Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
When I finally reach the right address, I find it shrouded in darkness.
All of the streetlamps are off. I would bet my last dollar that Mickey somehow had them taken care of either remotely or he put a bullet in each of them.
This street is a row of townhouses, and I stick to the shadows as I move toward the number on the note.
Everything is quiet. There isn’t a whisper of breeze, and the sound of traffic in the distance is muted.
The first house has a TV on inside, and the viewer must be deaf, because it’s so loud, I can hear it from the street.
It sounds like he’s watching something with action, because it’s noisy and violent, jarring in the otherwise still atmosphere, but it also covers the sound of my feet.
The next few townhouses show no signs of life—no lights, no cars parked in front, nothing—and I wonder if they are kept empty on purpose.
I reach the right townhouse and look around.
I can’t see any sign of Mickey anywhere, but the gate to the little courtyard swings open despite there being a gate code that is required for entrance.
Why would they leave that open for anyone to walk in?
I reach for the gun inside my jacket and enter the courtyard carefully, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone who might be against me, but there’s nothing other than eerie silence.
I creep down the pathway to the front door, which is cracked a small amount, gold lighting the way.
I plant my back against the wall and slowly nudge the door a little wider, letting more of the light escape to illuminate my path.
I allow my eyes to adjust and take a deep breath, then I step into the foyer, my gun at the ready, but what I find has me gaping in horror.
A body lies just inside the doorway, its neck slit from ear to ear.
Blood congeals in a pool below it, its sightless eyes staring at the ceiling.
For a second, panic grips me until I realize it isn’t Mickey.
It’s someone I don’t recognize, someone dressed in cargos and a black top.
A gun lies a few feet from his body, discarded, his hand stretched out like he was reaching for it.
A thump somewhere in the back of the house has me quickly crossing the foyer to a hallway, where I press my back to the wall for protection.
I silently make my way deeper into the townhouse, passing the stairs that lead to the upper level.
I peek around a doorway and find another guard also dead.
This one has a bullet through the middle of his forehead and two in his heart, and another pool of congealing blood below him.
Whatever transpired here happened a little while ago, since the blood is already starting to solidify.
I keep moving, passing another doorway to another empty room.
This one looks like it’s been tossed. Papers are strewn everywhere, and furniture is overturned like someone was searching for something, but what?
Was I wrong? Was this not where Addison was being held? Where is Mickey?
My heart continues to beat so loudly, I can hear it in my ears.
I’m almost at the end of the hallway, where another door leads into what I assume is a living area or something, when I hear something scrape behind me.
Before I can spin, a hand slams over my mouth, and a knife presses against my neck directly above my carotid.
“What do we have here? Another pretty thing for me to play with?” The words are muffled and threatening, but a familiar scent drifts toward my nose, and I melt back into the warm body behind me—a body I have missed so very fucking much.
“Sage,” I whisper like a prayer, and he chuckles, dropping his knife and pressing a kiss to the spot he pricked.
“Hello, my love. You’re late, and we had all the fun without you.”
I spin in his arms and stare at him like he’s the forbidden fruit I’ve craved my whole life. His green eyes sparkle with amusement, and a corner of his lips kick up in a smile.
“Sage,” I sigh and reach for him at the same time he leans down, kissing me like I’m the air he needs to breathe.
Without breaking the kiss, he picks me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he backs into the last room and slams me against the wall next to the door.
Breaking apart, we both reach for each other’s pants, tearing at buttons and wrestling with zippers.
He drops me to my feet, and I push my cargos down, tugging them over my boots before he lifts me up.
I don’t even have my legs around his waist before he thrusts deep into my throbbing core.
The moan that leaves my mouth shatters the silence that was only punctured by our frantic breaths.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed this hot pussy. I’ve missed your sweet mouth. I’ve missed these succulent breasts,” he mutters against my mouth as his hips pound into me. “Fucking Mickey and Maeve are so fucking sweet, it’s nauseating. My jealousy knows no bounds.”
