Chapter 37
thirty-seven
Jo
Armed with the guns from the guards, Kole and Sam lead our group up the stairs. West brings up the rear, Hayden and I firmly in the middle.
I roll my eyes. Overprotective alphas.
“If Dad kept the same entrance to the basement after the renovations, this should lead out right to the kitchens,” Hayden whispers.
Sam nods once, slowly turning the doorknob and peeking out. “It looks like he did. And it’s empty.”
“Okay. Make an immediate left when you come out of the door, the hallway ahead leads to the foyer.”
Sam nods once, and we all move quietly, filing into the kitchen one-by-one.
It’s state-of-the-art—marble countertops, panelled appliances and a damn built-in espresso machine.
It has nothing on Declan’s pack house, but I can’t help but admire it as we sneak out.
I’m feeling pretty damn confident that we’re going to make it out of this kitchen undetected.
That is, until a shocked gasp comes from behind us, and we all whip around, our eyes landing on a woman who has come in through a swinging door.
Based on her attire, complete with apron, I assume that she works here.
She looks to be in her early fifties, and the roundness of her figure gives her a maternal vibe.
We freeze, caught red handed like teenagers sneaking out after curfew. Her eyes widen, and the bowl she’s holding drops out of her hand.
Shit.
If she decides to rat us out, there’s nothing we can do. There’s no way I’m killing an innocent woman to protect myself.
I raise my hands in a placating gesture—surely she can see that we’re all worse for wear and not a threat to her? My blood freezes as her mouth opens to let out a scream—but then her eyes lock on Hayden.
“M…Master Hayden?” she whispers, taking a tentative step forward.
“Georgina, what was that?” The Senator’s harsh voice comes from the room behind her.
Hayden’s eyes widen and he quickly shakes his head, his expression pleading.
Her gaze moves from Kole, to Sam, to West, then it lands on me. Her expression softens somewhat as she takes in the state of my face, which is already starting to swell.
“Georgina!” Dick’s voice cuts through the silence.
She clears her throat. “Nothing, Master Pierce.” Her eyes stay locked on Hayden as she lies to her employer. “I tripped.”
“Fucking clumsy fool.” His voice is exasperated. “Keep it down. I’m trying to enjoy my dinner.”
She lets out a quick breath and scurries to grab the bowl she dropped. “Yes, sir.”
She rushes to us, and when Sam and Kole stiffen behind me, Hayden glares at them, whispering, “She’s safe.”
Before we can do anything else, she’s in front of us, taking Hayden’s face in her hands as she turns him side to side, tears stinging her eyes as she looks him over.
“Oh, Master Hayden.” Her lips wobble, and her hands shake as she whispers, “You got so tall. What happened to the scrawny little boy who used to call me ‘Georgie’?”
“I’m still here.” He gives a watery smile. “Georgie.”
“How do you know she’s safe?” Sam hisses, moving next to me.
“Because she’s the only real parent I’ve ever had,” Hayden snaps. “She was there for me when my biological parents decided to tap out. She. Is. Safe.”
“Master Hayden,” Georgina takes a step back, looking at all of us. “What are you doing here? Who are these people?” My eyes catch on a shadow near her eye. Is that…?
“This is my pack,” his fingers lace through mine as he steps closer to me, “this is my omega, Jo. We’re scent matched. And Sam, Kole, and West.” He nods to the rest of them.
“Oh, Master Hayden, I’m so happy for you.” Her smile is near blinding as she takes us all in, but then she shakes her head, her expression going serious. “Wait. That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here. And why you’re hiding from Master Pierce.”
My eyes study her face, and it’s then that it’s unmistakable. Georgina’s black eye is covered with makeup. She did a great job, I almost didn’t catch it.
“We were brought here against our will,” Hayden says quietly, his fingers tightening in mine.
Her eyes catch on the still-open door that goes down to the basement, and then they widen as she connects the dots. “He didn’t.” She shakes her head. “If you want to sneak out the back, I can make sure he is none the wiser. Please, stay safe.”
“Georgina.” I step forward, putting my hand on her arm. She looks at me hesitantly, but doesn’t pull away. Tapping my undamaged cheek, I give her an understanding look. “Did the Senator do that?”
Hayden sucks in a breath as he sees it, and Georgina looks down in shame. “It’s not that bad. Please, I just want Master Hayden to be safe. If you leave now—”
Hayden lets out a strangled sound, looking at Sam. Sam looks between me, West, and Kole.
