The Lesser of Two Evils - NC-17, Chapter 56 (May 27, 2016)

[FroggyJump]

I read that last update not long after you posted it and I logged off pretty much as soon as I finished reading it, that was months ago. The last two chapters have left me reeling from the grim situation that Chloe is in and I'm thankful that I get a moment to breathe before reading another chapter.

You have done such a wonderful job with dealing with a subject that can hard to handle in stories. As terrible as those last chapters were to read, you are one of the few writers that I would trust to deal with everything at the right moment and not rush to a conclusion good or bad. I look forward to the next chapter.

[SVillefan]

This has been great story. I really hope that Chloe doesn't believe the things that Lionel was saying to her about Lex before he raped her. I hope she realized it was just more of his endless mindgames. Even when he is about to get what he wants he still can't help himself and attempts once more to tear her apart emotionally. That was heartbreaking and hard to read. I can't wait for Lionel to die. Hopefully it will be soon. Please update soon.

[kitten]

Chapter Thirty-Three

He was going to kill them both, and the only pity would be that Luthors had ever existed.

Lex drove them with all the speed he could get away with, his panic only altered by the pervasive dread of any kind of delay. It physically hurt him to brake at intersections, as if the thirty seconds without forward momentum was how he'd failed Chloe. He didn't look at his brother fidgeting in the passenger seat.

Lucas' confession had brought the only chance of saving Chloe. Lex knew if Lionel was going to follow his plan, he'd be anxious to do so right away. She wasn't yet officially missing and his father would probably want as much time as possible to enjoy it. His primary goal was a baby with Chloe, but he wanted to frighten and humiliate her, too. He would have to get back all the months of careful planning in what he did to her.

Lex concentrated on driving as well as he'd ever driven, using his best fearless disregard. He truly didn't fear anything more than getting to Chloe too late. He could not think of the details of her captivity, because that was the best way to freeze up and be useless.

She'll bait him, he thought. She's going to let loose all the vitriol she's been hiding and he'll take every word out on her body.

“When did you last talk to him,” he asked Lucas curtly.

“I can't say the old fossil and I have ever talked, mostly he gets his lawyer on the phone with me while he grudgingly signs a cheque.”

Lex slammed on the brakes, his brother lurching toward the dashboard as he gulped. Lex was furious, and he didn't bother hiding it.

“Last week but he wouldn't take the call. I needed money and he wasn't going to pay this time. He said last time he was done, and I guess he was being honest for once!”

Pulling into a different lane, the bald man concentrated. He was aware of Lucas settling nervously back into the bucket seat, and he didn't try to reassure him. If others had been responsible for Chloe's situation, he'd never forgive them.

“Have you ever heard the name Chloe Sullivan?”

“Is that your new girl? She goes to your place a lot recently, but I figured you weren't up for a threesome and you wouldn't appreciate me showing an interest. She's been with Dad, too, you know,” Lucas said, a hint of scorn in his voice for his father.

Lex's hand flashed out and grabbed at his collar, pulling it tight around his judgemental throat. “She hasn't been with him – he's been terrorizing her. And he has her now, so he can rape her. He's been feeding her fertility drugs in advance so that when he dies there'll be an heir other than you or I to leave everything. Chloe Sullivan is not a whore, and your speaking of her that way makes me suspicious you helped Lionel corner her.”

He released the young man, who shifted as far away as the sports car allowed. “I didn't know any of that; I check up on you and Dad in case – He's made no secret of wanting me gone, and it's not like you and I grew up together. You'll pay off my mistakes, but I have no illusions about my position. It's one thing to get my legs broken for a debt, but the thought of my only family killing me weighs on my mind,” Lucas said, his voice a rush of repressed emotions.

Lex wanted to believe his brother's claims. They weren't close, but they had a bond. He could tell Lucas about Lionel's eccentric whims and petty need to dominate every situation. There was no need to try to make sense of their father with his sibling because Lionel tormented them in the same ways. After a failed attempt to usurp Lex in concert with their father, Lucas had fallen short of expectations. He received money to keep out of company business and assure there were no family scandals from his actions. He was rejected, soundly, cruelly, but – like Lex – he was never completely let off the hook for being a Luthor.

“Do you know anything else that might help find Chloe,” he asked finally, trying to ease the rage-feuled roughness as he drove.

