what their son will look like when he grows up. I hear he is even stronger than his father. Maybe I will just wait until his hormones start going crazy and lure him to me. Or, maybe, we could make a deal. You know your children will never stand a chance against that child, but maybe if you help me get Marius moved up the ladder, I can help you cause that child to take a terrible fall into a large fire pit.” She laughs, “We can even pretend to cry for him as he screams out for help.” I can take it no longer.

“Well, this Bitch is going to have to die now.” I mumble to myself. I jump up, and eye her dead on. Her eyes grow wide and her jaw drops to the floor while I simply smile. Before she can scream out, I take hold of her throat and pinch just right so she can’t make a sound. She attempts to shake free of me before I shove my forearm against her and shove her into the wall. “You really talk too damn much. Do you know how annoying you are? I might have let you go if you hadn’t of continued to be such a detestable cockroach.” She begins to become desperate, grabbing and scratching at my hands as she tries get away and scream. “I hope you didn’t have anywhere you had to be, ever again. I’m sorry but I can’t have you giving me away … no, wait, I am really not sorry at all actually.” I whip her forward before ramming my forearm against her head, killing her instantly. “Wow. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy that.” I cover her with a blanket and kick her body into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door after. A touch of makeup and a quick fix to my hair and I am good to go.

It seems like forever before my escorts come get me, but once they do, I step forward with pleasure. The enormous ballroom is full of people and currently has entertainment performing for Savage and Nick, while Galena sits off to the side, practically ignored by everyone. Once the entertainment is over, Fagan steps forward and introduces his daughter to Nick, and at once, the path for me clears straight to him.
Breathe Kayla.
The spotlights are bright, but I have been on stage before, and just like then, music plays now. I use it to my advantage. There is one thing I know for sure, and that’s how to sway my way into his focus. Stepping out with one long leg at a time, I let my shoulders fall back, my head sit high, and my full breasts rise proudly in front of me with no fear, all while my family’s symbol sits against my chest, its eyes glow a bright blue. If Savage wasn’t so self-centered, he might have noticed the owl symbol of his long ago enemy. Stepping to my mark, with a twist of my body and a whip of my dress, I break through the high slit of my gown with a powerful stance. The people around me all begin to whisper in awe, so I wait until they finish before proceeding to graciously bow my head to Nick, Savage, and Galena. Nick, already standing in front of me by the time I reach the end of my celebratory journey, eyes me down before stepping forward and readying himself for our first dance of the night. Once he is close to me, I realize he already knows it’s me.

Nick holds out his hand to me. “May I?” he asks. I nod, taking his hand and placing my other on his shoulder. He moves with a gentleman’s touch, but his breath on my neck makes me ache for him to touch me even more. I push myself closer to him, feeling down his chest, letting my hand glide over his muscles with a soft exhale.
You can do this, Kayla.
Nick’s sudden trembling hand makes me curious, so I look up and right into his eyes.

“What are you doing here? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he asks, continuing to smile and pretend for the crowd.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“Kayla, you shouldn’t be here. He will torture you, and then he will kill you,” Nick says.

“If you want to let me die rather than him, so be it.”

“Damn it Kayla, what are you trying to do to me?”

“Trying to get you to remember who you are.” I begin speaking of our times together, all the memories I can recall. Nick shakes his head, stops moving with me, and begins begging me to stop as he tries to ignore me. “You can remember, Nick. I know you can. That’s all you have to do is remember who you are and who your family really is.”

“What is wrong, Ma Joie?”

Nick shakes his head and focuses back on me. “Kayla run,” he barks at me.

“No, I am going to force you to choose, Nick.”

“What are you doing, Nicholas? Is she not what you want?” Nick quickly grabs his head and seems to be in pain.

“What’s wrong Nick?” I ask him quietly while trying to comfort him as much as I can.

“Fagan, do something about your daughter. She is obviously doing something horribly disgusting.” Fagan moves closer and whispers for me to step away from Nick.