Before we found Georgina, we were going to leave the house and regroup before coming after Pierce. But now, knowing that an innocent woman is in danger if we leave him breathing longer than necessary? The stakes have just changed.
Without speaking, we all reach the same conclusion.
“We can’t do that, Georgina,” I whisper. “The Senator is a dangerous man. He sent people after us, and he didn’t care if they killed Hayden. I would suggest that you, and any other staff currently in the house…take the night off.”
Georgina’s face pales, but she nods in understanding. “There were two guards here earlier, and a scientist of some sort, but otherwise, it’s just me.”
“They are already taken care of,” Kole rumbles.
She gives a shaky nod, before taking a step back.
“I would get out of here if I were you,” West says gently. “We’ll take good care of Hayden.”
“Georgie…” Hayden sighs, before letting go of my hand and wrapping his arms around her. My heart clenches as he presses a quick kiss to her cheek, and steps back. “Stay safe.”
She nods once before hurrying past us, grabbing her purse and coat from a hook near the kitchen door.
She gives Hayden one last look before she disappears, and Hayden’s shoulders slump.
“I never thought I’d see her again,” he says quietly.
“I assumed that she left when he sent me to Thornfield, since she always said she stayed for me.”
“Maybe your daddy has somethin’ on her,” I muse. “I’m sure she’ll be better off once he’s taken care of.”
He swallows, his throat bobbing. “I know he needs to die. I know he hates me, and couldn’t care less about whether I live or die outside his own self-serving agenda. But…he’s still my dad.”
“I know, Darlin’,” I squeeze his hand. “My offer to kill him for you still stands.”
“Georgina!” I startle at the sound of Dick’s voice, angrily calling from the other room. “I need more brandy.”
The guys and I exchange a panicked look, and I clear my throat, doing my best to get rid of my accent and sound proper. “One minute, Master Pierce!”
The guys look at me with various looks of astonishment, and I give a panicked shrug. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Hayden goes over to the liquor cabinet and pulls out a half-full bottle of brandy. “I say we give it to him.”
Heart pounding, I walk through the door to where the Senator is having his dinner, and breathe a mental sigh of relief when he’s sitting at a table, facing away from me.
I’m gripping the brandy by the neck of the bottle, and when he hears the door swing, he huffs, raising his empty glass, his eyes on the TV across the room.
“It’s about time, Georgina. I swear to fuck, if you don’t get it together I’ll make it so you can’t walk for a week.”
Grinning, I lean in close to his ear. “You really should be kinder to your staff, Mr. Pierce.” Then, before he can react, I’m lifting the bottle, and smashing it across his head.
When Senator Pierce wakes up, he’s tied to his chair and greeted by the sight of me sitting at the other side of the table, all the steak knives from the kitchen embedded by their blades in the surface in front of me.
His plate, which had been filled with delicious-looking, tender steak and mashed potatoes, is on my side of the table. I wouldn’t touch the man’s germs with a ten foot pole, but what can I say? I enjoy a good power play.
The dining room is the perfect setting for it too, with a decent sized mahogany dining table, maroon curtains covering the windows, and gaudy furniture lining the room. The decor obviously hasn’t seen a woman’s touch in a long time.
That’s about to change.
While Kole, Hayden and I set up my perfect stage for a final conversation, Sam and West cleaned up all evidence of our crimes so far—the glass from the brandy bottle is now ground up and tossed in the trash, and our prints wiped from any surface we touched.
Now, with Hayden to my left, West to my right, and both Sam and Kole behind me, we present a united front as he stares at us in confusion.
He has blood running down his face, courtesy of the glass brandy bottle I smashed over his head.
The alcohol is soaked into him, allowing me to smell it from all the way across the table.
At least it’s covering up his offensive ashy scent.
“Senator,” I smile warmly, tenting my fingers in front of me. “Nice of you to join us.”
“I…” He shakes his head, wincing slightly. “What is the meaning of this? Where are my guards? Sinclair? Georgina?”
I start ticking off my fingers. “Dead, dead, injected with an unknown substance, and sent home for the evenin’.” My smile turns sharp. “I’d really like to know, Senator Pierce, when you sent out the order on me and my pack, did you imagine that it would lead to your death?”
Pierce pales, looking to Hayden. “Son? You can’t let her do this. She’s crazy—” His words cut off when a steak knife lands in the wood frame of his high-backed chair, right next to his face.
“Call my omega crazy one more time,” Kole growls, pulling another steak knife out of the table by its wooden handle and flipping it by the blade. “I dare you.”
