Chapter 41 #3
“Mr. Reid?” Officer Baylor groans, and I decide to take pity on him.
“I’m here,” I murmur, stepping into one light over the door. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks, I have a splitting headache,” the big guy groans. “Here are the keys. Do you need duct tape? She’s real mouthy, sir.”
“I got it,” Grant reassures him, a sock in his hand and a black tie to wrap around her face.
“I wish this was legal,” Officer Baylor laments. “This woman won’t shut up.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize to him, watching as they wrestle with my ex-secretary.
“No. No! Lucas, why—” her words become muffled as Grant shoves the sock into her mouth and then shoves the material of the tie in as well so she can’t spit it out.
After securing it around her head, Grant shakes his head.
“Will you judge me if I toss her over my shoulder?” he asks Officer Baylor.
“Not at all. She pretended her legs were broken while walking over here. I had to drag her most of the way.”
Paula looks worse for wear in the local lock up’s blue uniform. They didn’t put any effort in or care that it’s cold, so they’re a pair of shorts and t-shirt. She’s wearing a pair of socks that won’t prepare her for running in the forest either.
Unlike Miranda and Tracy, there is no possibility that Paula will be surviving the night.
Grant is rough as he carries Paula over his shoulder, and I pocket the keys to the handcuffs.
“We got her from here. Thank you,” I tell the officer.
“Not a problem at all. Have a good night.”
The door slams shut, automatically locking behind the officer. Trudging back to the SUV, Grant and I are silent as he opens the trunk and tosses her roughly in. Shaking my head, I watch as Paula begins to breathe heavier as Grant manually shuts it and we get back inside the vehicle.
“You’re a disappointment,” I say, finally breaking the silence as Grant begins driving. “I trusted you with my family, and you spit in my face. Isolde is my scent match and Grant’s soul bonded omega. Do you know how rare it is for that to happen?”
Isolde glares dispassionately at Paula from the back seat, already wearing her mask. It’ll glow in blue and red X’s for the mouth and eyes, and it's honestly better if Paula doesn’t realize who is watching her.
Grant is driving to a nearby park since that’s also where Alesso and Oli will be tormenting Miranda and Tracy.
It’s a large park with lots of trees, and it’s easy to get lost. The police actually find dead bodies of people who lose their way and die in the cold regularly enough for there to be warning signs not to enter after dark.
Yet, people do it anyway because they enjoy running at night or cutting through the park. This is going to work in our favor tonight.
Paula screams behind the gag, and I roll my eyes. I can’t see her from here, which I’m glad for.
“Trust is earned and easily destroyed,” Grant adds. “You’re not the saint that you project. Honestly, why are you trolling the dark web anyway? The money you called Ophelia for is never coming, and now you’re no longer employed by Lucas.”
“In case you were wondering,” I drawl. “Selling my omega is definitely grounds for termination.”
“She’s in love with you,” Isolde says. There’s a voice changer in the mask that makes her voice deep and raspy. I didn’t realize there was one when Grant and she decided to buy them.
Well, that’s neat.
“Why do you think that?” I ask, turning so I can see her better.
“Paula is possessive,” Grant replies instead. “She thought you’d go right back to work, and was pissed when you didn’t. It was more about your refusal to move on than the company.”
“Paula isn’t my type,” I say, making a face. “I’m sorry, but this wasn’t ever going to turn into some kind of office romance. I’ve been aimlessly moving through life trying to make a difference. I was fulfilled by work, but not happy.”
“I have a feeling that she didn’t really care in her delusions,” Isolde mutters.
Grant finds a parking spot near the trees at the park, and slides into it. Pulling on his mask, he hands me mine to do the same. We both leave the lights off as we shove what we’ll need into our pockets. I have my gun strapped to my ankle, a stun gun, and a knife in my pockets.
Getting out of the car, I smirk as I see that Isolde has a bat in her hand as she waits for me. It’s easy to hide in the city, and makes a great weapon. Fuck, I love this girl.
Grant hauls Paula to her feet and drags her into the woods while Isolde and I follow.
“Let’s play a game,” she coos.
Grant and I glance at each other and turn on our masks, grinning behind them. There’s a fucked up thrill to chasing and killing my ex-secretary. Maybe it’ll help with how upset I am at her betrayal.
