Chapter 40
CHAPTER
FORTY
ALISA
Blood, blood, so much blood. My hands are protected by gloves and I’m using a serrated knife to skin Mitch.
I started under his clavicle and I’m working my way down very slowly.
I have a bad habit of dragging my hands down my dress to clean the blood off them, but I know there’s no way to salvage it.
Lyle is asking questions in his best lawyer voice, and a phone is set up on a video call with Hollis and my brothers beside me.
There’s also a hacker that Hollis says is better than she is on the call. We have a full goddamned village.
Whatever gets us what we need is fine by me.
“What do you get from giving Troy to Avery?” Lyle asks again.
It’s the only thing that makes sense if they’re working together.
“Avery’s hunting for alphas, and we know this from previous interactions with her.
You’re not slick, and my omega is on a mission to make you scream.
We just need to find a way to get you to say the right things. ”
“You have so much patience,” Hollis says. “I would have cut his knot off already.”
“Nah,” Oliver drawls. “She’s doing great. There aren’t any listings of an athletic alpha being sold on the black market yet. He’s been gone for hours. Maybe Avery has got a different angle she’s working?”
“Tick tock,” I sing-song. “We know you’re responsible for my alpha’s disappearance, Mitch.”
I frown as I hit some muscle under the skin and carefully saw at it with my knife. I could use a different one, but I like the way this one cuts.
“You’re a fucking psycho bitch,” Mitch growls.
“No…fucking…shit.”
Silas rolls his eyes and stabs down into Mitch’s foot. The screams are piercing and loud. It’s utterly dramatic if you ask me.
“Try again,” Lyle says smoothly. “Maybe you’ll get it right this time. You could have called Troy and simply fired him. Why lure him with the leaked photos of his cock?”
“I didn’t do that!” Mitch screams. “I really am fucking pissed about that. It was his ex-wife. I swear it was. Troy told the PR manager he was concerned that the bitch might leak photos of his rape.”
“Ella isn’t answering my calls,” Lyle replies. “She’d want to gloat if this was her. That’s how she works. Someone fucked you and you’re not even going to be able to enjoy a happy ending at the end of it.”
“Well I don’t fucking know. Stop! No! Fuck!”
Silas forces Mitch’s foot to lay with his sole facing him and begins to dig into it with his knife. Yep, we are speeding this shit up. It’s been eight hours since Troy was kidnapped, and I want my alpha back.
God only knows what Avery is doing to him.
“What do you know?” Lyle asks mildly, holding up a hand for Silas to stop. Mitch’s right foot is completely ruined, not that he’ll live long enough to need to worry about it.
“I…God, fuck! Dammit! ROA Pharmaceuticals sells street and mainstream drugs. She also sells people and has started going worldwide. I help with the shipping containers, and she asked me if there were any players who I wanted to sell,” Mitch gasps.
Silas nods and stabs the asshole’s other foot, waiting for him to continue.
“She said she wanted to see how alphas sold at auction who had exceptional athletic ability. I told her I’d see, but I really didn’t think anything would come of it.
When the photos were released, and there are actually several different angles, I called my contact and told her I had someone in mind, okay? ”
“You said ROA Pharmaceuticals?” Oliver growls.
“He did,” Lyle says. “You know it?”
“Fuck. Yeah, I do. That’s definitely Avery’s company. It’s named after her father, mother, and herself.”
“I can’t find any business listings under it,” East says. “I’ve looked.”
“Avery is a fucking ghost. That’s the problem,” Hollis sighs.
“How the hell did you meet Avery?” I ask, struck by the question.
“Her assistant went to a hockey party. She handed me a card and said her boss could assist me with anything I could dream up,” Mitch explains quickly. I suppose that’s what you do when someone is sawing through your skin. “The woman was high energy and professional. Her name is Tina.”
The name is familiar, but there’s too much happening for me to focus on it. My alphas also frown as they note the name before continuing on.
Tina, Tina, oh shit! Tina fucking Anguish. I remember getting the heebie jeebies when I met her. Now I know why.
“I need to talk to people who everyone else forgets to see,” Silas says. “We’re done here. Avery had to have looped the video cameras to keep anyone from seeing her or erased the footage and spliced it. Either way, Mitch is a dead lead. He should start acting like it.”
“End it, Little Fighter,” Easton grunts.
They’re right. Mitch has told us all he can. We’ll find a way to cut Avery off from Waterson Logistics later. Rory doesn’t seem like the kind of person who will allow this to continue once she knows about it.
In the meantime… I’m going to focus on what I can control. I dig my knife haphazardly into Mitch’s throat, not worried about style, control, or anything else. I just want him to bleed like a stuck pig and know a weak little omega is killing him.
He gurgles as he struggles and throws his head back, but it merely helps the knife go in better. He’s choking on the blood as his airway is cut off and I smile down at him.
“Frailty is misunderstood,” I murmur. “I’m smaller than you, and more likely to be exploited. However, I am not weak. Anyone can be bested when they’re tied up and helpless. No one is above reproach or invincible.”
“Everyone bleeds,” Hollis growls.
“Everyone dies,” Lars grunts. He’s been quiet as he’s been watching me, and I can hear the pride in his voice.
“The problem with thinking you’re the biggest bastard on the block is that you forget there’s always someone smarter than you.
No one is safe, not ever,” Oliver says, while I’m sending my knife deeper into Mitch’s throat.
I watch as the light drains from his eyes as Oliver continues.
