Chapter 20 Fury #2
“Oh, we didn’t just destroy the data,” he said as he stood back up, sweat, dirt, and blood dripping from his brow.
“We copied it and sent it off to about a dozen major news stations across the country this morning. So whatever rats you have hiding in your wallet won’t be able to disrupt the investigation into every goddamn soul connected to you and your shit organization,” he replied, the conviction in his tone grating on my ears.
“Your entire world is about to crumble, asshole. And it’s all because you fucked with the wrong redhead. ”
The heat growing in my chest with every word he spoke suddenly burst into such an inferno that I actually had trouble controlling.
He’s lying. Don’t let him get to you. Just fucking finish him already.
Relaxing my jaw, I cracked my neck and stretched my spine, ready to end our little meet and greet so we could get to the real fun part later.
“While I can see I’ve clearly underestimated your ability to be a huge pain in my ass, you’re kidding yourself if you think any of that is going to allow Jaden to be free of me,” I said, returning his sneer with my own.
“Not while she’s carrying my child. My DNA will live on inside her until the day she dies. ”
Another swing and my fist blasted through the drywall behind Jason’s head as he ducked and threw a right hook into my side. He then managed to swing his arm around mine to lock it in place just as he shoved his shoulder into my back, knocking the side of my face into the busted wall.
“I really wish Jaden could be the one to tell you this, but unfortunately, that isn’t part of the plan,” he said from behind me, a mocking tone in his voice as he laughed, “So before you die here, I want you to know she isn’t carrying shit, you psychotic bastard.
She never was. Your boy Sid was one hell of a deceitful genius.
He told us all how he faked her pregnancy so well, even she had no idea she was never pregnant. ”
Denial was so immediate, I barely gave his bullshit words a millisecond of honest consideration. Sid faking Jaden’s pregnancy? Absolute bullshit. And then extending that betrayal by conspiring with the enemy? I laughed instead at what a joke that was.
Rearing my head back, I slammed the back of my skull into Jason’s nose, stunning him for only a second to allow myself the room to lift my knee and kick off the wall, sending us both crashing to the floor with a loud thud.
Neither of us stayed down for very long as we both rolled to our sides and stood, our chests heaving as more dust filtered into the air.
“You honestly expect me to believe that horseshit? Come on.”
Jason shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. Regardless, she’ll still be free of you a lot faster than you think, especially since she’s currently being extracted from your estate at this very moment.”
My brows shot together at his little revelation. Another fucking lie. This guy was fucking full of them today.
“You’re lying. If someone had breached my security system, I would have been alerted by now.”
He shrugged, his posture relaxing as he continued.
“Well, that might be true if we hadn’t already sent an EMP to your property twenty minutes ago with a voltage range of an entire square mile.
From what’s already been reported to me, your security and communications systems are all down,” he answered smugly. “Among other things.”
The second the word EMP left his mouth, alarm bells went off in my head.
If that were true, an EMP would devastate my entire security system.
Even with the countermeasures I’d already had in place, none of them were strong enough to really withstand the immeasurable damage an EMP could inflict on an electrical system.
Shit wouldn’t just be down, it would be irrevocably destroyed.
FUCK.
“Considering you took what I expect to be half of your best men from your estate to come and personally hunt me down, I imagine you just left your home security team at quite a disadvantage. I’m sure they could really use the extra bodies right about now.”
Fuck, just finish this guy already and get the fuck out of here!
Flexing my hands, I began to close the distance between us, the conversation having lost all priority in the wake of his stupid reveal. He should have just kept his damn mouth shut, and I probably would have been none the wiser.
“If that’s the case, I guess I’ll have to cut this short then,” I said and withdrew my knife from my belt.
Flipping the blade, I threw it hard at Jason’s throat, running in his direction just as he dodged it at the very last second.
But by then, my shoulder had already slammed into his gut, knocking him up against the wall with brutal force.
He grunted as he smashed his elbow down onto my back, pummeling my lungs with multiple blows.
I reared back, and my fist connected with his kidney before he maneuvered to the side and pulled out his own knife. I grabbed his wrist before he was able to shove it through my jugular, the two of us both struggling for control, pitting strength against strength.
“Someone must be eager to get back to his little house party,” Jason groaned with a strained laugh.
“Except I’m sorry to say your little rat friends won’t be breathing for much longer either, given that you’ve completely disarmed them and trapped them in your office.
It’s okay, though. I’m sure you all can continue playing Monopoly together in hell.
” A snarl ripped through my throat as I shifted all my weight to one side, changing the trajectory of the knife until it struck through the cracked drywall, neither one of us willing to let go.
“Now if only you could have organized it a little bit earlier, that would have been nice, but you kept dragging your fucking feet for some reason,” he groaned as we both continued to grapple for the knife.
“But thanks for finally getting with the program and bringing everyone to the table so we could eliminate you all at once. So much more convenient that way.”
