Chapter 51
Deejay
I wait for hours, sitting on the bed, staring at the bars of my cell, listening for anything, but I hear nothing. Nothing until I see Chanda step into view on silent feet. Anger spikes at the sight of him. I glare silently at him, knowing that anything I want to say won’t make it past the gag.
“You’re planning on cursing me as soon as you get that gag off, I know you are. We both know you are. I am here to tell you that you can do that, and I can’t stop you, but if you do, Robbie is going to die. If you don’t want to condemn Robbie to a slow and torturous death, you’re going to swallow that curse. If you want your babies back, you’re going to fucking swallow that curse and do what I tell you to do. It’s your choice. I can’t stop you from killing me with a curse and thereby killing Robbie. So, decide what you’re going to do. I’ll be waiting at your house with your family, so maybe choose not to kill me in front of them.”
He doesn’t wait for any response, not that I have one, and leaves. The Diviner betrayed us, and now he has my family in his power. And as difficult as it is to admit, he has me in his power as well. I would never make the choice to endanger one of mine and Chanda knows it.
Fucking prick.
It doesn’t take long after that before Matt returns, bloody and injured, but fuck, he’s alive. I jump up as he opens the cell and run into his arms. He reaches for and takes off the gag, tossing it onto the bed. My mouth aches, but I throw my arms around his neck, kissing him, so grateful to see him alive. I didn’t even realize how much worry I carried until that fear releases my heart and tears spring to my eyes. “Fuck, you’re alive. Fuck.”
“I am. I have a lot to live for. Let’s go. The charges against you have been dropped.”
He releases me and grabs his pants, pulling them on.
“Chanda came to tell me that if I curse him to death, Robbie will die, and that if we want the babies back, we’re going to do everything he tells us to do. Erroll stole the babies. Is Chanda working with him?”
I blurt it all out as he pulls me out of the cell, following his long strides.
“I don’t know, but we’re not going to let him get away with this. There’s more than one way to kill a traitor,”
he growls.
We exit the hall that houses the prisoners, heading into the main stairwell, and Matt leads me up to the first sublevel. He goes straight to the door that leads to the skybox, Loretta’s offices, and her personal quarters. Only authorized personnel have permission to enter this door, and it breaks part of my heart that Matt pulls me through without trouble. He won his life and has taken over the position of Headsman for the Hub. It hurts me that Loretta forced this fate onto him, but I will that pain away. Matt is alive and right now, that’s the best outcome I could have hoped for.
We go up the flight of stairs to Loretta’s office, where I see her sitting with her current mouthpiece standing behind her. She looks up from her paperwork with a pleasant smile. “Maledict, charges against you have been dropped because the witness to the alleged child abuse refuses to provide a valid testimony. The Judiciary Council decided to drop the charges at my recommendation because I know that you would never knowingly hurt a child. I apologize for the tension between the two of us in recent weeks. I have acted a bit rashly under the stress of Erroll of Morgaine’s plotting, please forgive me, Maledict.”
“I will think about it, but you’re the least important thing on my mind right now,”
I reply. “If you are truly in the mood for reparations, I need to borrow a vehicle.”
“Done,”
Loretta replies as Jett grabs a set of keys hanging behind her, and tosses them to Matt. “Headsman, the paperwork,”
she hands Matt a manila envelope. “Bring it with you tonight. You’ll have to be in the Cage at ten.”
“Understood,”
Matt replies, taking the paperwork.
“Street level of the parking garage. There’s an enforcer SUV in the spot labeled for the CSO, which is your new parking spot.”
Matt gives Loretta a curt nod and pulls me out of the office, hurrying up to the main floor. We hit the exit doors and run, crossing the street only to get accosted by a guy in aviators. “Woah. Are you ok?”
he asks, looking at Matt’s bruising.
“I’m fine, thanks, but in a hurry,”
Matt says, trying to sidestep.
“Wait. I’m detective Luca Chavez, if you’ve been assaulted in there, I can help you,”
the man offers, pulling a police badge out of his pocket.
Matt slips around him, pulling me with him. “Sorry Detective, our sitter is way into overtime,”
he says, keeping the detective in his line of sight.
I can see the moment Detective Chavez recognizes my face, so I give him the smile I reserve for people I have to be polite to. I donate a lot of money to the Houston police force, so of course he knows my face; I’ve been to a few functions over the years. “Yes, I’m the guy you’re thinking of, and yes, our sitter has been with our kids all night, so we have to get home. You’re welcome to contact me if you have more questions, but right now, we have to go.”
What an inconvenient time for the Houston PD to watch the Hub.
Detective Chavez opens his mouth and shuts it. If he has nothing more to say, good. I turn away and run with Matt into the garage, finding the SUV where Loretta said it would be. Matt and I jump in and he peels out, driving as quickly as he can to get back to our home. It takes us fifteen minutes with him driving well over a hundred on the highway and weaving through the morning traffic. Fortunately, most of the rush hour traffic moves toward downtown, not away, so we don’t get stopped by it on the way back to the villa.