The Senator swallows, his throat bobbing. “What do you want?”
“The complete instruction manual to this Prometheus’ plan would be nice.” I shrug, picking up one of the knives and using it to clean my nails. “For starters.”
He shakes his head. “All I know is that he’s developing the drug to nullify designations. Nothing else.”
I huff, stabbing the knife back into the table, making him flinch. “Well that’s not very helpful, is it? Let’s try again. How many members are there in your little Beta Liberation Union?”
His lips purse, and he shakes his head. It’s not an answer we need, because Declan has already uncovered the information, but it gives me an indication on how hard it’ll be to get him to crack.
Sighing, I tilt my head. “Here I thought we struck gold, but all we got is a little beta boy desperate to suck a pretend god’s cock.”
“Fuck you, omega bitch!” His face turns red as he struggles against his ropes.
“Nope,” I click my tongue, standing from the table.
“That honor goes to your son. Your wonderful, carin’, sweet, protective son.
” I make my way next to him, and squeeze his cheeks with one hand.
“He’s ten times the man you ever had any hope of bein’.
You say that alphas and omegas are oppressive, but you’re the one who hates him due to his designation. ”
“I can’t wait until alpha and omega scum like you are just like the rest of us!” His face is red, his cheeks squished under the force of my hold, and I can’t help but think how pitiful he looks.
“Oh, Dick.” I sigh, shaking my head before patting his cheek. “Even if he does succeed, you’re not gonna be alive to see it.”
“You’re going to kill me?” he cries, thrashing again. “Wait! I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Too late,” Kole taunts, taking the knife I had just used to clean my nails from the table as Sam hands him a vodka bottle. He dips the blade in the alcohol, thoroughly coating it.
“What are you doing?” Dick sputters, his eyes widening in panic as Kole passes the knife to West, who passes it to me.
“We’re about to take advantage of the fact that you spilled a bottle of brandy all over yourself and then left a candle burnin’.” I grin, watching as Hayden takes out his lighter, and eyes hard, flicks it open.
“It’s ironic, Dad, that the lighter you gave me is engraved, ‘Your Choice’,” he tilts his head, “when your choices are the ones that led you here.”
The flame engulfs the blade, and Dick doesn’t even have time to scream before the knife is flying from my hand and hitting him straight in the eye. He’s dead before the flames hit, the bright orange inferno quickly taking over his body.
Of course, with the knife sticking out of his forehead, the whole “left a candle burning” cover kind of loses its credibility, but I’m not about to burn my hand trying to get it.
“Shit,” I mutter as the flames jump from him to the table, where brandy had splashed when I broke the bottle over his head. We knew it would help act as an accelerant, but the fire is burning faster than I thought it would.
“We gotta go.” West grabs my arm, but Sam throws me over his shoulder and starts running out of the room.
But my eyes are fixed on Hayden. On the way he can’t stop staring at his dad’s body, or the pure euphoria and relief that’s emitting from the bond. The flames have spread to the table and the couch that was behind his seat, and the curtains are close behind.
I don’t know if it’s the work of the flames, or the fact his daddy is gone, but Hayden is stuck, entranced.
He’s going to get burned alive.
“Hayden!” I screech, but it’s like he doesn’t hear me. “Somebody get him!” My voice is shrill when Sam doesn’t stop moving. Kole reaches him, jostling his shoulder, and finally, finally he snaps out of it, shaking his head, and nodding to Kole.
I let out a sigh of relief when they both follow, and when we cross the foyer, now filled with smoke, a fire alarm starts to go off.
“Fuck, that’ll call the fire department,” West hisses. “We’ll have to be far away by the time they get here.”
We burst out of the front door of the house, coughing and gasping for air.
This apparently was not one of my more thought-through plans.
Sam puts me down, and I realize we are in a very nice neighborhood—like, East Coast nice. “We need to get away from this house,” I rasp, nodding towards the property gate. “Kole, will you help me up?”
It takes three minutes for all of us to get over the wall, and then we’re on the side of the road. We need to start running, but I have no idea what direction to go. Before I can voice that concern, however, an SUV comes rolling down the road.
“Everybody act natural,” West hisses, pasting a smile on his face. I nearly snort. We’re all red and sweaty from the heat of the fire, and I don’t doubt there’s soot everywhere.
But then, a voice that I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear again has me whipping my head around.
“Oh my gods, Jo! Is that you?” Adela, in the drivers’ seat of the SUV, gapes at me.