“I’m going to keep looking, guys. Something will crop up. Stay vigilant.”
“Thank you,” Lyle says, retrieving his phone as he disconnects the call.
“My turn,” Silas says, scrolling through his contacts. “There was a woman Rosa spoke to when we were calling people to hire for the shelter. Carla… Fuck. What is her last name?”
“López,” Lyle grunts. “I only remember because she gave Rosa the riot act for working from bed. She does grassroots work for the shelter, right?”
“Mmhmm. I took care of the contact sheets and put them all in my phone for emergencies. I would say this counts as one. Let’s see if she can help. Here is her number… Hello, may I speak to Carla López, please?”
Silas quickly puts the phone on speaker, holding it just in front of him so we can hear her. Mitch’s body is cooling on the ground underneath me, and I look like a serial killer from a horror movie. Easing back, I sit on the floor, knowing my clothes are fucking toast and unable to care.
“Who is this? I’m working right now.”
“This is Silas Mayor. I work with Rise Up and have a problem I’m afraid only you can help me with.”
“That’s a cute compliment, but doesn’t mean much to me. If you really need help, call the cops.”
“You mean the cops who gaslight their own?” Silas asks. “We already did that and came up with nothing. My pack mate was kidnapped earlier today. No one can help us who is in a position of power. I need the assistance of those who see everything but no one notices.
“I have others who can help but it’ll take longer to hunt them down individually. I need a photo circulated. If someone sees anything, I’d like to be contacted. Don’t be a hero, don’t engage because these people are dangerous. That’s it.”
I chew on my lip as I sit in a dead man’s cooling blood, refusing to make a sound. Tears threaten to overflow my eyes again, because we still don’t have all the answers we need, and the light is fading from the sky. Time is running out.
Lyle and I can’t feel anything from our bonds. It could be that our alpha is too far away or that things are so bad that Troy had to shut down the connection. All we know is that he’s alive, because I would have felt anything to the contrary.
“What happens when I’m asked about a reward?” she asks.
I blink rapidly as I begin to self soothe by rocking, having a hard time believing she’s asking for compensation. However, that’s how the streets work. No one will stick their necks out without a reason. Survival is selfish.
I know this better than anyone.
“The sky is the limit,” Silas shrugs. “Everyone’s price will be different and I’m well aware of that. When you live on the street, that price isn’t always monetary. Murder is on the table in case you’re asked. Please leave my name out of it though.”
“You have a pack mate running for office,” she hisses.
“Hello, Carla,” Lyle drawls. “You asked about me? I will not run without my pack intact. I’ll sacrifice a lot for this city, but that isn’t something I’m willing to do. Please don’t ask.”
“I… I apologize for how that sounded,” she sighs. “Your pack and Rosa have done a lot for the community. It’s time that we help you in return. Send me the photo and I’ll quietly begin to circulate it. I don’t want to spook anyone.”
“No apologies necessary. I know this is a big ask,” Lyle says. “Any assistance you can give is more than appreciated.”
Silas says goodbye to Carla while Easton helps me off the floor.
“I’m a mess,” I sigh.
“I brought everyone a change of clothes in my trunk,” Doc says. He’s been inserting his two cents as necessary, but has been relatively quiet for the last couple of hours. “I’ll bag the bloody stuff and dispose of it.”
“I’ll call a cleaner,” Easton says. “None of us want to deal with this right now. We’ll clean up and head home to rest while I keep working. I have a feeling Carla is going to be a hidden gem of information.”
“We just have to use our resources,” Silas mumbles, shaking his head resignedly.
“What do the Five Packs do when things like this happen?” I ask, allowing Easton to pull off my gloves.
“They call us,” he says, leading me to the bathroom to hose off. “If I thought it would help, I’d get them together, but I don’t. We just have to fucking wait, and I hate it.”
Me too. God, do I fucking hate this. Tears run silently down my cheeks as I stand naked underneath the shower and use the handheld wand to rinse off the blood drying on my skin. I make sure to douse my face with water to hide my tears because it’s a sign of how helpless I feel.
They have no place here.
“It’s okay to cry,” Easton rasps. “I’m so damn angry that we let him walk out the door to speak to Mitch. Lyle should have gone with him, or we could have encouraged Troy to let go of hockey. He was already willing to do it.”
“Why do we need to let our dreams die?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“He loves to play, and he does so much good for others. Remember when he helped a little girl ice skate that’s dying from cancer last season?
She sat in a chair that could be used on the ice and giggled the entire time.
Troy was who she chose to do that with.”
“He’s incredible even without hockey,” Easton yells, making me flush.
“I know that. I didn’t fall in love with a hockey player. I fell for the alpha.”
“I’m sorry. I mean fuck, I knew him as a player first while we competed against each other.”
“It’s different then, isn’t it? You’re all on the same page of life at that point and see beyond the veil of popularity,” I say, smiling sadly. “Did I miss anything?”
“It’s all in your hair. Let me wash it,” East says, pushing his sleeves further up. There’s a surprising amount of toiletries here and he pulls my hair down and gets to work. “Guilt isn’t going to help, is it?”
“Nope. Besides, Troy is stubborn and talking to his team owner shouldn’t have been a big deal. We’re doing all we can, and have to hope it’s enough at the end of the day.”
“I know. It’s just fucking Avery,” East grumbles.
Truer words have never been spoken. Someone needs to blow her off the face of the earth. I won’t even be mad if I don’t get to do it myself.