“Not really. She went to the penthouse to see you, and the castle in Smallville to see Dad. I wasn't watching her unless she showed up at one of those places. It's a coincidence I had the location of this house – I've never been there before,” Lucas said. He shook his head, as if years of being Lionel's bastard hadn't convinced him any despicable action was possible. “Where did he even find her?”

The attempt to drive like a moderately sane person was dropped in favour of holding back from punching the console. There was a strange feeling buried in the base of his skull that he might be able to knock loose if he shattered his head into the window. The words came from somewhere lower than his throat, a growl. “High school.”

Lucas' whispered curse left them silent in the hum of the overworked automobile.


Lionel had told her a man's employees reflected his own nature, Chloe thought vaguely. He had said the people he surrounded himself with needed to typify his style and sensibility. They wore suits, styled their hair, and maintained their nails. They worked out and ate properly. They assisted genes and exercise with plastic surgery once there was a need. They married with careful selection, and reared children to carry ambitious course loads in boarding schools at least too far away to visit each weekend.

He hired smoothly fashionable men with steely eyes, each one so meticulously pressed he could walk into a catalogue shoot for a men's store. Not all were handsome, few were terribly young, but they had a look that she'd only ever seen on movies or in the background of presidential speeches.

The men who had kidnapped her were sloppy and unprofessional, obviously a special group just for her. He never took her for granted in his plans. He'd gone out of his way to hire amateurs looking for a payday.

When Lionel got off her, she didn't see anything at first. Her hair was a mess and she stumbled to her feet, pulling down the horrible gown as she moved. Her back hit the wall next to the headboard, and she yelled hoarsely with a desperate note of hope.

“Lex?!”

“I'm afraid not.”

Shock was dulling everything but she used one hand to cover her chest and the other to push her hair out of her eyes. The man speaking to her was Lionel's age, with a scarred, grizzled face. His short, dark hair was cut nicely, but he looked hard. The men he had with him were a united front of unspoken threat, all of them beefy and tough. They were orderly in the way they fanned out and lined the room's walls. They weren't all in suits, but they weren't sloppy or unkempt like the freelance kidnappers.

“Not a good time,” Lionel said mockingly. He had pulled his clothes together and was preening at his hair. “A visit is better left to the city, don't you think, Morgan?”

Morgan Edge! She knew him; he was a gangster and had probably started a very long list of murders with Lionel's parents. His men weren't just thugs, they were organized crime. They did this for a living. She wanted to stare, but that might make him angry. If Morgan Edge was there with his men, she wasn't Lionel's anymore; they both belonged to him.

“We're such old friends, I thought you'd overlook my manners,” the other man said smoothly, his voice too remarkably assured for his oft-broken nose. “And I apologize to the young lady.”

She nodded at him dumbly. She could play this the right way and get free. He would think she was a hooker and let her out somewhere. She was young, blonde, and honestly baffled. It wouldn't be too difficult to be convincingly incapable of giving useful information. Maybe his facade of chivalry was even based a little in reality; he was old enough to have a daughter her age. Help came from odd corners when things were as bad as her last day.

It's been less than a day, she thought in awe. This whole thing with Lionel has only been the last two years of my life. It's a fraction of everything, a blink when I'm eighty. I just need to get past this.

“Maybe you'd like to freshen up,” Morgan Edge continued. “We'll be leaving shortly, and I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable.”

As if the word made it happen, her legs wobbled underneath her. There was pain. It was where she'd expected, but also in her arms and neck. Chloe realized she was alternately panting and holding her breath, and shook her head to clear it. She didn't want to go with these men, but she couldn't stay where she was. She needed to get back to civilization and get away.

Locking her knees, she plodded to the bathroom without a door, and turned her back on the room full of strange, violent men. Her clothes were on the floor, and the damp cloth from her bath was draped over the edge of the tub. Chloe picked it up and started washing her face. She scrubbed quickly, looking past the mirror to her slim chance.

She wasn't religious, but she knew miracles were just unlikely possibilities; she had to make it work.

[Cassandra Jean]

Wonderful update. I really hope that Lex and Lucas make it to her before things get really bad.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Flyingwoman]

Exciting twist, and I appreciate the disregard for canon wrt to Morgan Edge: I love the idea that there continues to be unfinished business between him and Lionel. I also appreciate that Chloe is not too traumatized to think strategically in this situation.

[tatie87]

What the heck is going to happen with Edge now in the mix. I have a feeling Lex is going to be too late to the house.

[somethingeasy]

He was going to kill them both, and the only pity would be that Luthors had ever existed.