“I’m all ears,” I growl.
“If you can get to the other end of the park, we won’t kill you, Paula,” she says. There’s zero chance of that. “Grant will even let you scream your little head off, but the cuffs have to stay on.”
“Ugh, she’s so damn loud,” Grant frowns, untying the black tie. “You can fish the sock out for yourself, Paula. Now go.”
Grant kicks her forward, and she goes flying, falling on her knees. Isolde begins immediately walking forward, and Paula scrambles up and begins to run away.
“Fuck yeah! Run little fox!” Isolde whoops, chasing after her.
Grant and I shrug and jog after them, watching as Paula manages to spit the sock out of her mouth. Grant scoops it up and puts it in his pocket because of the DNA left on it, continuing our pursuit.
“You’re slow!” Isolde says, throwing the fucking bat at Paula’s head. It hits her with a solid thunk, but Paula doesn’t stop running despite her cry. I lean down while I jog and grab the bat, fanning out so all Paula will see are the bouncing lights.
In the distance I hear yells and whooping while girls scream, making me chuckle.
“There’s no one who will help you!” I yell at Paula. “The only payment for your betrayal I’ll take is your last fucking breath!”
“Who are you!” she screams, tripping over a branch. She manages to keep from falling on her face, continuing to run.
“I thought you knew him,” Grant growls. “You love him, remember?”
“Enough to kill me for it,” Isolde rasps, making Paula shudder as she cries.
I love the power we have right now, the control over whether or not she’ll take another step or not. I don’t care if it’s fair or not.
Isolde pulls out darts and begins throwing them at Paula’s legs, crowing out taunts.
“What makes you think that he’d ever love you?” she asks.
“You’re fucking crazy!” Paula screams. “The world deserves to know that Lucas is a mad man.”
“Every company runs best with one,” I say. “I’m a mad scientist with a goddamned conscience, but not for you.”
“Lucas…Lucas!” Paula begs, crying harder as she runs through a heavy drift of snow.
The girls nearby are crying and screaming just as hard, but I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for them. Oli and Alesso are scaring the shit out of them. My empathy for these people died when I saw what the world wants to do to my omega, and how little anyone cares.
“Did you know that I was tased?” Isolde asks, pulling me closer to Paula with her words. My taser makes a satisfying sound as I push the button and the probes fly out to sink into Paula’s skin.
She flies forward as she jerks and screams on the ground like a fish out of water, and my lips twist in derision.
“Any money you may have will be going to the charity of my choice,” I snarl. “Your body will be thrown in the trash for the rats, and you’ll be forgotten quickly.”
“You can’t…survive without me,” she chatters,
“I already found your replacement,” Grant says, shrugging. “Everyone is replaceable. Except my omega and pack members. You fucked with my family, Paula.”
Isolde grabs Paula by the hair and pulls her up onto her knees, and Grant uses her face as his anger management. Punch after punch, I lose track as he breaks her nose and blackens her eyes.
Isolde pulls out her knife and Grant yanks Paula’s tongue out, while Isolde cuts it off. Grant pockets that piece of evidence as well, and we ignore the blood that pours from the wound. The weather said it would be snowing again soon, which will erase the fact that we were here.
“In your next life, I suggest that you stay away from omegas and their mates,” Isolde hisses. “Stay in your lane, bitch.”
Grant’s mask looks like it’s grinning wildly as he pulls his gun out and presses it against Paula’s forehead. If she was dumb enough not to be afraid of him, she is now. Paula sobs wordlessly as Isolde kicks her back, getting out her aggression.
I simply want to watch her die. Tonight, I’m removing one more person who wishes harm on my family.
“It appears that you lost our little game,” I say without inflection.
Paula struggles to get out, screaming as something slams into the wood beside her head.
“Just a little something to remind her to keep her hands to herself!” A voice yells, making me snort.
Pulling out the keys to the handcuffs, I wait for Isolde to move away so I can unlock them. Embedded into the wood is the fucking blade of an axe. I had no idea Alesso or Oli had packed that. Unhinged fuckers.
“Well this is fun,” I coo, jutting my chin in Grant’s direction.
Laughing, he puts away his gun and yanks on Paula’s arms so that she lies prostrate on the ground. If it’s going to snow anyway, we may as well have some fun.
