Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
Ava
The next day, Dagen shows up with Wylan and Felix and his black car again. Dagen puts me in the back seat beside Felix and Wylan, while he takes the passenger seat, his eyes trained out the windshield.
“What are we doing?” I ask, because none of them would tell me this morning when they’d showed up and told me to get ready.
“It’s a surprise,” Felix says. “Just give it a few minutes.”
So, I sit back in silence, watching through the window for whatever this surprise is. It isn’t until a few minutes later, just like Felix said, that I realize what we’re doing.
The first billboard rises over the highway like a tower, the image on it damn near translucent with all the lights on it.
“Is that—”
“Yep,” Felix nods. “Now the entire city will see what a conman he is. Every tech company is aware of the billboards.”
“How many are there?” I ask, glancing over at him.
“A dozen or so,” he replies, shrugging. “In the most important parts of the city. I’ve also made sure to put them up in other cities where tech companies are prominent. There are also emails that have gone out to all CEOs.”
The photo on the billboard is big, but it’s not grainy at all.
Which is crazy because I took the photo on an outdated phone years ago.
It’s not one of the most flattering pictures of Ric.
Honestly, it’s not the worst photo I’ve seen of his either.
But it makes me laugh that it’s the photo I’d taken of him right before he puked after drinking too many wine coolers, face yellow and all.
The words, “Beware this fraud” are large beside him in yellow font. It’s hard to miss.
“We used different photos for each one,” Felix explains. “Every major tech company has one outside their doors explaining exactly how he’s defrauded their company. There isn’t a company who would accept him now.”
I chuckle. “I bet he hates this.”
We stop on the side of the road, and hop out so I can get a really good view of the billboard, my cheeks hurting with my smile.
Wylan hops out beside me and stares up at the billboard with me.
Somehow, he’d gotten some chips and starts to crunch on them as we look at it.
He offers one to me and I shake my head.
My chest squeezes and for the first time in a long time, things feel lighter as I look up.
“This is it,” I breath. “This is what we needed. He’ll leave us alone now.”
Wyland’s eyes flick to Dagen at my words, his expression saying something he doesn’t speak out loud. I can see the unspoken words, but I don’t know what they are. I don’t know what that look means, and it makes me uneasy.
“What?” I ask, looking between them. “What is it?”
Wylan crosses his arms. “Go on, Foxxie. Tell her.”
“Tell me what?” I look between all three of them, nervous. No one answers. “Well?”
Wylan growls under his breath. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He meets my eyes. “He won’t stop, crumpet.”
“What do you mean? We’ve taken him down. The FBI will move any day now, and he knows not to come after us again. Hell, his hair is even falling out thanks to the Nair you put in his shampoo. I don’t—”
“Men like him don’t stop just because of a few threats,” Wylan argues.
“He’ll never stop because you’re his property.
He thinks he’s entitled to you, that you belong to him and no one else.
All this is nice and I’m sure it gives you some sense of revenge, but it’ll only make him more violent in the end. ”
“No,” I shake my head. “You’re wrong. He’ll leave us alone.”
“I’m not,” he growls. “Dagen.”
Dagen sighs and I whip my head toward him. “Wylan is right. The longer we wait to act only puts you and Elsie in more danger. We should take care of the problem before it escalates.”
“The problem?” I repeat, not quite understanding.
Not until Wylan grins and says, “I’ve been waiting for this. It’s my time to shine.”
My eyes widen. “I’m not a murderer,” I remind them, shaking my head. “We can’t do that. It’s illegal.”
“You may not be a murderer, but he will be if left to his own devices,” Felix adds. “He has nothing to lose. He’s going to come after you with all he has.”
“I don’t think he’d murder me—”
“Stop it!” Felix growls, and it’s so aggressive, so different from anything I’ve ever seen from him, I snap my mouth shut.
“I saw your medical files, Ava,” he snarls.
“I saw every single injury he caused you while you covered for him. And that was when he had everything he’s ever wanted.
What do you think will happen now? You want Elsie to suffer the same injuries you did?
Because that’s where we’re headed if we don’t make the right moves.
We either act first, or we’re at a disadvantage. ”
“You’re wrong,” I cry, taking a step back, but he grabs me and lifts my shirt to reveal my stomach. His fingers aggressively poke at my scars, touching them, reminding me of when they happened, every painful punishment.
“What about these then? Huh?” Felix snarls. “You want him to add to your collection? You want Elsie to have them?”
“Stop it!” I cry.
“Think of Elsie,” Dagen tries. “Do you want her to be scared for the rest of your lives?”
“So, you’re asking me to be just like him?” I demand. “You’re asking me to be a killer?”
“It’s self-defense,” Wylan argues. “We’re not asking you to sell your soul, Ava. We’re not even asking you to do it. This is what I do. This is what I’m being paid for. I can take care of things without you ever getting your hands dirty. And I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
“I never agreed to murder,” I counter, jerking away from them. “If I’d have known, I’d have—”
“What?” Felix demands. “Hidden? Made sure to not walk anywhere alone?”
