Wrath
As I looked down at Mia, I felt a rush of emotions that I’d never felt before. When Mia’s call dropped, I immediately called Riley. It had taken three tries before he’d actually answered, and when he finally did, he was quick to tell me they were under fire. It absolutely wrecked me.
I’d feared for her safety and theirs, imagined the worst possible outcomes, and agonized over the what-ifs. But now, she was in my arms, unharmed and safe, and the relief was absolutely overwhelming.
It was at that moment I realized just how much she meant to me. It was an unexpected realization—one that I wasn’t sure I was ready for, but it was there nonetheless. I would do anything for her, including—and not limited to—ending her fucking boss and anyone else who tried to hurt her.
I thought back to my earlier conversation with the man I captured during the attack.
I’d taken him to the playroom, and it didn’t take long to figure out that the dude was a real sonofabitch.
He was on the slimmer side, about five-ten and a buck sixty, so it didn’t take much to restrain him.
I bound his hands above his head, then pulled the restraints taunt, forcing him to stand on his tiptoes.
Once I had him secured, I looked behind me, expecting to find Stitch, but he wasn’t there. It was just me. I knew then that I alone was the Satan’s Fury enforcer, and I wouldn’t let anything stand in my way, especially not some asshole struggling to stand on his tiptoes.
It was a painful stance, but he seemed unfazed as he warned, “You’re so fucking screwed. The whole fucking lot of you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yea-ah.” An evil grin crept across his lips as he chuckled. “You’re as good as dead.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” His grin grew wider. “They know she has the laptop. They know what she saw.”
“Um-hmm, and that's why they sent you. And that didn’t turn out so well for either of you.”
“You sound awfully smug for a man who’s about to die.”
I wanted nothing more than to put a world of hurt on this guy, but he was talking. In fact, he was telling me everything I needed to know, and I didn’t even have to work for it. So, I played along and cocked my brow. “I could say the same about you.”
“I’m not afraid of dying. Hell, I look forward to it.” His smirk faded as he told me, “It means I’ll be done with the likes of you.”
“A moment we’re both looking forward to.”
“They’re on their way back, you know.” He looked me dead in the eye as he warned, “And when they get here, they’re coming for you and the girl.”
“And who exactly is coming for us?”
“Oh, you know who. You’ve known about them for some time.”
“Them? You mean the fucking Demarco brothers.”
“Ding. Ding. Ding.”
“Garrett is a fucking Demarco?”
“Now, you’re getting it. Hmph. You’re smarter than I thought you were.
” We’d barely gotten started, and I was already getting tired of this prick.
He knew what was coming and was goading me.
And it was working. It was getting harder and harder not to just end him right then and there, and his maniacal laughter wasn’t helping matters.
“They got a lot of money tied into this operation. A lot of manpower. They’re not gonna let her or anyone else interfere. ”
“And which operation is that?”
“Not that smart after all,” he scoffed.
I’d had my fill of his smart fucking mouth, so I reared back my fist and slammed it right in his jaw, driving his head back with a forceful jerk.
It took him a moment to recover, and then he said, “She found Antonio’s pictures of the women.
We all know sex sells, and for the Demarcos, business is good.
Real fucking good. And they just got the biggest take yet. ”
“Take? You mean women?” I growled. “These are real people you are talking about. Mothers. Daughters. Children. Lives that you are ripping away.”
“It’s a flourishing business. And you best get prepared because the girl from the office is about to be put on their roster. Bet she’ll bring a high dollar, too. Hmmm, I’d like to get a piece of that action. Yeah, I’d fuck her real good.”
The mere thought of someone trying to harm Mia filled me with an overwhelming sense of rage and a hunger for vengeance. It was that hunger that had me reaching for my blade. He’d finally done it. He’d pushed me too far. I whipped it open, then raked the sharp edge along the man’s throat.
I could hear him gasping and gagging as I stormed out of the room.
I needed to get with Cotton and let him know about the exchange I’d had with our guest, but first, I had to see Mia.
I needed to see for myself that she was okay, so I got cleaned up and went straight to her room.
She was still pretty shaken up. And rightly so. She’d been through a hell of an ordeal.
I wanted to stay there with her and assure her that everything was going to be okay, but unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury. I had to get back to the brothers and sort out a plan to deal with the Demarco brothers once and for all. I gave her one last kiss, then told her. “I gotta go.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ve gotta get back and help the guys sort through some things.”
I could tell that she didn’t like it, but she didn’t argue. She simply nodded her head and muttered, “Okay.”
“You gotta know I’d stay if I could.”
“I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do.” She raked her teeth across her bottom lip before saying, “You’re the new enforcer, after all.”
“Oh, you heard about that, huh?”
“Wyatt told me this morning.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m still trying to figure out why you weren’t the one who told me.”
“I figured it would be better if you heard it from your father.”
“I would’ve rather heard it from you, but it doesn’t matter now. You have a job to do.” She inched up on her tiptoes, kissing me briefly on the lips. “Now, go and do it.”
“You gonna be okay?”
“As long as you promise to come back.”
“Nothing could keep me away.” I gave her arm a gentle squeeze, then ordered, “Now get some rest. I’ll be back to check in on you in the morning.”
I kissed her on the forehead, then walked out of the room.
From there, I went to track down Cotton. I’d almost made it to his office when I heard Rooster shout, “If you’re looking for Prez, I’m pretty sure he’s down in the workroom with Bones and Big.”
“Thanks.” As I turned around and started in the opposite direction, I told him, “You might wanna come with. I have some information you’re gonna wanna hear.”