“Darlin’, would you like to do the honors?” I ask, pulling the axe from the tree. “She can go into the afterlife without her arms.”
Paula attempts to buck her body up and pull away from Grant’s gloved hands, but I don’t see the point of her trying. He’s not going to let her go.
Isolde squeals as she takes the axe, walking over to leer at Paula.
“Girl code doesn’t seem to be something that exists for you,” she says. “You tried to steal my man, got me kidnapped, and allowed some of the worst things possible to happen to me. One action caused so much damage.”
Raising her arms, she slams it down on Paula’s arm, severing it completely. Thank goodness we brought the tarp just in case we needed it. There’s also a huge dumpster nearby. We attempted to plan things out well, and the rats will be tempted by the blood now.
The explosion of blood doesn’t faze me, not even when I step back and Grant slaps Paula in the face with her severed arm. It simply gives me a better angle to watch the look of horror spread across her face.
“You think you know who I am,” I growl, shaking my head. “You have no goddamned idea. There’s a reason that my pack consists of the people it does. Professionally, these are the unforeseen consequences to your actions, Paula.”
“Enjoy the termination package,” Grant murmurs, lifting his gun from where he’s crouched on the ground to keep her in place and pulls the trigger.
There’s a silencer on it so it’s more a puff of air than anything, but it still feels so much louder to me.
Taking a deep breath, I nod.
“Good riddance,” I whisper, pulling Isolde into my arms to hold her tightly.
“Ooh, you made a mess,” Alesso praises, sounding high on his adrenaline. That’ll make for an interesting drive home. “I’ll go grab the tarp.”
“I’ll come with,” Oli says, appearing behind him. “The girls are drugged and running into each other as they try to run. They’ve already cracked their heads into each other twice.”
Isolde giggles, shaking her head, and I can’t think of anything that sounds more beautiful.
“It’s supposed to snow, so maybe that’ll take care of them,” I say.
“Darwinian karma, I like it,” Oli says, making me shake my head. They’re definitely going to end up fucking on the way home.
Chuckling, I toss them my spare set of keys to the car.
“Walk straight out to the parking lot,” I direct. “Wait to fuck until we’re on the way home.”
“If you’re very good, you can spit roast me,” Isolde teases me, which spurs them into a run.
Grant pulls off his mask, amused as he looks down at Paula. Her eyes are wide open from when she realized there was no escape, but there’s no more light in them. What I thought was intelligence was actually calculated interest.
Cleaning up doesn’t take long once the guys come back, and I make sure that anything that we dropped is picked up.
Isolde holds onto the axe while Oli takes the bat, and Grant and Alesso haul Paula’s tarp wrapped body back to the dumpster.
Making sure the top is shut once she’s thrown in, we walk back to the car and wipe off some of the blood with wet wipes.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry Paula was such a shitgibbon,” Oli sighs once we’re back in the car.
“So am I,” I sigh. “I did hire someone else, but it’ll mean that I have to travel back and forth a bit more until my new secretary is settled in.”
“I’ll take that over Paula any day,” Isolde sighs, pulling off her mask. We all do the same, getting comfortable for the long drive home.
About half an hour into the drive, Isolde is looking through her phone when her head pops up.
“That motherfucker,” she breathes.
“What?” Oli asks. “What happened?”
“This is an engagement announcement in the Savannah Post,” Isolde mutters. “Something seriously has been rubbing me wrong about the client I fired. Nico is the one who sent me on a vendetta against Oli because he’s a smart ass.”
Oli mock bows with a grin and a shrug.
“I piss a lot of people off, Kitten. I doubt that’ll change,” he says.
“I just searched his name, and this announcement popped up. He has to get married in order to inherit his father’s inheritance,” she grumbles.
“I told him I would crash his wedding if I caught any hint that this was an arranged marriage. The dickweed hasn’t been in any type of relationship, and now he’s suddenly engaged? ”
“Sounds like you need a date for this wedding crash,” I say, prepared to be her ride or die.
Whatever she wants is hers.
“I need four dates,” she decides. “I heard Savannah is pretty in September. Nico is in need of another lesson.”
“Fuck I love you,” Grant says. “We’ll make it happen.”
He took the words right out of my mouth.