I take Nick’s face into my hands. “Do you remember me?” He shakes his head. “Sure, you do. I’m your wife. We have two boys together, who love you very much. I love you.” He shakes his head even more within my hands. “Remember, Nick? Please remember. Your grandfather has poisoned you to try and stop you from remembering us. He wants to kill your family, Nick. We need you to protect us. We need you, Nick.”

Savage steams his impatience in my direction. “Catriona! You stop that now! Catriona, leave here or I will force you out!” He yells at me while I take another deep breath.

“Stop yelling at me!” I yell back. “And by the way, I am not Catriona,” I say while Nick’s hands grip me tighter, seeming to not want me to leave him, allowing me to let go of my fear. I rip my mask and my red wig off before reaching up behind his neck and pulling his lips down to mine, swaying whatever magic I can into his body with every motion of my lips to his. I release his lips and stare back up into his eyes. “Come back to me Nick. I. Love. You.”

“No! Kill her!” Savage yells, causing instant chaos to surround me. With my mask now removed, Savage’s guards take hold of me and try to jerk me away from Nick.

At the same time, Ryan screams, “Kayla!” alerting everyone to fight. The guards release me, trying to fight off the attack while I latch on to Nick and try to protect him from my own allies. But Amery is deadlocked on Nick and flies forward to get to him, causing Savage to take notice and go after Amery. Nick jerks away from me as soon as he spots Ryan. Ryan can’t take on Nick, and Amery is certainly no contest for Savage, even with the others having some success against Savage’s men. It is all for naught when Catriona is forced to face off with her own father. There are too many of them, and not enough of us.

“Nick help us, please?” I plead with him as he stares at the commotion in disbelief and continues to keep Ryan from getting to me. “He’s your brother Nick, he won’t hurt you.” I take hold of him in desperation, Nick! Please! Remember us please!” He jerks away from me and cringes as he falls to the floor screaming in agony. Ryan rushes to his brother instantly and we try, to help him, but we are quickly taken over by guards. Nick is escorted away from us and looked after by Ro.

Once Savage locks down the room, we are done, our battle is over. There is some comfort knowing our backup still remains on the outskirts of the ballroom and that I still have one card left to play.

Savage regains control of the room, “Traitors! All of them have clearly breached our security and with help. These are traitors who have badly influenced Nick’s wife-to-be. How anyone could support their efforts is nothing short of betrayal.” The ballroom is speechless. “We will deal with these conspirators privately and will soon return to the event. Please don’t let this ruin your night my magnificent guests. Drink! Eat! And dance! There is no reason to call an end to this festive night, I promise you.” Savage quickly ushers us out of the room and through a passage to what Savage refers to as the “training room,” the room in which he trains his assassins, his sons, daughter, and most recently, his grandson, Nicholas. The room is massive and filled with weapons to torture us with, not to mention the enormous amount of men that come in to back Savage against us. He shuts the doors behind us so no guest can bear witness to the murders that are about to happen. He has us all, or what he thinks is all of us: Ryan, Elijah, Catriona, Amery and me. We are all pushed down onto our knees in front of him. Galena comes into the room, looking over us with tension in her eyes, but she brings Nick in with her, and following soon after is Rabbie and Ro, both of whom stick to the back of the room with fear in their eyes. When a man pushes his knee in my back and I cry out, Ro darts ahead but seems unsure of what to do and steps back to Nick’s side, eyeing him silently.

“Nicholas, there is no need for you to be bothered with this. Go back to the party and entertain our guests until I can return,” Savage says to him.

“No, I want to be here,” Nick says.

Savage looks over at Ryan and Amery and beams suddenly. “Fine, let me take care of her first, and I will let you take care of them for me,” Savage says happily.

What I thought would work clearly is going to cost us all of our lives, unless I confess my secret weapon. I stand quickly in front of Savage. “Let them go. They were only acting against you for me. If you let them go, I will gladly sacrifice myself,” I say with a boldness.

“Kayla are you crazy!?” Ryan yells at me.

Savage’s red eyes swirl this way and that, as if they are trying to confuse me somehow. He looks me over with a confident smile, but I stand strong and without fear. “Why would I let them go when I already have you? I can kill all of you without wasting my time bargaining with you.”