One month after the fight between the Salvatore families.
Zane had suffered at his papa's hands an awful lot. The man's presence alone caused a stifling ache in Zane's body, and although he often paraded around with a pompous look on his face, he felt like a frail boy whenever his papa appeared with his judging eyes, his sharp slaps, and his demeaning tongue.
Zane promised himself that once he took control of the Second Family's business, no one could make him suffer anymore. No one—especially not his Papa, a man whom he fought to please no matter the degrading words or the constant beatings his Papa would inflict on him. When Lorenzo had put a bullet between his papa's eyes, for a split second, relief flooded his insides, and he thought, I'm free; I will no longer suffer. Despite knowing death was nearby for him too, he felt freedom for the first time in his life. He was wrong, though, dreadfully so. Lorenzo wasn't kind enough to end his life. Lorenzo wanted him to suffer so much more—apparently Darius too.
In the present, he was suffering; he was living in constant fear of something, anything, everything.
Today, Lorenzo dragged him from the prison cell while Darius watched with dark eyes, taking him into a room with a proper bed.
Zane soon found out it wasn't just any room; it was Lorenzo and Darius's room. This confused him greatly, leaving his thoughts jumbled with questions he couldn't answer.
Zane's breathing spiked when Lorenzo threw him on the floor the minute they entered the room. As quick as lightning, despite his bound wrists behind his back, he scrambled around to face them. "Why am I here?" he asked with a deep frown, staring wildly at Lorenzo and Darius, who hovered above him with unreadable expressions on their hardened faces. "What's with these games? Why can't you just kill me already?!"
Darius was the first to take a step forward, hovering above Zane, seemingly all high and mighty. Zane inwardly cringed back, his shoulders closing in on him. Only a couple of months ago, Darius was this naive bodyguard—a stupid alpha who Zane could've crushed between his fingers. Now look at him: looking pathetic in front of the man who was given everything Zane had worked his entire worthless life for!
"That's not what we want," Darius said after a moment of scrutinizing Zane's beaten-up body.
Zane gritted his teeth to the point of pain. "You still haven't told me what the fuck you want," he said, watching Darius with damning eyes.
Then Lorenzo came, standing beside Darius with straight shoulders and cunningness in his eyes.
Most people didn't know, but Lorenzo always seemed like the good Salvatore, the reasonable one—the sane one when compared to Zane. Zane knew though; his deceiving cousin was anything but those. Lorenzo could fool the world, but he could not fool Zane.
"We want to take care of you," Lorenzo said with folded arms, fringing innocence. "We aren't your enemies."
Zane would've laughed at Lorenzo's words if his throat wasn't as dry as sandpaper itself. Instead, he fixed himself, sitting down with his back braced against the room wall while still keeping eyes on the two men.
"Lorenzo is right; we're not your enemies." Darius took another step closer.
Zane rolled his eyes at that; he refused to listen to their lies. "Yeah, right—you're doing a pretty shitty job at taking care of me," he argued. "Let me go; I'll just disappear from your lives. Just —"
"We can't do that," Lorenzo interrupted with a deep frown.
"Why not!?" Zane slammed a foot against the floorboard.
Damn them. They took everything from him—everything. Why couldn't they let him go? Truth be told, it wasn't like he cared about anything. He never wanted any of this! He just wanted to please his papa; he just wanted his papa to be proud of him. And now that the man was dead, he didn't need anything. Lorenzo and his precious Darius could have it all. They could shove the so-called legacy down their throats for all he cared. The only thing he wanted now was a peaceful life away from all of this.
"You're an omega," Darius chimed in, snapping Zane back to reality.
Zane frowned. "So what?" he bit out, mean and biting. "Don't degrade me, Darius. Unlike you, I can take care of myself. If I wasn't tied up, I would rip your fucking throat out!"
"I like to see you try," Darius said with a condescending smile.
So they were looking down on him because he was a lowly omega—a worthless nothing whose only purpose was to warm some dirty alpha's bed? All his life, he had been shamed for being an omega, laughed at by lowlifes who would jump at the opportunity to be him whenever he turned his back on them—all his life!
Zane gritted his teeth, and for a moment, he saw an angry red. He might've been an omega, but he wasn't one to be messed with. He killed men twice as large as Darius's with his hands alone and made others tremble at the mere mention of his name—how dare Darius look down upon him?!
This time Zane didn't try to hold back, and before anyone could stop him, he was up on his feet, charging toward Darius at piping speed. However, before he could get a foot up close to Darius, Lorenzo had him by the neck, holding him with heated fingers and a dangerous grip.
Powerless to do anything, Zane gasped for air.