“Holy fuck, do you ever stop talking?” I shot back as I lifted my leg to kick the outside of his knee, forcing him to stumble back without the knife.
Jason grunted as a strained laugh left his throat, a grimace on his face as he clutched his knee. “I get it. I wouldn’t want to hear about my own failures before my death either.”
This motherfucker…
After ripping the knife from the wall, I charged at him again, slashing the knife across his upper shoulder when he was unable to dodge it quickly enough. I kept charging as my mind refused to allow his distraction tactics to take hold.
I would consider the implications of his words when I had the luxury of time to process them. Right now, my only concern was killing him so I could get back to Jaden before it was too late. That much, I did consider.
Although it was disappointing that I wasn’t going to get the sweet, slow death I wanted for him. Maybe the bastard was hoping for a quick, impulsive kill with his reveal of a potential attack on my home. Or maybe he actually thought he would be successful in killing me.
What a fucking joke.
As I swung the knife again, an explosion suddenly cut through the barrier of our makeshift arena, causing me to lose control of my momentum.
In a swift move, Jason grabbed my wrist, twisted it around just as I fell forward from the blast, and managed to pierce the knife into my side, where my protective vest was open.
Pain seared its way into my body, the burning agony of being stabbed a familiar feeling I hadn’t experienced in quite some time.
But I didn’t plan on experiencing it alone.
“Turns out it does bleed after all,” Jason murmured through gritted teeth.
I slammed my forehead into his face, then lifted my knee to kick him in the chest, the force intensifying the pain in my side as I sent him back several feet. Ignoring the smug look in his eyes, I reluctantly ripped the knife from my side, grimacing from the sharp sting left behind.
Flipping the bloody steel in my hand, I ignored the pain and threw it again, even harder than the first time, aiming straight for that narrow vulnerability staring at me in the face.
I watched Jason’s eyes widen as the blade speared its way through the bullet holes of his protective vest, right into the center cavity of his chest.
Righting myself, I lunged forward, lifting my knee to kick the knife straight through him, but another explosion went off causing me to lose enough balance that the kick landed against his abdomen instead.
The force was still strong enough to knock him onto his back, but just before he hit the ground, the floor collapsed under him from another explosion, swallowing Jason’s fall in a fiery blast of debris and flames.
I stood there in damn near shock as the floor and wall crumbled further, forcing me to find cover until the air finally settled. A giant gaping hole now stood in the place where Jason had fallen through.
Needing some form of confirmation, I carefully inched myself forward to glance down into the burning chasm left behind by the explosion.
A minuscule amount of satisfaction hit me when I caught the sight of a hand sticking out from under a pile of stone and rubble.
Ironically enough, he had fallen into the viewing room of our auctions.
“What a fucking waste,” I grumbled, disappointment poisoning my victory at the quick death the asshole didn’t deserve. He should consider himself lucky. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I needed to get back to the estate now.
With the loss of my earpiece, I didn’t have time to rally the rest of my men, so I quickly moved to exit the crumbling building and headed back for the helicopter.
With the pilot nowhere to be seen, I climbed into the cockpit and fired up the engine, not wanting to waste a single second waiting on anyone else.
Within minutes, I was back in the air and flew the helicopter back to my estate as fast as I possibly could, hoping I wasn’t too late.
After engaging the autopilot, I assessed the stab wound in my side, dressing it as best I could to at least slow the bleeding.
But with my body now having a moment of rest, the pain was kicking in as the adrenaline from my earlier fight wore off.
I tried calling Scott while I attempted to access my security cameras from my phone—no access, and no answer. I tried more numbers, but got no one, my mind lingering on locating only one person who now had a defective tracking device thanks to that EMP. Hopefully Sloane had gotten her out in time.
As I neared the front lawn of the house, I could see how much of my home was in complete ruins. Rage burned in my lungs at the understanding that Jason hadn’t been lying, that his team had actually managed to bestow this much destruction in so little time.
The house was on fire, smoke billowing from both wings, while my men were scattered in various sections of the property, dead bodies littered everywhere.
My blood continued to simmer at the devastation.
The idea that I had willingly fallen into their little trap was an embarrassment I would have to accept and reprimand myself for at a later time.
In my arrogance, I had left my castle weak, and the consequences were everywhere.
Gunfire and explosions could be seen as I descended the helicopter onto the front lawn. But I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or worried that there was no sight of a gung-ho redhead leading a charge anywhere. Sloane had better have done her fucking job.
I quickly rearmed myself with a new vest and weapons we had stored in the back of the helicopter, my side burning with any movement I made. Biting through the pain, I maneuvered through the front lawn, bypassing a shot-to-shit empty van still parked beside the fountain that was no longer flowing.
Rifle tucked tight against my shoulder, I angrily approached my front door that hung awkwardly from a single hinge, ready to clean fucking house.