Lex drove them with all the speed he could get away with, his panic only altered by the pervasive dread of any kind of delay. It physically hurt him to brake at intersections, as if the thirty seconds without forward momentum was how he'd failed Chloe. He didn't look at his brother fidgeting in the passenger seat.

This was a great beginning to the chapter, Nonky. I could almost feel and touch Lex’s snarling, revolted hatred of all things connected to Luthor. It’s also interesting imagining that Lex’s hatred and revulsion was so clear that even Lucas was able to pick up on Lex’s anger. I’ll bet the younger brother was practically pressing himself into the door on the opposite side of the car, probably wishing for a bigger and wider vehicle.

But it was a terrible place to bring us to fresh after that god-awful cliffhanger you left us at with the last chaper. But I was still hoping that this was chronologically out of place from the last chapter, and we were seeing a flashback before Lex forcefully enters Lionel’s House of Rape and Horror. Turns out it wasn’t… but I still had my hopes up during the first read.

Lucas' confession had brought the only chance of saving Chloe. Lex knew if Lionel was going to follow his plan, he'd be anxious to do so right away. She wasn't yet officially missing and his father would probably want as much time as possible to enjoy it. His primary goal was a baby with Chloe, but he wanted to frighten and humiliate her, too. He would have to get back all the months of careful planning in what he did to her.

Lex’s vivid and fertile imagination AND his in-depth knowledge of his father’s character is making for some pretty horrific results right now. Lex simply cannot shut his brain off from imagining all the horrific torture and anguish that Chloe is suffering through at this very moment. And the tragic thing is that Lex probably STILL isn’t imagining the true horror that Chloe is going through right now.

She'll bait him, he thought. She's going to let loose all the vitriol she's been hiding and he'll take every word out on her body.

I loved how I can feel a combination of pride, despair, admiration and exasperation from Lex with regards to Chloe. He knows that his plucky girl is not going to just lie down and submit to make the situation easier for herself. Instead, she’s going to present herself as a brave, courageous, strong and absolutely irresistible target for Lionel to try and break down.

“Last week but he wouldn't take the call. I needed money and he wasn't going to pay this time. He said last time he was done, and I guess he was being honest for once!”

It’s only a small, brief glimpse, but it’s quite interesting seeing the inner workings between the Luthor family, as observed and reported from the family members themselves.

“Is that your new girl? She goes to your place a lot recently, but I figured you weren't up for a threesome and you wouldn't appreciate me showing an interest. She's been with Dad, too, you know,” Lucas said, a hint of scorn in his voice for his father.

I didn’t know whether to wince in pain… or shriek with outrage at this assessment of Chloe’s personality and character. How DARE Lucas say such horrible things about Chloe. And yet, Lucas is probably only speaking what everyone else already believes about Lionel’s ‘latest mistress’, who is apparently on a time-share between father and son *shudder*

Lex's hand flashed out and grabbed at his collar, pulling it tight around his judgemental throat. “She hasn't been with him – he's been terrorizing her. And he has her now, so he can rape her. He's been feeding her fertility drugs in advance so that when he dies there'll be an heir other than you or I to leave everything. Chloe Sullivan is not a whore, and your speaking of her that way makes me suspicious you helped Lionel corner her.”

heee! Very satisfying. I do admit that I believe Lucas was being treated rather harshly for a statement that was more stupid and thoughtless rather than malevolent and vicious. But still, it was very satisfying to see Lex nearly choke the life out of his brother for the slurs me made about Chloe.

And I will admit that Lucas earned some points when he exhibited appalled shock and horror finding out that Chloe was a friggen high school student. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I wonder whether any of the other potential rapists that Lex hired as goons might also feel a similar kind of appalled horror at the idea of a high school kid suffering like that…?

Sadly, I doubt it. I remember that Lionel chose one guy because he was a pedophile. Which suggests that all the goons have the same kind of mind-set with regards to women… regardless of age and/or experience.

He released the young man, who shifted as far away as the sports car allowed. “I didn't know any of that; I check up on you and Dad in case – He's made no secret of wanting me gone, and it's not like you and I grew up together. You'll pay off my mistakes, but I have no illusions about my position. It's one thing to get my legs broken for a debt, but the thought of my only family killing me weighs on my mind,” Lucas said, his voice a rush of repressed emotions.

And now suddenly I feel a small amount of pity for Lucas. He might sound a lot like a spoiled, petulant child in many ways… but he’s also a kid who has grown up under horrible conditions, with the absolute worst kind of role models possible. What kind of a person would anyone become while constantly wondering whether your own family is going to decide to kill you off for being an ‘inconvenient nuisance’ one of these days?

