Chapter 20
RYDER
Icalled an emergency meeting at the office with T and Hayden to discuss Lilith. I need every possible trace of information dug up on her and her team, and I need it immediately.
“Yo, what’s up, man?” T is the first to show. He plops down in the armchair adjacent to my desk.
“We’ll wait for Hayden, then I’ll discuss the job.” I continue typing on my computer, doing my own little bit of digging on the wicked bitch of the west, but I’m not tech-savvy like Teegan.
“I’ve been wondering when you’d start this job. Gotta say, it took you longer than I expected.” He reaches down into his black backpack and pulls out a yellow folder filled with papers. “I have a feeling this will come in handy.”
He tosses the folder onto my desk, and I read the sticker at the top: Sector Seven.
“What is this?” I ask, holding up the file, shuffling through the papers.
“That’s the Elite—The Underworld. Lilith runs it.”
“Fuck!” The desk chair groans beneath me as I arch back, running my hands through my hair.
“Yeah, man. We’re gonna have to go about this very carefully. No rushing into this shit like you did for Kelsey.”
I shoot Teegan a glare, daring him to say more. I will never regret the decisions I made getting to Kelsey. I would do it ten times over. He holds his hands up in surrender, giving me a sideways glance.
The elevator dings, signifying Hayden’s arrival. He isn’t as talkative as T, but we also haven’t fixed this tension between us yet, either. Instead of sitting, he remains in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
“Alright, I called you both in here to discuss our issues with Lilith. However, it appears T has already done the digging.” I pass the folder back over to Teegan, “T, would you like to take over with the dirt you’ve dug?”
“Lilith is the leader of an operation called Sector Seven, or SS for short.” He pulls out a page from the folder with a picture on it.
“This is one of many disguises she uses when in public on the prowl. I show you this one first, because it’s the most important.
It seems she uses different disguises for different jobs.
” He holds his hands up and shrugs, “I don’t know her reasoning behind it.
She seems like an absolute Looney Tune, but this is the one she uses for hunting her prey. ”
If it weren’t for the almond shape of her eyes and poor nose job, you would have no idea that was Lilith in the wild.
“Who does she target as prey?” I wonder.
“Women.”
The one-word answer has my blood running cold. “So she’s a trafficker?”
“That’s what I imagine. There’s also thousands of receipts and bank statements from four different banks for withdrawals and deposits from mysterious accounts. They all have one thing in common, though…”
“Lilith.” I finish for him, breaking eye contact. My teeth clenching hard enough to shatter them.
“You would be correct.” T rubs the stubble along his jaw, “Did Kelsey say how she and Lilith became acquainted?”
Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “When I asked if she knew anyone, she said she only recognized Alejandro from the bar that night.”
“Did you specifically ask about Lilith?”
I glance at Hayden, who’s glowering at me. “No, I didn’t.”
“She’s making you soft.” Hayden harrumphs at T’s accusation, naturally, my gaze flings to his.
“You want to say something?” I lean into my desk, resting my arms on the cool, epoxied wood.
“You have some balls pretending to care for a girl you couldn’t even look at without fuming out of the ears or storming off.”
I did care for Kelsey and still do. That’s why I tried so fucking hard to get her to leave for her own safety.
I was an idiot, though. I let my anger win, and it got Kelsey hurt.
That’s why I’ve vowed to myself it will never happen again.
The muscle in my jaw ticks as I choose my words carefully.
Our brotherhood is strained enough, so adding more fire could burn the bridge for good.
“I’ve always cared.”
“Bullshit!” He jabs the air with his finger, lips pulled into a snarl.
“Alright, let’s focus back on Lilith and how we’re going to find her,” T says, breaking up the tension coiling between me and Hayden.
Keeping eyes trained on Hayden, I say, “Yes, let’s.”
“I have a list of all her known properties, some are under false names as you can see here,” He points to an address under the name: Sharon Bellow. “I also pulled information on that name as well.” He draws out two more papers, “These are the bank accounts associated with that name.”
I grab one of the papers, and Hayden grabs the other. “Millions of dollars…” It’s all I can say as I look at the numbers in the accounts. “How is she getting this?” I lift my eyes to T’s over the top of the paper.
“My honest guess? Trafficking.”
“Let’s call RAGE to the warehouse and start sectioning off members to send on a manhunt.”
“On it.” Hayden waves, back turned as he leaves, as if he can’t get the hell out of here fast enough.
My head tilts down, “Not you!” My lips thin as he stops dead in his tracks outside the glass panels. “You need to get the Rari prepped for tonight. T will inform the team.”
Hayden and Teegan left to complete their tasks, so I closed up the offices and made a pit stop down in the vault.
“I knew you couldn’t resist me for long,” The blood-slicked bastard chides from the chained confines of the cell. “Do you like what you see?” The poor fuck winks pitifully with his bulging black eye.
