Chapter 40 Jo
forty
Jo
The sight of Xavier Bowen holding a gun to the head of my best friend as he restrains her with an arm around her neck makes it real hard to keep my cool.
“Josephine Harding,” the sound of Xavier’s voice has me gritting my teeth, “and here I thought you had stood me up.” His eyes dart around the clearing, his face contorting in rage when he spots Whitmore and Kinsley.
Behind their gags, their eyes widen in terror.
“Jo,” Addie whimpers, clawing at the arm wrapped around her neck.
“Didya like my welcome banner?” I force a grin, wiping my cheek where I’m sure there’s still some glitter. When he doesn’t answer, my voice hardens. “I have your scientist. Now, let Addie go.”
Xavier snarls. “I will take him and make him pay for abandoning me, but this was not our deal. I want Brooks.”
At least it seems that the block Aidan put on Xavier’s phone worked. He doesn’t seem like a man who knows his whole operation was just livestreamed to the state—and the FBI.
“You’ll have him,” I state calmly, raising my hands.
“We just needed a little more time—my brother is on his way right now.” If everything goes according to plan, he’ll be here in about ten minutes.
“In the meantime, give Addie to me. Your arm must be gettin’ tired, and I’m not goin’ anywhere until I see both Brooks and Whitmore bleed for their crimes. ”
“Take off their gags,” Xavier orders, not removing his gun.
I stall. “Why—”
“Do it!” he screeches, pressing the gun harder against her head.
Hayden and West hurry to untie the strips of fabric tied around their mouths.
Gritting my teeth, I glance around the courtyard. My eyes catch on one of the security cameras I worked so hard to avoid during my time here.
An idea strikes.
Hoping Xavier is sufficiently distracted, I reach into my back pocket, holding my phone at my side while I open up a text to Aidan.
I only have time to type one word, and I hope to hell he understands what I’m asking for.
The gags fall off our two prisoners, and they’ve barely left their mouths before apologies and blubbering ass-kissing starts spilling from their lips.
“Please, Prometheus, we didn’t mean—”
“Shut up,” Xavier snaps, taking a stumbling step forward. “Tell me why, Henry. Why did you abandon our cause? Why did you leave me floundering like an idiot with no way to continue our research? And then you turn Isaac against me? How did you convince him to let you hide here?”
Whitmore’s face freezes for a moment, and it’s like a million different emotions flicker across his face before he seemingly reaches a decision, and his expression turns stony. Like all of the panic and blubbering had been an act.
“Because, Xavier, you think too small.”
My brows shoot up at his words, and I can feel the rest of my pack’s surprise through the bond.
Doctor Whitmore smiles.
A deranged, disturbing smile.
“You sought to merely eradicate designations. But what we should have been doing is elevating the original betas—the pure, undiluted bloodlines—to levels beyond what even an alpha would be capable of. Like Paige Lawson and Peter Carson. Alphas and omegas would be gone, but we would always know who was really the superior designation.”
Holy shit.
Right before we killed Banesworth and I was forced into the fighting ring, I went against Paige, and something had seemed…off. She had been wild, bloodthirsty. A little unhinged. Was that Whitmore’s doing the entire time?
Whitmore is still talking, his eyes growing more maniacal by the second.
“We’re the ones who have kept our heads on straight.
We’re the reason the world runs properly.
We deserve retribution after being deemed second-class for so long!
I’ve done it! Been doing it! For the last year I’ve been perfecting a serum that will give pure betas the biological edge without any of those barbaric instincts! ”
Xavier’s head falls back.
He laughs. Long, and loud, he laughs. He’s so caught up in his laughter that I glance at Sam, motioning to Adela. Maybe we can make a move to grab her. He shakes his head, tilting his chin back toward Bowen, who is now calming down.
“You idiot.” He briefly removes the gun from Adela’s head to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Do I look like I’m a second-class citizen?
The car I drive is worth more than your entire house.
You’re telling me you betrayed me because…
what? You wanted to create alphas out of betas after getting rid of them? ”
Whitmore sputters. “You don’t understand—”
“Oh, I understand plenty,” Xavier says coldly, before looking at Kinsley. “And what of you, huh? What reason could you have for following this traitor?”
Kinsley starts to shake his head, already a blubbering mess. This one is not an act.
“He was blackmailing me.” Kinsley’s eyes are wet with tears. “He was making me pay for everything and forcing me to stay in the lab. I swear, I never wanted to go against you.”
“Prove it.” Xavier’s voice is steely, and Kinsley blanches.