I jump out before he’s completely stopped and run into the house. “Children!”
I holler, running first to the living room.
“Papa!”
I hear Cary call from the kitchen and do an about-face, running to the kitchen with Matt on my heels.
Chanda sits at the table with Amelia, who looks scared and has Cary firmly contained in her lap, and Fraser, who has a grim set to his mouth.
“The rest are at school,”
Fraser tells me as he gets up. “We told them that you were dealing with some legal issues with Loretta and that you would be back as soon as it was taken care of.”
I stalk over to Chanda, furious that he’s holding my family hostage. “Where are my babies?”
I demand, slamming my hand on the table in my rage.
“Erroll of Morgaine has them,”
Chanda replies calmly. “If you want them back, you are going to stay here and do abso-fucking-lutely nothing at all. It’s your fault they were taken, Deejay. Yours. And now you’re going to stay here and wait like a good little Maledict because Erroll has your babies and he’s not going to give them back until he gets what he wants.”
“What does he want?”
My voice cracks on my demand. I can’t fathom what someone I’ve never even met could possibly want from me. “Why wouldn’t you tell me last fucking Saturday? Why did you betray us?”
Chanda looks at Matt, ignoring my questions. “He wanted to keep you out of the Cage, but Loretta beat him to that, so now he’s going to hold your babies hostage until you fail to show up to work tonight. If you stay home, he will deliver the babies back to you just in time for your execution. If you go to work, he’s going to start sending you body parts until they are dead.”
Horror blinds me to everything but getting my sons back. I can’t think past the idea that Erroll is willing to kill infants to get what he wants. “I am not staying here and waiting for Erroll to either kill Matt or my babies. I am going to go get them back right now.”
“Deejay!”
Chanda barks, shoving the table at me as he stands, knocking me flat on my ass. “You’re going to sit the fuck down and let this happen.”
“Hey!”
Matt shouts, grabbing Chanda by the shirt.
Chanda looks him dead in the eye. “Kill me and Robbie is dead. I am not fucking around with you two. Your most vulnerable family members’ lives hang by a thread here. If you want them to stay alive, you’re going to do what I tell you. Now let go, back up, and take a fucking Robbie breath.”
I can see the effort Matt takes to let Chanda go and back up. He puts his arm around me as I get to my feet and we face Chanda.
“What do you want us to do?”
Matt rumbles, as enraged as I am.
Chanda adjusts his shirt and takes a deep breath. “I have already told you what to do. Now, I am leaving because I am a busy man and I don’t have time to deal with you right now. Just do what I told you and by tomorrow morning you’ll have your babies in hand again. Maybe even Robbie if you’re lucky.”
He pushes past us, radiating anger as he walks away. Then he looks over his shoulder at me. “Remember to swallow that curse, Deejay. I don’t want Robbie to die because you hate me.”
I don’t respond, pretty certain that I am going to curse him if I do. As soon as he’s out of sight, I turn on Fraser. “Just what the fuck is going on here? He betrayed us and you’re sitting here—”
“Deejay,”
Matt interrupts, pulling me to face him. “How would anyone know that Chanda betrayed us?”
I get in his face, standing on my toes to meet him eye to eye. “You! You should have known! How could you be looking at that man’s aura for a fucking week and not know that he was planning to betray us? How could you let this happen to our kids?”
Matt’s calm expression morphs into one so wrecked I immediately want to take back my words. “I know. I didn’t see it. I should have. He was angry with you and I didn’t address it. I am so sorry, but we are going to get them back.”
Raw, dark determination steels his expression.
“How? How are we going to do that?”
My voice cracks as terror for our family overwhelms me in the face of what feels like an insurmountable problem. I’ve been hobbled and my best offensive weapon is useless to me right now. “We’re just supposed to sit here and wait.”
“You are,”
Matt replies, holding me fast, supporting me even when I’ve treated him unfairly. “I’m under no obligation to do that.”
“What?”
I know I’m grasping at the straw hope he’s offering me.
“He ordered you to sit on your ass, he did not order me to do anything but back up and take a Robbie breath, which I did. I have done what he told me to do, and now I am going to go get our babies back,”
he declares darkly. “Fraser, is there any threat keeping you from calling the Elders of the Obsidites on my behalf?”
Fraser looks at him thoughtfully before shaking his head. “None. Where do you want to meet them?”
“Invite them here, please. And I am going to need to get some paperwork done before they get here.”
He turns to me. “As the Headsman, I am the official head of the enforcer division for the Houston Hub. As soon as I get the paperwork signed and witnessed by two non-humans unrelated to me, I will carry with me all the weight of the enforcers, but since Chanda is controlling them, I am going to pull in my own people to deal with the Prince of Morgaine’s crime against our children.”
Maybe it’s not straw hope. Maybe he has the clout I lack to do what needs doing. “Do it. Get our babies back, throw that fucker in the Cage, and tear him limb from limb.”
“I will,”
he promises without any doubt in his obsidian eyes.