Chapter 25 Lennox
Lennox
THE ENFORCER
Someone was in here. In her space, touching her things. They could have hurt her. They could have fucking killed her.
Gritting my teeth, I force the image back to the recesses of my brain where it belongs.
I heard Wren’s bonechilling scream shortly after we got here, and it took everything in me not to dart up the stairs and comfort her, but I knew Kage had her and I needed to let him see to her needs while I conducted a protective sweep around the perimeter.
Pulling the gun from my waistband, my grip on the pistol is firm as I lift it in front of me, slowly checking around every corner and behind every door.
I’m really hoping that the dumb motherfucker that somehow had the balls to break into Wren's place is still around so I can be the one to end their miserable life. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to ensure her safety at this point, and putting a bullet in someone's skull isn't much of an inconvenience.
Upstairs, I can hear her muffled sobs and Kage’s hushed reassurances pulling her back from the edge.
Moments later, he’s carrying Wren down the stairs, her face tucked into Kage’s chest as her arms are locked tightly around his neck.
We lock eyes and I know I’m done for. Her honey brown gaze is glassy from the tears she’s shed, her face swollen and blotchy as she tries to calm her breathing.
The last few weeks with Wren have somehow managed to slowly stitch together the mangled pieces of my heart, but as soon as I see how broken my phoenix is, those threads start to unravel.
The monster I try so hard to keep below the surface is starting to tear through the seams and all I can think about is ripping the limbs off whoever caused her to break like this.
“We’re taking her home. She doesn’t need to be here where anyone can just walk in whenever the fuck they want,” Kage snaps, the anger rippling through his whole body as he holds tight to Wren. I’ve never seen him like this. There’s Kage whenever he’s angry, and then there’s this.
It’s not just anger, it’s animalistic, unhinged rage that even has me taking a step back. Kage isn’t someone that needs to get loud in order to invoke fear. His murderous gaze and the way he carries himself is enough to make even the toughest men fall in line.
“Wait.” Wren picks her head up from where it rests on Kage’s chest. “We need to call the police or something, right? File a report?” She looks between the both of us, waiting for us to agree with her, but how do you tell the woman who knows nothing about who you really are that you can’t call the police?
“Don’t worry about that,” I insist, keeping my tone flat. “We’ll handle it.”
“Handle it how? We need to find Chen. The b-blood—”
“I said we’ll handle it!” Kage’s head jerks in my direction and I know I’ve pissed him off with my outburst but I can’t seem to care.
Fuck. I really wasn't trying to lose my shit in front of her but I don’t have any answers that could bring her any peace in this situation and it’s fucking killing me.
Wren looks at me with wide eyes, but I don’t give her a chance to say anything else.
There are no other words I could say to her right now without lying to her face or scaring her further, so instead I walk right past them and up the stairs to her apartment.
I’m careful not to touch anything in Wren’s room, needing to make sure that any evidence left behind isn’t tampered with.
Jimmy and his crew will be pissed off enough that I was in here without calling them in the first place.
Sweeping the entire second level, I make sure to check every corner and deem it safe for now.
Chen definitely put up a fight, his hand prints littering the walls like some depressing kind of graffiti.
Him being taken is a good sign, though. If they were just going to kill him, they would have done exactly that, leaving his body behind to send us a message.
There’s still hope that he’s alive, if only to lure Wren, or my brother and I, to another location.
Pulling out my phone, I finally call Jimmy to bring in his crew.
“Talk to me,” Jimmy answers nonchalantly.
“Where the fuck have you been?!” I bellow through the phone, letting all the anger I’ve been trying to hold back spill from my mouth. “Shits falling apart over here and you, the goddamn glue, are fucking nowhere to be found!”
“W-What the fuck are you talking about? I’ve been doing the research you told me to do on Richard this whole damn time!”
“Yeah, and while you were doing that, you were also supposed to keep your eyes on Wren, you piece of shit!” The line goes quiet for just a moment, nothing but my ragged breathing fills the silence.
“I did have eyes on her, you entitled fuck. She’s been at work all night.”
“Oh so she didn't have to be coaxed out of a fucking closet after walking in on her apartment being torn to pieces? I guess the blood just magically appeared on the walls too?”
