Chapter Twenty-eight
Aaliyah
“ A re we good?” I ask, staring up at the house.
“Almost done,” Reid mutters, voice echoing from the earpiece in my ear. “This fucker has top-of-the-line security.”
“If you can’t do it…” River’s voice trails off. “Ouch. Damn it. Don’t slap my hand.”
Hayes’s sigh fills my ear. “You know all of them can hear you right now, right?”
There’s a pause before River’s voice comes back over the comms. “Sorry, guys. He almost has it.”
“There. Done.”
Glancing at Archer, Tyson, and Naomi, I give them a nod. Obviously, they heard Reid over the comms just as clearly as I did, but it’s my signal for us to split up. Archer and Naomi will be moving through the shadows at the front and back doors so they can let me and Tyson inside. They’ll cover the ground floor while the two of us head upstairs.
While I agreed to allow the three of them to join me, they know that Archibald’s death is mine. The plan is for me to go straight to their bedroom, where he’s hopefully sleeping. If he’s not there, then one of them will find him and detain him until I reach them.
Based on the information the guild provided to me, he’s usually asleep at this time of night, and the lights on in the house are for his guards. But who knows if he’s having a bout of insomnia or something. It’s better to have all of our bases covered.
I wave to Tyson and Archer as they race around the house while Naomi and I move to the front door. Glancing at my watch, I nod to her when it’s time and she slips into the shadows. Seconds later, the door opens and I step inside.
I can hear someone moving around in the room to our right, but Naomi gestures for me to continue on as she dips back into the shadows. Moving as quickly and silently as I can, I head up the stairs and turn right, coming to a stop outside of the doors that lead to the master bedroom.
Reaching up, I turn off the comms. I don’t need any distractions while I’m in the house, and I’ll let the others know we’re done once we make it back to the car. I know none of them are happy about this, but it had been my one condition when I agreed to wear it in the first place. If I find myself in trouble, it’ll be easy enough to flick it on and let the others know.
Pressing the ear without a comms device in it to the door, I listen to see if I can hear anything, but there’s no movement that I can tell. Opening the door slowly, I’m grateful it doesn’t squeak. A quick glance shows two people in the bed, which is unfortunate but not surprising. Hopefully, his wife is a heavy sleeper because I don’t kill innocents if I can help it. Based on the information I have on Archibald, his wife has nothing to do with it.
All around, he’s just a terrible human being. While it hasn’t been confirmed, it seems like he likely abuses his wife and children based on hospital records. I’ll be doing them a favor by ending his life and removing him from their lives.
On silent feet, I creep closer to the bed until I’m standing beside Archibald. He doesn’t look like a monster as he sleeps. He looks like any other middle-aged, overweight white man, but I know how deceiving looks can be. He was going to die even if he looked like an angel—which he does not. Because his actions have proved he is a monster.
Reaching toward him, I freeze at the rustle of the sheets. When I lift my head, I meet the eyes of his wife—one of which is blackened, sending rage racing through me.
She just stares at me, saying nothing for a few moments before she glances down at her husband. She sucks in a breath and turns her gaze back to me. When she speaks, her voice is quiet. “Are you here to kill him?”
I’m not sure how to answer her. Do I tell her the truth? Do I lie? I mean, what other reason would I have to be standing over his bed in the middle of the night?
I nod slowly and her shoulders sag, tears filling her eyes as she smiles. “Thank you.”
Seeing her relief and the bruises on her skin, I know I need to make this hurt. He deserves to be tortured for what he’s done for his family. That’s something I can give his wife, if that’s what she wants.
“Do you want it to hurt?” I ask her, my voice barely audible.
She doesn’t answer me right away, and I’m okay with that. A glance at Archibald tells me he’s still passed the fuck out. As pissed as I am about what he’s done, not just to his wife and likely his children, but everyone he’s hurt due to Dragon’s Fire. The list of reasons he needs to die is long.
“The life insurance,” she stuttered before clearing her throat and speaking a little louder. “I need to make sure the life insurance pays out.”
Understanding hits me as I nod. “This will be untraceable. It will be like he had a heart attack in the middle of the night. After I’ve left, you’ll wake up and find his unresponsive body. Call 911. You’ll be taken care of as you deserve to be after this fucker dies.”
She sighs, eyes falling shut in relief. “Then make it as painful as you can.”
I grin maliciously, allowing my hand to continue its journey to his forehead, pouring him full of poison.
His eyes shoot open, locking on my face as he wakes from the pain coursing through him. He tries to scream, mouth falling open, but no sound escapes due to his vocal cords—and most of his body—being paralyzed. He begins to shake, his wife watching with apathy.
His muscles tense, the shaking increasing. A small squeak escapes his lips, but it’s barely audible. Ignoring it, I continue to pour more and more poison into his system. Eventually, his heart can’t take it anymore, and he dies.
It can be a little anticlimactic to watch someone die from poison, but it’s so much less of a mess.
His wife smiles once more. “Thank you, whoever you are. Just thank you. You don’t know how much you’ve just saved me and my children.”
“I think I do, and there’s no reason to thank me. It’s my job to take out pieces of shit like him. Be happy and choose wiser the next time you fall in love.”
I don’t wait for her response, knowing what I just said to her was more than a little bitchy. But seriously, she needs to choose her next husband better. If she remarries, that is.
Slipping out the door, I close it behind me and jump when I see Tyson standing there.
“That took longer than it should have,” he says conversationally, and I roll my eyes.
“The wife woke up. I offered her the chance to make it hurt when she thanked me for killing him.” I shrug. “I wanted to torture him for as long as I could—for her sake, of course.”
He snorts. “Yeah, okay. I’m sure it was all for her.”
“Of course it is. Were there any problems?” I head for the stairs, Tyson trailing behind me.
“Nope. I kept an eye on the kids, but they didn’t wake up. They had bruises on their bodies. It took all my self-control to not join you and make him pay.”
Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, I lay a hand on his chest. “He did pay, and now he’s dead. They never have to worry about him laying his hands on them again.”
“All done?” Naomi asks, appearing out of the shadows.
I startle slightly but offer a smile. “All done. Let’s get out of here.”
We leave the house, Archer appearing out of the shadows on the porch to trail us to where we left Tyson’s truck.
“We’ve made it back to the car.” Pressing on the earpiece, I let the others know we’re clear so they don’t have to worry.
“Of course you are, cause you’re a badass.” I can almost hear the smile in River’s voice, bringing one to my own face.
Tyson snorts. “What about the rest of us?”
It’s Reid who answers. “Did you kill anyone?” Silence follows his question, and he scoffs. “And this is why Aaliyah is the badass and not you.”
Tyson grumbles under his breath as he climbs into the driver’s seat, the rest of us clambering in after him.
“It feels too easy,” Hayes murmurs. His voice fills the truck as the comms switch over when the truck starts up. “If he’s this big shot, then why was it so easy to kill him?”
“Because he was an arrogant prick who thought that all he needed was a security system to protect him,” I offer, but it doesn’t feel right to me either. I was expecting this to be harder than it was. There should’ve been more guards, people patrolling the grounds.
“Unless your parents wanted him dead,” Archer says from the backseat.
I sigh. “I’m sure they did. Why share profits if you don’t need to? I’m sure they’ve noticed by now that someone’s been killing off anyone associated with the drug ring. They likely think they’re untouchable but wouldn’t have a problem offering someone up to distract the killer from coming near them.”
“Too bad it’s their daughter that’s the killer,” Naomi says, her tone sinister.
“Yeah, too bad for them. Because I’m coming for them.”
And I am. As soon as we have a plan.