"Enough," Lorenzo growled, a bit too close to Zane's face. "You will not talk to Darius with disrespect, or else I will rip your tongue out. Am I clear?" And then his fingers tightened, and Zane swore he was turning pale. "Zane?" When he began seeing black, Zane could do nothing other than nod. "Good."
The minute Lorenzo let go, Zane dropped to the floor, gasping for air to fill his burning lungs.
"You're scaring him," Darius said in a soft tone with a click of the tongue before he went over to Zane and stooped down. Darius reached out to steady him, touching him on the shoulder like a protective lover, friend, or whatever. "Lorenzo doesn't mean it; he's just a little tense and..."
Zane used his shoulder and shoved the alpha away with force. "Haven't you two taken enough from me!?" he yelled while bitter tears unknowingly leaked from his eyes, blinding his vision. "What more do you want!?"
What more do they want?
Those words had been hammering inside Zane's head for the past month; what more did they want?
Before Zane realized what was happening, he began sobbing, trembling, and crying big fat drops of ugly tears like a frail, lonely thing. Why must his life be so? Why must he give his all only to be unappreciated? Why had no one noticed how hard he had been trying? He was never good enough—never Lorenzo. And now he was never Darius. Zane's shoulders hitched, and before he could stop his limbs from moving and embarrassing him further, he curled in on himself, knees up to his chest with his head buried inside them, seeking comfort against cold, clammy walls.
For the longest time, Zane had only known loneliness. He wore it like a second skin. No one could imagine the emptiness of it all, stretching over the years, digging a hole inside of him—a hole with resentment and anger and greed and power and... nothingness. No one could understand its torment.
Why must he suffer?
When would it end?
"Zane?" A heavy palm pressed against Zane's back from behind him before they moved in circles, soothing him in ways that caused his skin to crawl. He didn't realize his eyes were closed, yet when warm air fanned against his nape, he refused to look over his shoulder. Someone was there; Lorenzo was there, breathing down his neck. "You," Lorenzo whispered in a strangely affectionate tone. "We want you... We've always wanted you... If you let us."
Immediately, Zane's eyes flew open, and his heart raced a mile a minute. He tried to move away and scrambled in the opposite direction. However, Lorenzo's grasp on his shoulder turned firm before his other hand went into Zane's hair, grabbing, caressing, and tugging.
Lorenzo showed him who he was and what he was: a powerful alpha who wouldn't stand for disrespect.
"Don't move," Lorenzo warned in a deep, dark tone.
On a biological instinct, Zane whimpered like a helpless, wounded omega. And although he so desperately wanted to move away to fight Lorenzo,. The warmth from his cousin's embrace came in waves, addicting and intoxicating, so he unintentionally leaned further back, melting against Lorenzo's chest while the thrumming in his ears slowly eased.
Surprisingly, he felt safe and protected, cared for, and wanted.
It was wrong on so many levels.
Soon, Darius joined them, sitting impossibly close in front of Zane. He had his gentle, darkened eyes on Lorenzo, though, always on Lorenzo. Darius smiled in an evil, wicked way—something Zane didn't know he was capable of, something that reminded Zane of himself—the way he acted, the way he carried himself.
Darius stretched an arm out, stroking Zane's cheek, unbothered when Zane flinched back, only to end up deeper against Lorenzo. And before Zane knew what was happening, Lorenzo turned his face backward, and for a passing moment, Zane's body was stuck in a trance-like state. Lorenzo's gaze affected him, and he tied an invisible string around his neck, choking him. "We'll take care of you," Lorenzo whispered, so close—a breath's touch from Zane's lips. "Me and Darius."
Zane frowned deeply and said, "I don't—what are you?"
"Shhh," Lorenzo shushed him before he leaned in and pressed his lips, kissing Zane deeply, forcing his tongue into Zane's mouth while the omega gasped a shuddering noise, not knowing what was happening or why Lorenzo was doing what he was doing. The kiss felt good, though. Like a drug—almost addicting with sweetness yet thick with poison on his tongue.
Darius's fingers appeared, soothing Zane's hair and guiding his face away from Lorenzo's heated mouth. At that moment, Zane wanted to protest and demanded what the fuck was happening. However, all thoughts left his brain when he felt Lorenzo's lips on his neck, kissing him and licking him up and down wherever his lips touched before Darius's face appeared in front of him, eyes dark with hunger.
"Our omega," Darius purred like a demonic alpha before he captured Zane's' wet mouth, drinking up Zane's confusion with a pleased groan and a sly smile.
It was then that Zane realized exactly what the two alphas wanted.
They had no desire for torture, humiliation, or revenge.
It was him.
They wanted him.