That shuts him up. A heavy silence stretches across the line before Jimmy mutters a single, clipped word.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, fuck,” I snarl. “You better call your guys and have them get here now. If you screw up like this again, Jimmy, you won’t live long enough to regret it.”
The line goes dead and I shove my phone back into my pocket, taking one last sweeping look around Wren’s apartment.
Rage fills my vision knowing someone was in her space.
Someone made her so fucking scared, she looked like a abused puppy.
When I find the motherfucker that did this, Jimmy's crew will have a long night of cleaning on their hands.
By the time I stalk down the stairs, Kage has already taken Wren to the SUV. I slide into the driver's seat and buckle up, taking a quick glance at Wren in the rear view mirror.
“They’re on the way,” I mutter, locking eyes with Kage in the mirror. He knows what I’m saying.
Wren lifts her head, her eyes red and glassy from fresh tears. “The…police?” she whispers.
I glance at her in the rearview and force a nod. “Yeah. They’ll take care of everything.”
It’s a lie, and it tastes bitter on my tongue, but she doesn’t need the truth. She exhales shakily, sitting back with her knees to her chest. Kage wraps an arm around her, pressing a kiss to her hairline, letting her know that she’s safe now.
The ride home is quiet, only the occasional sniffle from Wren in the backseat and the soft murmur of Kage pressing kisses to the top of her head to break the silence.
I grip the steering wheel a little tighter than necessary.
I’d give anything to be in Kage’s position right now.
To be the one that’s holding her, comforting her, showing her that no one could hurt her as long as I’m around.
I look back at them in the rear view mirror.
The smallest movements she makes, the way her fingers fidget against her knees when she thinks no one is watching.
It all hits me harder than expected. She reaches places inside of me I didn’t even know existed, and I can’t stop it.
God, I’m so fucked for her and I don’t even know how that’s possible.
As we pull up to our place, I feel the tension in my chest ease slightly knowing she’ll be safe here.
Wren drops her knees, leaning towards the glass with wide eyes as she takes in the unfamiliar house.
The large yard that’s almost too perfect, the rod iron fence that wraps around the entirety of the property.
Our place is big, completely different from what she’s used to.
Every glance she casts twists something warm and unknown inside me.
I step inside first, holding the door for her. She hesitates for a beat, staring up at the outside of the house like she’s too scared to go inside. Kage walks up behind her, holding his hand at the small of her back, urging her to go inside.
“C’mon baby, I’ll show you around.”
They walk past me as Kage eyes me like he’s trying to tell me not to fuck anything up.
I can’t even be mad at him for acting the way he is towards me.
If the situation was reversed, I would have slit his throat for yelling at her the way I did.
But a part of me hopes he knows that I only reacted the way I did out of fear.
While Kage shows Wren around the house, I take a quick shower before setting up the guest bedroom for her.
I pull the sheets off the king size bed, replacing them with fresh ones and switching out the pillows.
She deserves to be comfortable after all the bullshit she went through today.
First Dick, then her apartment. Seeing Chen's blood.
Fuck. And I just yelled at her about it. I’m such a fucking asshole.
“And this is your room.” Kage walks Wren inside the room and she stops dead in her tracks as soon as she sees me.
“I’m gonna shower and then I’ll be right back, okay?
” Kage cups Wren's face and I watch as she leans into it. She smiles up at him longingly, and as if I’m not even in the fucking room, he leans down and kisses her sweetly.
Just a simple brush of their lips, but I can’t help the way I watch them, once again wishing I was in his position.
Breaking the kiss, Kage turns to glare at me before walking out and leaving Wren and I alone in the room.
I don’t know what to do. She probably doesn’t want me in here invading her personal space and I can’t say I blame her.
Mustering up a smile, I nod once, tense and awkward, wordlessly telling her I’ll get out of her way as I start to move past her, careful not to brush against her as I go.
But then her hand shoots out, wrapping around my wrist, causing me to freeze mid step and my heart to start beating rapidly in my chest. I glance down at her fingers clutching my skin and release a soft breath. Slowly, I turn to face her.
“Don’t…” her voice trembles, barely more than a whisper. “Don’t go.”