“H…how?”
“Kill him.” He nods at Whitmore, who looks like he might shit himself. “The crime for treason against your leader is death, and you have both committed the ultimate betrayal. Kill Henry Whitmore, and I may consider sparing your life.” He looks at Sam. “Untie him.”
My alpha bristles at being ordered around by the likes of Xavier Bowen, but he obeys just the same.
It’s all part of the plan.
“Wait!” Whitmore sputters as Sam pulls at Kinsley’s ties.
Kinsley stands on shaky legs, looking back and forth between Whitmore and Xavier. He doesn’t dare even glance in our direction. We won’t be of any help to him.
“How…how am I supposed to kill him?” His voice is shaky and his face is pale. A bead of sweat runs down his forehead as he swallows.
“Figure it out,” Xavier says coldly.
Kinsley looks helplessly around the courtyard, his hands twitching at his sides. “I don’t…”
“You could strangle him,” Xavier offers. “Are you sorry enough to strangle him, Kinsley?”
Kinsley’s throat bobs. “I don’t—I can’t—”
Xavier Bowen lets out a sigh. “How disappointing.”
In a split second, he removes the gun from Addie’s temple and shoots.
Her scream echoes through the air as the bullet rips clean through Kinsley’s skull, and he falls to the ground.
“Oh, shut up,” he snaps, putting the barrel back against her head. “You’re going to lose your voice rather quickly if you scream like that every time someone gets shot. This is the second time tonight—you’d think you’d be used to it by now.”
My blood runs cold. Second?
“Where’s Vander?” My heart aches for Addie as her face screws up in pain.
“Caught that, did you?” Xavier lets out a humorless laugh. “At home, regretting his life decisions. He’ll live, but he’ll think twice about going against me again.”
Sam steps forward. “What are you going to do with Whitmore?”
“I’ll think about answering that once I have Brooks in hand,” he sneers, stuffing Whitmore’s gag back into his mouth.
“You could just take him with you,” I offer, raising my hands. “You don’t need Brooks anymore if you have him.”
“Trust is a very fragile thing, Ms. Harding.” Xavier drags Adela over near one of the bonfires, studying the flames. “Once my trust is broken, it is gone forever. I cannot depend on him anymore.”
A loud crashing sound has him looking up, eyebrow raised.
I grin. “Declan’s here. Which means Brooks is too.” I nod at Adela. “So if you don’t mind sendin’ her this way…”
“You will wait,” he snaps. “Damn omegas, so pushy.” Kole growls low, and Xavier shakes his head. “See? This is why we need the drug I’m developing. You alphas are no better than damn dogs.”
I bristle. “Hey now—”
“Don’t get me started on omegas, Josephine Harding. Out of all the simpering fools, you’re the worst of them all. At least other omegas are submissive. Docile. You bite the hand that feeds you and then act like you were being poisoned.”
“With all due respect,” my tone turns sweet, “if a man like you thinks I’m the worst, then that’s the biggest compliment I could ever get.”
Suddenly, the sound of tires squealing has us turning. Declan parks his van right in the space between the buildings, while Rory slides open the back and kicks Brooks out of the vehicle before promptly taking off again.
In and out in a flash, just like we planned.
The doctor lands face-first in the grass, his cries of pain muffled by the gag, and Kole sighs as he walks over, picking him up and placing him next to Whitmore. “There. You have your doctor. Now give us Adela.”
Hayden sighs. “Nothing like a good ol’ hostage exchange to liven up a party.”
“Where did they go?” Xavier looks at the space Declan’s van had occupied less than ten seconds ago.
I shrug. “You know who my brother is. He doesn’t have time to be drivin’ up and down the Appalachian Mountains all night.”
Xavier’s mouth goes tight, and he releases Addie, pushing her towards me. She breaks down in a sob as I catch her, my arms wrapping around her tight.
“Vander!” she sobs, covering her face with her hands. “He tried to stop him from taking me.”
“Oh, Addie, Addie, shhh…” Now that Addie is in my arms, I nod at Sam, who starts to walk to the Cathedral. “Xavier?” I look up at him.
“What?” he snaps, pushing both Whitmore and Brooks to their feet with the threat of his gun.
“There’s somethin’ we want to show you first.”
At my words, Sam opens the doors to the Cathedral. Lights shine from cameras propped on two cameramen’s shoulders, and a woman in a suit jacket with a microphone stands in the doorway.
Behind them, there are at least three other reporters and camera men interviewing patients, taking footage of the horrible conditions of the Cathedral.