Chapter 26 Wes
WES
I raced to the front gate to meet up with Luc and Maverick.
I still couldn’t believe someone had dumped a body at our home.
The guards didn’t even catch the person, as they’d booked it out of there before they’d gotten a chance.
All we knew was that it had been an unmarked, older-model tan sedan with no license plate.
We’d need to look at the security footage to see if we got the person’s face at all, but Diego was close to hitting something big so that would likely wait. The priority was the body anyway.
I pulled my car up by the gate, next to Luc’s.
The property was too big to walk here from the main house, so we either drove or took one of the golf carts.
Luca and Maverick were already hovering, their eyes glued to the body lying there.
Off to the side, the two guards on gate duty were talking to Leo. I parked and joined them.
I recognized the deceased immediately. I had seen his picture enough in the last few weeks to not need confirmation to ID him. David Verlice. The asshole who had held Everett for years and used him for his own gain. If anyone was going to end up dead in front of the estate, I was glad it was him.
Still, all the warnings were sounding off in my head.
Why would someone dump him here? And who killed him?
I was sure he had a huge list of people who wanted him dead, but who was the one who’d finally pulled the trigger?
I meant that literally, as he had a gunshot wound right between his eyes. It had been an execution.
This was a message, obviously, but what that message was, I had no idea.
Were they telling us that they knew we had Everett?
No, that couldn’t be it. We’d figured when Andre had failed to grab Everett at the beach house, he’d likely told them that Luca and I were there.
That was one of the reasons Everett couldn’t leave the estate.
There had to be something more going on. I looked up at Luca. “What do we know?”
He huffed out a frustrated laugh. “Crap. He has nothing on him, no note, phone, nothing. It’s possible there’s a message on his skin, I guess.
” The corpse was fully clothed in a long-sleeve shirt, black pants, and shoes.
“We’ll have to move his body, see what we can find, and hope that the cameras picked up something that could identify the driver. ”
“Do you think this was the Crimson Rose?” Maverick asked.
“I can’t imagine who else it would be,” I answered, distracted. “Do we have someone checking out the area? Maybe they’re still close?” Or maybe this was a distraction. There was that niggling in the back of my brain that said I was missing something. Something huge. But what?
“Yes. Leo sent out two teams. He is also doubling up security at all entrances.”
“So, what now? We can’t leave this fucker here,” Maverick pointed out. “And someone is going to have to tell Everett.”
Luca grimaced, likely dreading that last idea. “I’ll talk to Everett,” I volunteered, trying not to smile at Luca’s obvious relief. “But maybe we should move Verlice first?”
Luca nodded. “Yeah, we’re gonna take him to the security shed for now, until we can figure out our next steps.”
Leo came over with gloves for us. I thanked him before putting them on, and then we all took our positions around Verlice’s body.
I had just wrapped my hands around his calves when my phone started to ring. Not only mine, but Luca’s, Mav’s, and Leo’s. Diego. He was sending out an alarm.
Luca got his phone out first. His eyes widened in horror. “Get away from the body. We need to go, now.”
I was up and Luca was shoving all of us away in seconds. I didn’t need to ask any questions. If Luca said we needed to move, then I moved. I trusted him implicitly.
We were about ten feet away when I heard a clicking sound. One I knew intimately. “Down!” Luca and I screamed at the same time. My body hit the ground roughly, a heavy weight on top of me. I barely had gotten my hands over my head when the deafening sound hit, and Verlice’s body exploded.