91. Vox Moretti #2
Back in the church, Ronan was already getting to work on the bodies. He had all three of them lined up in the hall now, and Logan was scolding him for not moving them onto a plastic tarp first.
“You’re getting blood everywhere, Shorty! We’re gonna be here all fucking night.”
Ronan just laughed and maniacally yanked the cord on the chainsaw. The motor roared to life, and I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I approached Cassandra.
“You have things under control here?” she asked, and I gave her a flat look, jerking my chin toward Logan and Ronan, who were now wrestling over the active chainsaw.
Does it look like I have shit under control? Jesus fucking Christ.
Why was every job I did with these people a fucking circus?
Cassandra glanced over her shoulder and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“I see your point.” She rolled her eyes with a huff before turning back to me.
“Well, at least Ronan seems… enthusiastic. I’ll see what I can do to help his friend out so I can return the favor.
I think Nolan has a minor in property law.
I’ll ask him if he knows anything about setting up a zoo or whatever harebrained scheme they’re trying to pull off. ”
I shrugged, not really giving a fuck about Micah’s zoo.
I still had a lot of work to do.
While Logan and Ronan took care of the bodies, I needed to wipe all the security footage and send a couple of emails from the reverend’s account to ensure none of his ‘friends’ came looking for him when he suddenly disappeared.
I also wanted to take advantage of the fact that I had access to his laptop and servers, so I could do some digging into what exactly it was he’d been doing here.
Apex was gone, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that Damian had been at the top of that fucked up pyramid.
There was a new player in the game, and I needed to figure out who it was so I could make sure none of this shit came anywhere near Naomi.
“Thanks,” Cass said, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced at her to find her looking at me with a dark look in her eyes I was all too familiar with.
You didn’t get that look living a gold-touched life. It was a look only people who’d lived through horrible shit seemed to get, and I knew that, because I often caught myself with the same darkness in my eyes whenever I caught sight of my reflection.
Nodding, I reached into my pocket and handed her the keys to my car.
She took them, but she paused before turning to leave.
“One more thing.”
I raised an eyebrow, cocking my head to the side.
Her lip curled in a tiny scowl as she looked me up and down.
“I’m grateful for your help with this… But… Stay the fuck away from my sister. I’d hate to have to kill you.”
A burst of air puffed out of my lips, and if I could have laughed, I would have.
It was cute, really, that she thought she could kill me.
Cassandra was one of the scariest people I’d ever met, and I would rather not be on her shit list… but there was nothing that could keep me from watching over Naomi.
Not Cassandra.
Not even Cal, though my adorably excitable best friend was more or less oblivious to the fact that I’d been stalking his sister since she’d left for school.
The stalking was done in her best interest, but still. I knew Callum wouldn’t be thrilled if he learned just how deep my obsession with his little sister’s safety went.
Not bothering to give Cassandra’s threat a response, I just turned away and stalked back toward the reverend’s office.
Happily, Logan had won the fight over the chainsaw, and he and Ronan were now wrapping the bodies in plastic so they could dispose of them properly, and I knew they’d give me the space I needed to deal with the bureaucratic bullshit that came with jobs like this.
Wet work was a shitty task. It was laborious, messy, and not particularly rewarding… but if I had a choice, I would have rather been hacking up bodies with Ronan than dealing with the rest of this shit.
I wasn’t particularly looking forward to doing a forensic scan of a pedophile’s laptop, but it needed to be done, and I was unfortunately the only one here with the skills to do it… Well, Logan could probably do it, but I knew he’d rather be cutting up dead bodies, too.
They were doing me a favor here, so I wasn’t about to bitch out and ask Logan to switch with me. Plus, he was way better at managing Ronan than I was.
With a silent sigh, I settled into the reverend’s large leather swivel chair and opened up his computer, tapping in the passcode I’d watched him use a dozen times through his own security feeds.
The screen flickered to life, and I was presented with his desktop.
I was in. Easy.
The rest of this was gonna fucking suck… But it would be worth it if it helped me keep my little bee safe.
Before digging into the long night of horrors I knew I had ahead of me, I slipped out my phone and checked my tracking app, smiling at the little blue dot blinking up at me.
Good girl. I thought to myself, when it became clear she’d stayed in her dorm tonight.
Flipping to the live feeds I had in her room, a rush of affection rolled through my chest. She was already asleep, which meant she would be safe for the night while I was stuck here working.
Seeing her safe and looking so peaceful gave me the motivation I needed to finally click open the soon-to-be-dead man’s email and get to work.
Don’t worry, sweet girl. I’ll kill all the bad men so none of them can hurt you.
And though I knew it was impossible to completely rid the world of the type of evil I was up against, it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to fucking try.