“Sure thing.”
He followed suit, and when we walked into the workroom, we found Cotton and Stitch standing behind Bones and Big, watching as Bones worked diligently on the boss’s computer. “I hate to interrupt, but I thought you’d like to know that Mia’s boss is An...”
“Antonio Demarco.” Bones interrupted with a grumble. “Yeah, we know. I’ve been going through his files, and there’s some pretty crazy stuff on here. Looks like he’s planning to build a website on the dark web.”
“For trafficking?”
“Yeah, and God knows what else.” Bones looked over to me as he said, “I can’t believe that Mia was able to get her hands on this stuff.”
“He must’ve left it behind by accident.”
“Or he wanted her to find it, and it’s some kind of trap. He’s gotta know she’s got ties to us,” Stitch suggested.
“Yeah, but I doubt he’d want to put his business at risk like that.”
“So, let me get this straight.” Rooster looked over to Bones and then to Stitch. “You’re telling me that Mia has been working with this Antonio Demarco for all these months, and he’s not only cartel, but he’s a sex trafficker with his own fucking website, and none of us were the wiser?”
“Afraid so.”
“That’s some crazy shit.”
“Yeah, but in our defense, Mia didn’t want us to have anything to do with her work. She didn’t even want us coming by the office,”
Bones explained. “She said he was a private guy, and she didn’t think having us coming and going would make a good impression on him… She’s always been one to keep her personal life separate from her business life. It made sense, so none of us questioned it.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” Rooster sounded just as appalled as I had been when he asked, “But damn, brother. You didn’t even do a fucking Google search on the dude?”
“It was a mistake,” Stitch answered. “One that ended up being very costly.”
“I can’t disagree with you there.” Rooster looked over to me as he said, “So, you claiming her or what?”
It seemed all my brothers were curious about my intentions with Mia. I couldn’t blame them. They all knew something was going on between us. It had only been a few weeks, but I could see a future with her. “And what if I am?”
“Can you please keep track of your woman and make sure she doesn’t get tied up with the fucking cartel again?”
“Yeah, I’ll do my best.”
“Are you two done?” Stitch growled.
“Hey, you might wanna look at this.” Bones pointed at the computer screen. “Over half of these women are listed on the FBI’s Missing Person’s website. Some date back over a year ago.”
“So, the women in those pictures are the ones they’ve been trafficking?”
“Apparently so, and they’ve got more coming,” I answered. “My little chat with our guest was short but informative.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cotton asked. “What’d ya get out of him?”
“They know Mia took the laptop, and they know she knows what’s on it. And they’re on their way back, and they’re coming for her. Us, too.”
“So we’ve officially lost our upper hand,” Savage announced as he stood in the doorway. “The element of surprise has come and gone.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Let ‘em come here,” Rooster snapped. “I’ll put a fucking bullet right between their eyes.”
“I’m with Rooster.” I looked to Cotton as I told him, “We don’t need the element of surprise to take these assholes down. We just need to keep an eye on those fucking cameras of his and be sittin’ on go. The second their feet touch the property, we hit ‘em, and we hit ‘em hard.”
“Wrath’s right,” Stitch agreed. “We need to hit fast and hard. Don’t give them a chance to gather resources.”
“That’s if they haven’t already gathered them,” Rooster warned. “Sounds like these guys have the means to do just about anything.”
“There’s one way to find out.” Bones turned his attention back to his laptop. Seconds later, he’d pulled up the Demarco security system. “Let’s see what they’re up to.”
We all leaned in for a better look, and I was pleased that we could see everything.
And I mean everything. The Demarco brothers had a state-of-the-art security system.
They had cameras strategically placed throughout the warehouse.
Each offered a comprehensive view of a specific area, minimizing blind spots and maximizing coverage.
We’d hacked into the system weeks ago, and because of that, we had our hands on real-time monitoring and could identify anyone entering or exiting the warehouse.
They also had motion detection technology which would pick up on any movement within the monitored zones.
It seemed a bit excessive, but it’s what you have to do when you’re trafficking human beings on and off the premises. The thought sickened me, but because of that stupid security system, we had eyes on them—every single one of them. And not only that.
We also had recorded footage, enabling Bones and Big to go back and review every moment of every day—including the moment Demarco’s men were sent to get Mia.
Other than that, there wasn’t much to see.
Just a couple of guards at each location.
They were monitoring the grounds, but none of them looked like they were preparing for an attack.
Bones leaned back in his chair with a disappointed huff. “Where the hell are they?”
“Their charter flew them to Mexico. That’s a five to six hour flight. Depending on when they leave...”
“And that’s if they fly in. It’ll be tricky with the cargo they’re carrying.”
“He’s got a point there.” Cotton let out a breath, then said, “We’re gonna have a long day ahead, and I’m gonna need you boys at your best. Go get a couple hours of shut-eye, and I’ll keep watch.”
“I’ll stay,” Big offered.
“Fine, but the rest of you go.” He motioned his head towards the door. “If we see something, you’ll be there first to know.”
We all exchanged glances, and it was pretty clear that none of us wanted to leave that room.
But we knew better than to argue with Prez.
Besides, he was right. We were going to have a hell of a fight on our hands, and we all needed to be at our best. Sadly, there was no way in hell I was going to be getting any sleep—not when my brothers and my woman were in danger.
I had no doubt that the Demarco brothers had faced many adversaries, but they’d never faced one like me.
They would soon regret ever stepping foot in Port Angeles.
I’d make sure of it.