Chapter 41 #2
“There’s nothing in there,” he says sullenly. “It’s just…it’s empty. I…I had…nothing…nothing’s in there.”
We figured he’d try to deny it, so I holster my weapon and pull out my spare lock picking kit and get to work. Chance said it took him about ten minutes to open it, but I get it unlocked in less than two. I’ll have to show Golden how to work faster.
Pulling the door wide, I watch the lights go up and the same sights Chance captured in his photos greet me.
I turn slowly to Charles, glaring down at him. I can practically feel my blood pressure rising.
This is the kind of man Summer would have been given to, and she’d have been sold to the highest bidder. He’s the type of man that sees humans as fucking property, as fucking dollar signs. It’s not enough that he has more money than God, but he has to sell people to get more?
His bullshit ends tonight.
“Now-now-now,” he says nervously, pointing to his closet. “That’s not mine. That was…that was—”
Quicker than my eyes can track, Knox pulls out Diedra, grabs Charles’s ear, and cuts it off.
Charles’s screams are loud in the enclosed space, but I fucking relish them. He deserves more, so much more, than what we’ll do to him.
“Fuck!” he screams, dropping to the floor and curling in on himself. “Look, I have money. Your-your-your friend at my computer will see. Lots of money. Let me live and you can have it all.”
“You can’t buy us off,” Pyro says, getting down on his haunches to press a gloved finger against Charles’s dripping wound. Charles tries to wiggle away, but Knox puts a boot on his chest, preventing him from shoving Pyro off. “The only thing you can give us is your fucking life.”
While my brothers make him scream in pain, I go into the small room, looking at the pictures on the cork board. None of them look like any of the women we set free in New York.
“Where are these women?” I ask, coming back into the closet. “Where are they? Tell me and they won’t kill you.”
Charles looks at me with hopeful eyes while both Pyro and Knox glare at me. “They won’t?”
“No. Now tell me. Are they sold?”
“Not yet,” he says quickly. “They’re in a shipping container.” He gives us the address.
“You got that, Orion?” I shout to the office proper.
“Got it. Checking it now.”
“On your feet,” I say, kicking Charles in the gut.
He doubles over, coughing up a lung, but struggles to stand and walk to the office. Pyro clips his feet from under him, and he stumbles to the floor, crying out as his face scrapes across the rug.
I want to put a hole in his head right now, but I’m curious.
Getting to his level, I ask, “Did you kill your wife?” His eyes bulge, but guilt clouds the depths. Not like he’s feeling any, but that he’s caught. “Why? Was she getting too close to your secret? Did she stumble on how you’re really making your wealth?”
He shakes his head, but I see the truth.
“You pushed her down the stairs?”
He nods, but still says, “She tripped. She drank a lot.”
“Did she find out what you were doing? Was she close to discovering what a piece of shit you really were?”
“I caught her in my office,” he says, a mix between a sneer and a groan of pain. “She was too close.”
“Hmm…” is all I say before I place the barrel of my Glock under his chin and cock the hammer.
Eyes wide, his voice trembles as he says, “You said you wouldn’t kill me!”
Smiling, I shake my head. “No, I said they won’t kill you. And they won’t. I will.” Then I pull the trigger. Blood and brain splatter on the wall and ceiling as he falls back with a thud.
Pyro glares at me, then at the blood running down his front. “Blood will never wash out of this shirt. It’s my favorite.”
I stand to my full height and look down at the man that made his son’s life hell by forcing him into a mold he didn’t want to be in and killing his mother when his crimes were almost discovered.
It feels unreal that this is over. From top to bottom, we’ve killed all the men in this trafficking ring.
I tip my head back, pulling in a deep breath. For Summer. I did this for Summer.
Knox rests a hand on my shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I rasp, emotion clogging my throat. “I am now. Chance is free. Wish I could have saved his mother too.”
Orion stands from the computers. “At least he’ll have enough money to fall back on. Dude is worth sixty billion dollars. His stock might drop when his crimes are exposed, but a good chunk of his assets have nothing to do with his business.”
It was Chance’s idea to leave the closet door open so authorities could find the files and pictures when they checked out the crime scene. It’ll get out that Charles was involved in human trafficking and his name will be ruined.
Chance doesn’t care. He doesn’t want his father to be remembered fondly. He wants him to go down as the shitty person he is, not some man that future business professionals will look up to.
Pyro looks around at the office longingly. “Can I please set it on fire?”
Knox pulls him out of the room. “We have to leave the evidence.”
“We can find another way. One small fire. Please.”
“No.”
They continue arguing down the hallway as Orion and I go to the closet and pull out some of the evidence, making a trail to the larger stash.
The boxes are filled to the brim with records of past sales. Some from almost ten years ago. He’s been at it for a while, ruining those young girls’ lives. Orion says he can track down the ones in the records, but doesn’t know how many girls we can find, if any.
I hate that Chance has to find his father like this, but he said he can handle it. I wish I could be here for him, but I told him to come to me immediately after cops let him go so I can hold him for as long as he needs it.
After staging the scene, Orion and I make sure it looks as it should.
“Time to go,” Orion says, inclining his head toward the door.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
After searching for this scumbag for months, it’s finally over. My case is finally done.
Orion glances over at me, a rare smile on his face. “You did good, T.”
Wrapping my arm around his shoulder, I hug him close to me. Orion squirms, but I don’t let him go so easily. “Thanks, Orion. We needed you during this whole thing.”
He scoffs. “Your boyfriend found the guy doing this shit, not me.” He sounds pissed, like he wanted it to be him.
“You would have eventually. I know it. Thanks for all you did.”
He grunts, but it’s his thankful grunt.
Knox and Pyro are at the bottom of the stairs, still bickering about setting the house on fire. When they see me, they stop and Pyro smiles. “Nice shooting, even though you owe me another shirt.”
Rolling my eyes, I muss his hair. He snarls, and pushes me away. “Thanks Py. I’ll buy you any shirt you want.”
“Let’s go home,” Knox says.
“I’m not leaving without my Golden.”
“I know. We’ll head out, but you wait for your man.”
“Thanks for coming with me, you guys. It means a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” Knox says.
“Anytime,” Pyro says, bumping my shoulder.
“I guess I’ll tag along for the next group kill,” Orion adds.
Smirking, we leave the mansion, our work here done.