“We’re not asking you for permission at this point,” Wylan points out. “We’re telling you what’s gonna happen.” He leans in. “You see, our souls are far blacker than yours, and I for one don’t mind adding another stain to mine if it means you and Elsie are safe.”
“This isn’t part of the plan,” I rasp, knowing I won’t have a choice, that I won’t be able to stop them.
Somewhere deep inside me, I know they’re right.
Ric won’t stop. He’d said as much after the gala.
Now that’d we’d humiliated him in front of everyone, now that these billboards were up, and now that his assets had all been seized by the FBI.
Somewhere even deeper, that I don’t want to look at too closely, I want them to do it, to rid the world of the terrible human that Ric is, but I’m not ready to come to terms with that part of me. I’m not ready. Not yet.
“It was,” Dagen admits. “It was just written with invisible ink.”
“This is bullshit. This is—”
Dagen grabs me and tugs me into him, his hands gentle despite the aggression in his expression. I understand it’s not meant for me, that it’s at the thought of Ric hurting me, but it still makes me shrink just a little.
“Don’t do that,” he chastises before sighing and softening his expression. “I don’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared of you,” I reassure him. “Old habits just die hard.”
He studies my face for a few long moments before he carefully directs me to the car. “Get in.”
“Where are we going?”
He doesn’t answer. When Wylan and Felix move to the car, he stops them. “Another car will be here in thirty seconds to take the two of you wherever you want to go.”
Wylan scowls. “Not cool, mate.”
Felix only watches the two of us carefully, not arguing, as if he knows where this is going. I feel completely out of the loop, and I don’t like it.
Dagen gets into the back seat with me this time and closes the door behind us.
“Where are we going?” I ask again.
“You’ll see,” he says, and offers no other explanation.
We drive for about fifteen minutes through the city, weaving in and out of traffic, until we reach Central Park. It’s there where the black car pulls over and Dagen climbs out before offering his hand inside for me. I take it without hesitation and slide out after him.
“Central Park?” I ask, frowning at him. “Why here?”
He walks me into the park, following the path carefully. We walk in silence for about thirty minutes, just enjoying the weather and the sunshine and people watching. Finally, he finds a secluded bench and sits me down on it.
“Right there,” he says, pointing to a relatively obscure patch of grass with nothing around.
“Right there what?” I ask.
“That’s where I killed my mother.”
I jerk my head to look at him with wide eyes. “What?”
He laughs at my expression and shakes his head. “Oh, I didn’t pull the trigger, but I paid the bill for it,” he admits. “Wylan was already pretty famous by that point, and it was difficult to contact him, but I paid his exorbitant fee to make sure that my mother’s reign of terror didn’t continue.”
I open my mouth and close it again, not sure what to say.
“You see, I too believed that if she lost what mattered to her, if she felt sufficiently threatened, that she would back off, but it was always a challenge with her. If I was successful, she’d be there to tear me down and remind me that I wouldn’t be there without her.
If I made money, she’d spend it faster than I could make it.
And at some point, she started getting physical.
Not with me after I got big enough to be more threatening, but I found out that she was beating everyone else.
Maids, chefs, people that worked in my company.
And then I found out about the embezzlement.
” He meets my eyes. “See, my mother was on the board of Fox Industries. Of course she was. And she operated as if she owned every bit of it. She would destroy small companies without thought. She was brutal, and she was running the company into the ground.” He takes a deep breath.
“When she forced one of my top executives to get an abortion so she could avoid ‘losing valuable career growth,’ I knew something had to be done. When I turned eighteen, and was old enough to take over the company, I made arrangements. She couldn’t physically hurt me anymore, but I had the scars to remind me of her particular brand of love.
I reached out to the infamous ghost hitman, and paid.
” He leaned back. “I was sitting right here when it happened. The news reported it as an assassination. I played the distraught son well and promised to honor her memory with Fox Industries. A lie.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I ask, my chest squeezing at the thought of a young Dagen suffering at the hands of his evil mother.
He meets my eyes. “Sometimes, we have to be a monster to defeat a monster,” he murmurs. His hand reaches up and cups my face. “I am already a monster, Ava, and if I need to continue to be that monster so that you don’t have to be, I will.”
I blink up at him. His admission strikes me in the chest, right in my heart. “That. . . doesn’t seem like just business.”
“No,” he agrees. “We’ve gone far past that.” He presses a gentle kiss against my lips. “I’m investing more in this than just money.” He grabs my hand and presses it to his chest, making his intentions clear. “And I will not lose you now that I’ve invested so much.”
Tears prick my eyes. “I don’t think you’re a monster,” I rasp.
He chuckles and pulls me against him. This time, the kiss is more sensual, deeper than the gentle kiss from before.
“Good,” he breaths against my lips. “I’ll never be a monster to you or Elsie.
” His large hands strokes my jaw, his eyes bright as he meets mine.
“But god help whoever dares to lay a hand on either one of you.”
I’ve never seen a more beautiful “monster” than Dagen Fox.