Chapter 7
“One of Tony’s lieutenants.”
I’m moving before I realize it, body coiling with tension, feet carrying me toward the building. I’ll tear this lieutenant apart with my bare hands. I’ll make him beg for death before I grant it.
Aaiden raises a single hand. “Stop.”
His Command rolls over me, seizing control of my muscles. They lock up, refusing to obey my brain’s order to keep moving. I try to fight the invisible force of his will, my breath coming in short, angry pants, fogging in the cold air between us.
“Let. Me. Go.” Each word is dragged through gritted teeth.
Aaiden‘s features remain stony. “They’re waiting for you, Jade.”
I shake with the effort of fighting his Command, rain streaming down my face, mixing with furious tears I refuse to acknowledge.
“I don’t care,” I spit.
“Well, I do,” he snaps. “They’re waiting to capture you again.”
The image of Kevin flashes through my mind, bleeding away into nothing. Just like my revenge.
Aaiden lowers his hand as he steps closer, his umbrella shielding me from the downpour. “New ground rules. No solo operations. No improvisation. No personal methods of execution.”
A bitter laugh breaks free. “Fuck your ground rules.”
“This isn’t negotiable.”
“This is my revenge,” I snap as his hold on me melts away. I step out from under his umbrella, preferring the cold rain to his shelter. “Mine, Aaiden. Mine.”
Aaiden doesn’t raise his voice. “Tony has been eliminating everyone you’ve contacted. Three have died in the past week. All with the same signature.”
“What?” My head snaps back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
His arched brow is answer enough.
“Oh, fuck off. I’m healed already.” Water streams down my face, soaking my shirt. “Let him come for me. I’m ready.”
Something shifts in Aaiden’s eyes. “You want the lieutenant inside that much?”
“Yes.”
“Then we do this my way.” He pulls a small tablet from inside his coat, tapping the screen to bring up blueprints of the warehouse. “Three entry points. Main loading bay, office entrance, and the roof access here.”
I look from the building back at the plans. “I go in through the roof.”
“No.” The single word leaves no room for argument. “I take point. You follow. Office entrance. Wait for my signal.”
My hands ball into fists. “I’m not one of your employees.”
“No,” he agrees. “You’re more valuable. Which is why you’ll follow my lead or stay in the car.”
The humiliation burns through me, hot despite the cold rain. I want to refuse, to storm off, to prove I can do this alone.
But Tony set me up, and if Aaiden hadn’t intervened, I would have walked right into Tony’s trap, blinded by my anger.
If I want my revenge, I need to live long enough to claim it.
“Fine.”
“Good boy.” Aaiden closes his umbrella and sets it aside. From the trunk of his car, he retrieves a tactical vest and holds it out to me.
I don’t move to take it. “I don’t need armor.”
“Put it on.”
We stare at each other, locked in a silent battle. Then I grab the vest and yank it over my head, adjusting the straps with angry tugs. Aaiden dons one of his own with practiced movements.
He hands me an earpiece. “Channel three. No unnecessary chatter.”
Next comes a handgun, not my preferred weapon, and I check the magazine, muscle memory taking over.
Aaiden assesses my movements. “Three men in the main area, two in the office, and one on the catwalk. The lieutenant will be in the back room.”
“How do you already have this intel?”
“Thermal scanning.” He taps his watch. “Sebastian uploaded the floor plan to your phone.”
I check the screen, memorizing the positions. Aaiden continues outlining the plan, assigning me positions. I nod along, absorbing the information while resentment festers in my gut.
“Questions?” he asks when he finishes.
“Just one. When do we move?”
“Now.”
We approach the building from the east side, staying in the shadows. Aaiden moves with grace that’s surprising for his size, each step silent despite the puddles. I follow, maintaining enough distance that if he takes fire, I won’t be caught, too.
“Office entrance in twenty seconds,” Aaiden murmurs in my earpiece. “Hold at the door. Wait for my signal.”
I press my back to the wall beside the door, counting heartbeats. Aaiden disappears around the corner, his footsteps inaudible to even my trained ear.
The rain drums on the metal roof overhead, providing cover for any small sounds we might make. My shirt clings to my skin beneath the tactical vest, but I ignore the discomfort, focusing on the mission.
“In position,” Aaiden’s voice sounds in my ear. “Three. Two. One.”
I turn the handle and push the door open in one fluid motion, weapon raised. The first guard doesn’t have time to register surprise before Aaiden’s silenced shot takes him down from across the room.
“Clear left,” I report, scanning my assigned sector.
“Second target approaching from the hallway,” Aaiden directs. “Your three o’clock.”
I pivot, acquiring the target where Aaiden said he would be. The guard raises his weapon, but I’m faster. Two shots to the center mass. He drops without a sound.
