Chapter 34 Kage
Kage
THE EXECUTIONER
Neither of us have said a word since we left Wren's apartment, both too blinded by rage to even breathe properly. I can feel it thrumming under my skin like it has a mind of its own and I’m just its vessel. Every nerve ending is screaming for blood.
His blood.
The second we saw Richard's face on the footage, everything clicked into place. He’s been circling her like a fucking vulture for weeks.
I don’t know how we didn’t see it. We were so drunk on the bliss of being with Wren and blinded by the jealousy of him continuously popping up like a damn jack-in-the-box to focus on what was clearly right fucking in front of us.
He wasn’t trying to steal her away to keep her to himself because he wanted to be with her. He was trying to trade her into the fucking skin trade like she was nothing but a slab of flesh with a price tag. A goddamn dollar sign he couldn’t wait to cash in.
Just thinking about what he wants to do to her, what those men would do to her, it has me vibrating with anticipation to tear them all apart with my bare hands. Feel their bones crack under my fingers and hear them scream as I carve every ounce of fear into them.
Lennox keeps his eyes on the road, silent but sensing the storm that coils inside of me. He knows me too well. Knows that there’s really no sense in saying anything to me to try and calm me down because it just won’t work. I’m well past the point of being able to think straight.
My phone vibrates once in the center console but I’m too focused on Richard to even think about answering it. It vibrates two more times and I snatch it up to check it in annoyance.
It’s Wren.
Text message.
Missed Call.
Voicemail.
Fuck.
Little Bird: Hey, I know you said to stay put but Retta is still out sick. I’m going to bring her soup and check in on her. I’m calling an Uber there but if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you pick me up on your way home?
Checking the time stamp, I see she sent it forty-two minutes ago.
“No,” I hiss, my teeth clenched. “No, no, no…”
I try to call her back, but it goes straight to voicemail.
FUCK!
Jimmy’s name lights up the screen and I answer it, putting him on speaker.
“Kage—fuck, man. I’ve been calling you for twenty minutes! Where have you been?”
I can feel Nox shift beside me, his hands tightening on the wheel as he listens in on our conversation, eyes flicking between the road and me.
“Jimmy, where’s Wren? Can you check the location on her phone?” I growl, barely being able to keep my shit together.
“Why? What’s—”
“Can you fucking find it or not?!”
“Y-yeah man, I can, but listen…I called about her coworker, Loretta. She’s been missing for two weeks.”
The words hit me like a fucking shotgun shell straight to the chest. This can’t be happening. Wren just went over there. She said she’s been texting her this whole fucking time.
“Nobody's seen or heard from her, I think the same people that got Chen got to her too.”
My hands shake, my chest tightening as his words fully register.
“W-what do you mean?”
“And Wren’s father,” Jimmy continues. “Edward Daniels? Turns out he escaped from prison two weeks ago. He’s been running under two identities this whole fucking time. Real name is Edward Daniels but has been going by the name of Dan for the last ten years.”
Dan. Edward Daniels.
My body freezes. The same man. It couldn’t be the same monster that touched me, could it?
Nox stomps on the brakes before my phone vibrates against my ear. Pulling it away, I see a notification from an unknown number. Panic courses through me, my fingers shaking as I tap on the notification.
Unknown: Maybe Big Man doesn't cry, but your girl sure does.
Wren.
Bound, bruised, and chained up like a fucking dog. My vision starts to blur, the adrenaline pumping through my veins at a rate I didn't think possible. Every nerve, every fiber of my being screaming at me, begging for bloodshed.
Big Man.
That fucking nickname. The same name Dan used to call me in the dark, when I would cry and beg for him to stop.
No crying, Big Man. Be good and keep your mouth shut.
The things he told me as he beat me to a bloody pulp for trying to stick up for myself. I slam my fist into the glove compartment, the plastic cracking under my knuckles, the sting barely registering through the wildfire of rage consuming me.
“Kage?” Jimmy’s voice comes through the phone I long forgot about.
“Jimmy, I need you to trace the last message I received from that unknown number. Get me a location,” I bite, barely being able to use words.
“I’m on it,” he says before the line dies.
Without a word, Nox throws the SUV into reverse, tires squealing against the asphalt as we spin the vehicle around, headed back to the warehouse.
I can’t think straight. My mind is a storm of images.
Wren struggling, the bruises, the chains.
I could see the fire behind her eyes, the part of her that refuses to be broken after everything he did to her.
Something inside me snaps. I will not fail her.
Nox glances at me from the driver's seat, his eyes telling me everything that couldn’t be explained into words.
They don’t need to be exchanged for us to know exactly what we’re going to do.
I take a deep, shuddering breath and focus on what needs to happen next.
Because rage alone won’t save her, but careful and calculated violence might.
We drive in silence, both of us lost in our own dark thoughts. Every plan we’ve ever made, every target we’ve ever tracked, none of it compares to this. She’s ours now, and I’ll burn everything and everyone in my path to get her back.