Chapter 20
Castle Romeo
Zoe
The warehouse remained quiet, nobody daring to move. Whether it's out of fear of me or the men, I’m not sure. What I do know, is that about eighty people just watched me murder a man with no questions asked.
The guilt and exhaustion never come, and the Numb stays in place.
“Someone take care of the body.” Max snaps his finger before grabbing my elbow gently. A group of five men move to grab the dead body and begin wrapping it in a black plastic tarp.
“You did good, Harpy. However, you may need to explain to the others why you didn’t spare him for questions.”
I nod and turn to see the others with confused or stressed looks on their faces. Teddy seems turned on, but I expect nothing less from him. “I’ll explain it to them later. As long as you know it wasn’t just impulsive.” I look Max in his eyes, so he knows that I’m serious.
“You stopped calling me Maxi pad.”
I snort, “You stopped acting like one.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” That makes us both chuckle quietly to ourselves.
We pause for a moment to collect ourselves before Max returns to his usual serious demeanor.
Our brief distraction lasted long enough that the body is already gone, and all that remains is a puddle of dark red blood.
I take the chance to actually look around the building.
I step away from Max and walk around the tables to inspect their operation.
There’s an assembly line throughout each table.
A table for cutting the drugs, a table to weigh, a table to package, and a table for boxing.
Every time I approach someone from behind, they stiffen, which I’ll admit is satisfying.
After inspecting each table and watching over each person, I’ve decided that I don’t suspect any issues in this particular warehouse.
I find Mark in the spot we left him, watching over each of the personnel as well. “It’s Mark, right?” I ask stretching my hand out to shake his. He’s hesitant and looks towards Max before reciprocating the gesture.
“Yes, and you must be Zoe.” He says with a polite smile. I nod then turn back to the workers.
I’ve assumed Mark works as an overseer for this warehouse, I haven’t figured out why yet, because I can tell that anyone in this building could take him in physical combat. “Who else have you seen working closely with Jax?”
“All of the men that were questioned. However, the guy that usually works the same deliveries as him, isn’t here today.” He says.
This piques my interest, and I look back at him, “What’s his name?”
“Deangelo Rossi. He’s been in this warehouse for about nine months now, slow worker, but I haven’t had issues with him.” Mark shrugs.
Nodding, I thank him before making my way back to the Karmas. “Was there anything else we needed to do here?” I ask Brandon.
“Nope, we can head to our second warehouse now, it’s about two hours away.”
I turn on my heel and head towards the exit, sending Teddy a wink as I pass him. As expected, he is behind me at once.
A few moments later we are all piled in the car together, but we are still idling in the driveway.
Brandon lets out a huff of a laugh and starts, “So is anyone else going to say it?”
“What? That she should’ve spoken to us before killing off one of our first leads?” Dean grumbles as he stares at me from the rear-view mirror.
“Nooo,” Brandon drags out, “That what she just did was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I smother a smile, but part of me is confused why the self-hatred hasn’t kicked in now that the Numb has worn off. I’m choosing to ignore it for now, knowing that it’ll most likely hit me in a nightmare tonight.
“Why did you kill him though, Princess?” Brandon asks.
“He wasn’t a lead, just a thief. He wasn’t stealing products that would help the Cambions.
He was stealing cocaine, and not a copious amount.
But I don’t tolerate thieves, so he had to die- especially since he was caught in front of everyone, an example needed to be made.
” The explanation is simple, and Dean seems to relax a bit at my reasoning, but he stays in his normal tense posture.
“Little devil,” Teddy sings, “You are covered in a stunning shade of red.”
I look back in the rear-view mirror to see Dean, locked in on Teddy and me.
It’s the first time I’ve seen a real emotion on his face.
If I were a fool, I’d believe the expression on his face to be jealousy; even longing, but I know better than to think that.
I know I want Dean. Unfortunately, I have no doubt in my mind that he’s disgusted in me, but I’m not sure why.
He trusts his brothers’ judgment enough to tolerate me, but I don’t think he trusts me yet. Not completely.