“Move to position two,” Aaiden instructs.
I do as I’m told, advancing to the inner office doorway. Through the small window, I spot three men in the main warehouse area, all armed, all on high alert.
“Hold,” Aaiden says in my ear. “Wait for the distraction.”
Seconds later, a crash sounds from the far side of the warehouse. Two of the guards move to investigate. The third remains, focus jumping from shadow to shadow.
“Take him,” Aaiden orders.
I push through the door, weapon already aimed. The guard turns at the sound, but too late. My shot catches him in the throat. He falls, clutching at the wound.
“Catwalk clear,” Aaiden reports. “Move to the back office. The lieutenant is alone.”
I advance across the warehouse floor, stepping over the fallen guard. Blood pools beneath him, black in the dim light.
The back office door is reinforced steel. Locked.
“Breaching charge,” Aaiden says, appearing beside me. He places the small device on the lock mechanism, motioning me back.
The charge detonates with a muted thump, and the door swings open.
A shot rings out, flying wild, and I duck in low, firing as I enter the room.
My bullet finds its target, blasting through the man’s shoulder joint, and his weapon goes flying. The middle-aged Beta crashes back into his desk chair, the thin scar running from his temple to his jaw twisting with pain.
I shift my aim, my finger tightening on the trigger.
“Hold,” Aaiden commands, stepping into the room. “We need information first.”
The lieutenant clutches his wound. “You won’t get anything from me.”
“We’ll see,” Aaiden says as he secures the man’s hands behind his back.
I stand in the doorway, weapon still trained on the lieutenant’s head, wanting nothing more than to pull the trigger. To replace the emptiness with his death.
Aaiden reaches into his jacket and withdraws a tool kit I recognize from Caleb’s collection. Protocol says to take Tony’s people back to a private warehouse where my mentor can do his thing. I’ve never seen Aaiden dirty his hands like this before.
He undoes the knot and unrolls the tool kit across the desk, displaying shiny tools designed to cause pain.
He selects a slender metal rod and turns to the lieutenant. “Let us begin.”
The older man tries to hold out, but Aaiden proves himself more than proficient at extracting information. Even the most hardened criminal would have broken, and this man was not trained to withstand prolonged pain.
He breaks, spilling the first answer to Aaiden’s questions, and once he starts speaking, the rest pour out of him.
Unfortunately for us, he doesn’t know where Tony is hiding, but he gives up a new target’s location and how Tony is still funding what’s left of his organization.
When he runs out of useful information, Aaiden steps back. “He’s all yours.”
I raise my weapon. This man helped organize the operation responsible for kidnapping and selling Omegas. For kidnapping and selling me.
I should feel triumph. Vindication. Closure. Instead, I pull the trigger. Mechanical. Empty.
The lieutenant flops backward, blood and other matter spraying the wall behind him.
Another name off the list. Another step toward taking Tony down.
A hollowness expands in my chest as Aaiden rifles through the man’s pockets and takes his phone and wallet for his brother, Sebastian, to dig into.
We do the same with the rest of the bodies. Even dead, they still have information to give up.
Then we leave the warehouse. The rain has stopped, but the night air hangs heavy and wet, streetlights forming halos in the lingering mist. The Audi I stole is missing from the parking lot, probably scooped up by the same cars that followed me here.
The same team that will return to clean up those bodies and ensure no trace of us is left behind.
Aaiden locks the evidence in a case in his trunk before he turns to study me. “You’re coming with me.”
I don’t move. “Why didn’t you just send a team to handle this?”
Aaiden’s expression shutters. “I don’t follow.”
“You had Sebastian tracking my phone. That’s how your security knew where to try to box me in,” I say, mind working. “You could have sent a team to handle this before I arrived. You could have ordered me confined to the manor. Instead, you’re here, shadowing my every move.”
“Because you’re reckless.”
“Because you can’t stay away.” I press harder, testing his control like pressing on a bruise. “You want to hear what I think? You’re afraid of wanting me.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Prove it.” I lift my chin. “Say you don’t want me. Say it, and I’ll walk away.”
Aaiden’s hand clenches at his side, and he turns away to open the passenger door. “In the car. Now.”
“No.” The word comes out strained but clear.
Surprise flashes, there and gone in an instant, and his face hardens. “Fine. Stay here. See how long you last with Tony’s men hunting you.”
He slams the door and strides around to the driver’s side. The casual cruelty of his words stings worse than any physical blow.
He won’t stop me.
I could walk away, could continue my path or revenge, but without the Rockford resources, that path will kill me in the end.
Or I can climb into the car and keep accepting the leash.
With a muttered curse, I yank open the passenger door and slide inside.