28. Kane #2
I glance down at his feet and notice the boots he has on. Boots that would match the fucking boot prints on Luna’s back we saw when she first came to us.
“Wrong answer,” I spit, getting into his face. His nose is probably broken and he’s dripping blood onto his cheap shirt. Seeing his red blood run makes a broad, almost maniacal grin appear across my face.
He whines, crying out and reaching up to feel his face. “Oh my god!”
I grip the front of his shirt so he’s forced to look at me. “I don’t think you understand the situation here.”
“No, you don’t get it! If I tell you what I know, you don’t know what they’ll do to me, I’ll wish I were dead!” He says, practically sobbing.
“Well, guess what, I don’t see him anywhere near here,” Madden says, getting into his face and gripping his jaw painfully. “You know what I do see? Us. We’re the ones you should be fucking worried about.”
He just shakes his head, keeping his jaw clamped shut.
I nod towards Madden who lets him go and he slumps forward, only being held up by my grip on the collar of his shirt. Weak fucker. It was just a single hit.
I throw him to the ground, planting my own boot in his ribs. He lets out a wheezing noise and a pathetic cry.
“Stop, please stop,” he sobs into the floor.
I see old, dark stains on the concrete floor and a chill runs down my spine. Is that Luna’s blood?
I grind my foot in deeper.
The bruises he left on Luna? He’ll pay for them with his own flesh.
“Did you stop when Luna begged you to? I bet that’s her blood on the floor right by your head, you motherfucker. Why should we give you any sort of mercy?”
“Fuck,” Madden curses under his breath, noticing the older blood stains on the floor.
“Come on, Kane,” Chase says, his normally carefree expression nowhere in sight. “Don’t hog all the fun.”
Chase kneels down beside Roger’s sniveling form and grips the back of his head where he still has hair, wrenching his face upwards.
“Why—why are you doing this?” Roger pants, gritting his teeth through the pain. “Is it—is it for her?”
“If you mean your daughter, then fuck yes,” Chase says.
“But—But why, she isn’t worth all this. You—you all are a pack from the Northside. Surely you have better options than a little bitch like her.”
Chase’s fist is quick, landing on the side of his face and sending him sprawling back down to the floor.
“Be careful what you say about her,” he growls, his voice low. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to us.”
“Considering she had a buyer lined up—another alpha interested enough in her to pay you—you definitely seem to think she’s worth something,” Archer says, stepping forward. “Now, are you ready to answer our questions?”
“F—fine,” Roger coughs out. “I—I got into some debt and an alpha in a fancy suit came to me and said if I took in this baby, he’d pay it off for me.”
“Who was this alpha? Was he from the Northside?”
“He’s the alpha that went by Niall. I’m pretty sure that’s not his real name. Everyone else just called him ‘sir’ and shit.” He glares up at us, wiping away some of the blood dripping from his nose. “Considering he has a driver and a fancy-ass car like yours, I’d say he’s from the Northside.”
“So he gave you a baby and then what?” Chase asks.
“He asked for check-ins every year or so, you know, just pictures and stuff. Then we found out she was gonna be an omega and that’s when he started showing a lot more interest.”
“Do you know where this alpha got a baby to just hand off to you?” Chase asks. “It seems kinda weird that someone like that would just have a baby.”
The man hesitates, his gaze darting around the room. “I dunno, he never told me.”
“You’re hiding something,” I growl.
Madden cracks his knuckles as he stands behind the man, making his head turn around so fast I’m pretty sure it made him dizzy. He swallows hard at the sight of Madden looming over him and his chin drops down to his chest.
“He never actually told me, but I feel like it was probably the kid of another omega whore he fancied. He was big on purity and being the only alpha that ever touched her. It’s why he only wanted betas touchin’ her durin’ her heats.”
“What do you mean by another omega whore?” Madden asks softly.
Roger just shrugs, wincing at the pain that movement probably caused him.
“It’s been happening for a long time. It’s one of the reasons why we had to keep the girl hidden.
If Omegas aren’t snatched up by your people and sent to the North they’re snatched up by people here.
I never got into that shit ‘cause Carol would have my balls if I tried, but it’s there if you look hard enough. ”
The four of us glance at each other. The way this man is making it sound, it sounds like there’re a lot of omegas out there. Considering the way Luna was kept against her will and her body and heats sold, that doesn’t bode well for these unknown other omegas.
“So you think this alpha is involved in other areas of trafficking?” Archer asks.
“Definitely,” he nods, reaching up to wipe some of the blood that’s dripping from his nose.
“How do you contact him?”
“He contacts me through an unknown number and just shows up. I’m not the one to reach out.”
“Does he know about Luna escaping? ”
Roger gulps hard. “Probably. But he hasn’t said anything to us about it, so I don’t know. I’m pretty sure he has a tracker on her. Back of her neck. Installed it during her first heat.”
My gaze jerks towards Archer. “Your father mentioned other things at play. Other things pressuring him to put Luna through the selection process, right?”
“Fuck.”
Archer pulls out his phone and starts typing. “I’m going to call my Father. See if he can confirm the tracking thing. One of you call the police.”
“Wait, what? The fucking police?” Roger stupidly tries to push himself up from the floor.
“Stop moving,” Madden growls from behind him, making the man freeze in his tracks.
“Think about it this way, you said it yourself. The big bad guy probably already knows Luna ran away. He probably knows how you failed to do what he’s basically been paying you to do, right? Wouldn’t you be safer not waiting here like a sitting duck for him?”
Roger opens and shuts his mouth, unable to come up with an answer.
“At least in police custody, you won’t have to worry about being shot execution-style in your own home, you know?” Chase continues.
The man’s expression shifts. I see it happen. It’s like he becomes a cornered animal. There’s a sort of wild panic and fear. He pushes himself up, aiming his fist at Chase’s face.
Madden is there in a flash, his blow slamming into the back of Roger’s neck, sending him falling unconscious to the floor. His body makes a solid noise against the concrete below.
“What is it with these people wanting to attack me?” Chase mutters, taking a step back and running his hand through his hair. “Do I just have a punchable face?”
“Your face isn’t punchable,” Madden comments, wiping his hand on the back of his pants. “Think of it this way, you gave me an opportunity to finally fucking hit the guy.”
“Oh, well, then you’re welcome.”
“What’s the plan now, Archer?” I say, redirecting all of our attention to our pack leader.
“Call the police,” Archer says. “We’re going to get these two taken into custody. We’ll convey all the information we gathered here to them, especially the details about there being a bigger omega trafficking ring than anyone thought.”
“That’s crazy though, for it to have been going on long enough for Luna to be one of the kids of those omegas?” Chase adds.
“It raises the question of whether the riot fifteen years ago was more organized than we thought,” Archer responds. “Why so many of those people thought stealing an omega to own them was anywhere near a rational thought.”
My blood runs cold and my fingertips start buzzing. The fresh blood splattered on the floor reminds me of my parents.
“Hey, you good?” Madden asks me, his hand firm against my shoulder.
His touch makes me notice my hands are trembling. “Fine,” I say, swallowing hard. “Let’s get this process going so we can get out of here.”