He hired smoothly fashionable men with steely eyes, each one so meticulously pressed he could walk into a catalogue shoot for a men's store. Not all were handsome, few were terribly young, but they had a look that she'd only ever seen on movies or in the background of presidential speeches.

The men who had kidnapped her were sloppy and unprofessional, obviously a special group just for her. He never took her for granted in his plans. He'd gone out of his way to hire amateurs looking for a payday.

Fascinating. I found it intriguing considering the kind of men that Lionel usually surrounds himself with… but also examining a completely different set of men that he ALSO feels familiar and comfortable with. Say what you will about Lionel Luthor, he’s extremely versatile and adaptive. Fascinating!

“Lex?!”

“I'm afraid not.”

DAMMIT!!! Not Lex after all. Dammit, Dammit, DAMMIT!!! aaargh!!

And yet… a sick, twisted part of me is actually relieved that the drama is continuing a little while longer. Hmmm, more torture and agony for Chloe… oh dear me! … For some more chapters, you say? Oh dearie, dear! Just how many more of these intense and bracing horrific chapters are you going to force us to suffer through, Nonky?!? Many, MANY more?!?

Morgan Edge! She knew him; he was a gangster and had probably started a very long list of murders with Lionel's parents. His men weren't just thugs, they were organized crime. They did this for a living. She wanted to stare, but that might make him angry. If Morgan Edge was there with his men, she wasn't Lionel's anymore; they both belonged to him.

And, just like that, Chloe discovers that she’s not only entered a surreal nightmare filled with sneering, laughing jackals masquerading in human form… but she’s actually stepped into a classic gangster film. Complete with a quintessential organized crime boss, and his goon guards.

She nodded at him dumbly. She could play this the right way and get free. He would think she was a hooker and let her out somewhere. She was young, blonde, and honestly baffled. It wouldn't be too difficult to be convincingly incapable of giving useful information. Maybe his facade of chivalry was even based a little in reality; he was old enough to have a daughter her age. Help came from odd corners when things were as bad as her last day.

It's been less than a day, she thought in awe. This whole thing with Lionel has only been the last two years of my life. It's a fraction of everything, a blink when I'm eighty. I just need to get past this.

I can see that Chloe is losing a little piece of her mind and sanity right here in front of us. Perhaps many, many more chapters of this wouldn’t be a good idea after all. Not unless we want Chloe drooling and speaking in tongues at the end of the fic.

She’s seriously looking at the organized crime boss as a ‘chivalrous’ knight in armour waiting to rescue the fair, innocent maiden from the nefarious clutches of the Evil Villain. That is fantastic, Nonky. I can’t imagine a better way to convey Chloe’s desperation, disorientation, confusion and the splintering of her sanity any better than that.

As if the word made it happen, her legs wobbled underneath her. There was pain. It was where she'd expected, but also in her arms and neck. Chloe realized she was alternately panting and holding her breath, and shook her head to clear it. She didn't want to go with these men, but she couldn't stay where she was. She needed to get back to civilization and get away.

Locking her knees, she plodded to the bathroom without a door, and turned her back on the room full of strange, violent men. Her clothes were on the floor, and the damp cloth from her bath was draped over the edge of the tub. Chloe picked it up and started washing her face. She scrubbed quickly, looking past the mirror to her slim chance.

She wasn't religious, but she knew miracles were just unlikely possibilities; she had to make it work.

Excellent! Chloe’s been quite literally tortured, both physically and emotionally… but she’s nowhere near broken. Perhaps it’s the shock keeping the worst of her trauma, anger and grief at bay… but she’s keeping a remarkably clear head through this. Even NOW, fresh after her rape, she’s still clear-headed enough to keep considering opportunities for escape… and weighing her options about how best to stack the odds in her favour… as scant as those odds might be. I have no idea how the situation is going to change now that Morgan Edge has entered into the mix of villains. But it's definitely going to be interesting to see what he brings to the table.

This was a fantastic chapter, Nonky. Thanks for posting. Next one coming soon!?

[cbrunberg]

i hope lex gets there in time.you can tell lex cares for chloe.i don't like the morgan edge is there.

[Ravenn]

Morgan Edge! Eeek! I hope Lionel dies a painful fiery death for hurting Chloe and Lex comes to her rescue Can't wait for the next update!

[poop]

looking forward to the update!