I grab his hair and tug his head up away from where he’s been sucking on my neck.
“Do not mention my uncle while your cock is buried deep inside me,” I growl, and he chuckles but slides a hand between us and flicks my clit. I release his hair and grab his shoulders, using them for leverage so I can meet every one of his thrusts with one of my own.
“Fuck yes,” I whine as I feel all the tension inside me build to a peak. “Just like that,” I plead as his finger circles my throbbing button with perfect pressure.
He bends his knees slightly and picks up the pace, thrusting even harder, and I feel my core spasm and shatter, pulsing around him as my orgasm flows through each of my limbs. I groan and bite his neck to muffle the sounds as heat washes through me and he stills, finding his own release.
“Baby,” he murmurs, his hand leaving my clit to cup my cheek. He stares at me with all the love and affection I so desperately missed.
We stand there, cocooned in our bubble of reunion, when a grunt outside the door has me flinching.
“If you two are done fucking, can we get on with this please?” Mickey grumbles before muttering under his breath, “Hearing your niece’s sex noises is something that should never grace an uncle’s ears.” We hear him walk away, and I giggle as Sage lowers me before pulling free.
I grimace as I feel his cum drip down my inner thigh. “Well, that is going to make things uncomfortable.”
“Hang on.” Sage tucks himself away and buttons his pants before disappearing out the door. In less than two minutes, he returns with a cloth in his hand and proceeds to clean me up before tossing it on the empty desk.
“Thanks.” I smile at him as I struggle back into my cargo pants. Getting them over my shoes is more work than when I stripped out of them, but I finally redress. Sage watches me, his eyes shadowed with sadness and need.
“I hate this,” I tell him as he takes my hand and tugs me out of the room, leading me through the final door at the end of the hallway.
“Me too. How much longer are we going to do this?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“Wait, and I’ll tell you both everything.
” I look around the room and find another dead guard slumped against a couch, but in the middle of the room, tied to a chair with something shoved into her mouth, is a woman.
She glares at me as she struggles against the ropes binding her to the chair.
She tries to scream something, but it’s muffled, and I snigger.
“Playing with your toys now, Mickey?” I ask my uncle, who is leaning against one of the walls.
He smirks, comes over, and gives me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I sigh at the familiar scent and warmth, and more tension leaks out of me. My family is back together, and it brings me so much comfort.
“This is the nasty bitch who put all those bruises on that darling girl,” he tells me as we both turn to face her, Sage joining me on the other side.
“Addi is here?” I ask, scanning the room with worry. What kind of trauma is she going to carry after seeing all this?
“Don’t stress. That wee darling is upstairs, tucked into bed and fast asleep, dreaming of unicorns and rainbows.
She didn’t see any of this,” he assures me, “but we have been watching the house all day, and we heard everything. The way they talked to her, the slaps of punishment, and the cries of pain when this bitch dug her nails into the poor girl’s arms… ”
“Wee darling?” I arch my eyebrow at him.
He blushes and rubs an embarrassed hand over his chin. “Maeve is rubbing off on me a bit.”
“That’s not all they’ve been rubbing off,” Sage mutters, and Mickey glares at him. A prickle of worry of what will become of them once he discovers Carla is alive sits in the back of my mind, but that’s a future problem. Instead, I focus on the one in front of me.
“Okay, so as much as I would like to take my time with her and make her scream, I can’t be gone too long, and I have a lot to tell you.” I’m disappointed, but time is of the essence. Xavier could return and find me gone at any moment.
“Boo.” Sage blows a raspberry, but Mickey pulls a gun from the back of his pants and pulls the trigger.
The sound is just a pop with the silencer screwed onto the barrel.
The nanny’s eyes widen in panic before the bullet smashes into the middle of her skull, then they go blank.
Her body slumps, and blood dribbles down the middle of her face.
I don’t waste any more time on her. She’s paid for her sins. I wrinkle my nose as the smells of death and brain matter reach me. “Is there anywhere that isn’t covered in death so we can talk?”