“I’ll like it more when you’re bleeding out from your butchered limbs and all the names of the women whose innocence you stole carved along your torso.
” I watched as his skin drained of all color, turning an impressive shade of pale.
“I wonder how many names will stain your skin, just as yours has done theirs.”
I grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge just around the corner, pop the cap off, and chug it down. “Thirsty?” I ask, swirling the half-empty bottle outside the cell. “I bet you are. All that blood can’t be delightful.”
“Fuck you!” He hisses.
“Rocky, Rocky, Rocky. Have you learned nothing?” I chug the remainder of the bottle, then stick it in my back pocket.
Grabbing the cell key from my front pocket, then inserting it and turning till it clicks.
I step inside, retrieving the water bottle and gripping his chin until my fingers dig into his bones, making him grunt.
“Can’t have you dying of dehydration on me before Kelsey gets her turn with you. She’ll want to carve her own name in your flesh.” I bite the cap off the bottle and spit it across the cell.
“There’s…Nothing…Left.” He grits.
I hold the bottle up, knowing it’s empty, and frown, “Well, that won’t do, will it?” Releasing my hold on his chin, I shove his head back into the brick wall, a splitting crack reverberates off the walls. I undo my zipper and pull out my dick, then proceed to fill the bottle with my piss.
“Oh come on, man!” He begs. But it’s music to my sick ears.
“Open up,” I wink, something he can’t do in his condition.
His teeth snap shut, but that won’t stop me. “Open or I will break your fucking jaw and leave your mouth gaping for the rats to eat you from the inside out.”
He reluctantly opens, and I pat his cheek, “See how easy that was? Now, say ah.”
I shove the bottle down his throat, loving the gargled gasps for air. “Don’t puke, I made that specially for you.” I might have to cut off a couple of his fingers for that inconvenience.
I watch him heave from the safe distance of behind the bars. I have places to be and don’t want to reek of urine.
“You’re...Deranged!” He gasps between breaths, and I can’t help the wicked smirk that pulls at my lips.
I whistle as I toss the keys up in the air, catching them on their descent, repeating the action until I get to the vault’s door and make my way up the steep staircase.
Jessie begs to add this level to the elevator, but the security risk is too high.
We can’t have anyone accidentally coming down here and discovering this place.
My phone rings in my pocket, so I pull it out and read the caller I.D.
“What’s up, Jess?” I lock the office behind me and ride the elevator up to the main lobby. “Yeah, I’m leaving now. Had to finish up an errand.”
Jessie reprimands me for being late for the race. In my defense, I’m not late to the race, but I am running behind, leaving me not much time to prep the Noire.
Falling In Reverse’s, Voices In My Head plays on repeat as I speed home.
The song feeds the demons living in my decrepit soul, adding fuel to that fire that’ll never burn out.
Some say I have a diseased mind, especially if you ask Ansley.
She’s been in my head a time too many. I’m too far gone to be saved, but Kelsey can still be saved.
I have hope for her. That’s the thing about doing what I do.
All the trauma carves a mind of steel, leaving you an emotionless monster. A machine.
A truck parked in the mansion’s driveway catches me off guard.
Nobody should be here, so I retrieve the Glock nine from under my seat, stuffing it in my waistband.
It can’t be anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense to come to my house after all the shit that went down, knowing they’ll meet their maker before they have a chance to step foot off my property.
My blood is pumping in my ears as I charge into the garage, seeing a scrawny man with his back turned towards me, talking to Hayden. Gripping him by the mechanic’s suit at the shoulders, I effortlessly throw him across the garage onto the hood of Hayden’s Ferrari two-fifty.
“What the fuck, man!?”
I stride across the garage, a murderous look written across my face. Stopping above him on the hood, he grunts, regaining the breath that was knocked out of him from the impact. “Why are you here?” I growl.
When he takes a second too long to answer, my fists connect with his nose, crunching the bone and leaving it a crooked, gushing mess.
Strong hands grip my shoulders, pulling me back. “Enough! He was here helping prep the cars.” Hayden explains. Tucker shifts to his side, covering his nose as blood drips through the cracks of his fingers. “If you dented my car, Ryder, I swear…”
“I’ll fix it,” I say, trying to steady my breath while my eyes remain on Tucker.
“You’re cool with Tuck, so what the fuck?”
“I’m not cool with anyone coming to this house without my knowledge, Hayden!” My nostrils flare and my hands fist at my sides, “He’s lucky he’s still breathing.”
“Go in and chill out, I’ll close it up in here.” Hayden shoves me towards the door to the house.
I stop in the doorframe, “Hey, Tucker, while you’re here, be of use and prep the Noire,” Then I slam the door behind me.