I see myself in the reflection and I notice the red splatters that have dried across my cheeks and neck, feeling itchy now that it has dried on my skin.
“Will it be okay that I look like this when we get to the next warehouse? Or can we stop so I can clean it off?” I ask.
Max, of course, is the one to answer, “We don’t have time to go back to the manor, but there should be some wipes under your seat.”
I reached below me, finding that he was correct. I pull out the pack of wipes and go to clean myself when Brandon stops me and takes the wipe from my hand.
“Let me help you.”
I don’t respond, just letting him make work of wiping the blood from my skin.
“Can I ask you something?” He whispers as Dean begins to drive.
“Sure.”
“Where do you go? When you kill or are getting ready to kill? You seem to flip a switch.” He asks, scrubbing at the splatters on my neck.
“I call it the Numb. It makes it easier.”
Brandon furrows his brows, and takes a moment before he answers, “What do you mean by easier? Don’t you think the people you kill deserve it?”
“Of course I do,” I swallow when his fingertips brush against my throat, “but that doesn’t mean they aren’t human.”
“Care to explain more?”
“Well, my father trained me to be a killer, a weapon. When I use those skills, it feels like I truly turn into the monster he created. So, when I let the Numb take over, I don’t have to feel so bad.”
The car is quiet for a moment, but Dean joins into the conversation, and it makes me realize that Brandon and I aren’t the only ones here. “If he were still alive, you know we’d kill him for what he made you do.”
“He made you do the same things.” I try to shrug off his comment.
“But you were all alone.” He adds.
“And you were desperate for a family. He took advantage of you too.”
My words seem to let a mood settle in the car. It isn’t necessarily a bad mood, but the air is definitely thicker than it was on the way over, so I try to change the subject.
“Do any of you have girlfriends?” This snaps them from their thoughts and all four of them turn their attention to me.
The weight of their undivided attention sends a chill down my spine.
I’ve always been strong; I had to be. However, there is something about these men that make me weak.
They make my insides turn to jelly and I wish I could hate it, but I’m grateful to finally feel safe enough to let my guard down.
It’s silly really, to feel so comfortable around four men I barely know.
I bared my soul and past to them last night, and I only know details about them from stalking them over the years.
Maybe that’s why I feel comfortable around them.
I feel as though I’ve actually known them almost my whole life. Like kindred spirits.
“No, Princess. We’re all yours.” Brandon gives me a heart stopping smirk as he finishes cleaning me up.
I blush and bite my lip sheepishly, tucking my head to avoid their gazes.
“What did you learn from Mark?” I look up to see Max turned in his seat to look at me.
Shaking my head to try and get rid of the red staining my cheeks, “He said Deangelo Rossi typically worked deliveries with Jax, but he wasn’t there today. Something tells me that he knew we’d show up after getting rid of Jax, and we should find him soon.”
“I agree. He’s newer to the organization; he may be easier to break. Brandon-” Max stops when Brandon interrupts him.
“Already on it,” Brandon flips his phone screen towards Max to show him something. “Right now, he’s on the east side of the city.”
I look at the screen and see that we are looking at a map, “How are you tracking him?” I ask.
“I’m not tracking him exactly, just tracking the most recent pings from his phone.”
I hum and look back to Max, “We should wait, maybe a day or two before we grab him. Let him drop his guard, it could also put him on edge because we didn’t get to him so soon. Waiting might make him slip up. We could catch anything out of the ordinary.”
“Sounds like a good plan, would you like this to be a Sparrow hit?”
My attention jolts to his eyes, and I see that he is completely serious, “Yes, but I work alone.”
“Absolutely not.” They all say at the same time.
I scoff and try to scold at each of them, “I am more than capable of handling myself, you know that. What if you observed from a distance and I can wear that earpiece again?” I suggest.
“I’ll think about it.” Is all Max says before he turns in his seat to look back at the road ahead of us.
“I don’t need your permission, you know?” I cross my arms. “I can just go off on my own, whether you like it or not.”
This makes Teddy laugh, “Little devil, you aren’t going anywhere. You’re ours.”
Theirs.