Vengeful Soul by Emma Creed

“Does someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” I yell, as I charge into Jessie’s cabin and am greeted with four worried faces.

Maddy’s the first to speak up…

“Grace called me yesterday.” She looks guilty, and I’m already pissed at her because she’s not talking fucking fast enough. “Me and Ella were out at the time, and I didn’t see anything in it until I got home and thought about it.”

“What did she want? And why didn’t anyone tell me about it?” I snap.

“Well, you're being weird as shit about her. We thought you were trying to get over her, and like I said, at the time it seemed like nothing…”

“What did she want?” My patience is rapidly upping and fucking off.

“She asked me if I’d done any hacking while she was here. If I’d tampered with any missing person reports, or media concerning her.”

“And have you?” I rush her to the point.

“Calm your shit, Brax,” Jessie warns me, stepping up beside his old lady.

“No, I didn’t have to, at the time I just figured we were lucky, but… when I thought about it.” Maddy bites down on her lip before she continues. “Brax, she had someone, a boyfriend.”

“I fucking know that.” Hell, I don’t need a damn reminder.

“Well why didn’t he report her missing? She vanished, left her cell, her car. Any normal person would have contacted the police.” I let it sink in, and realize Maddy has a fucking point. Why didn’t that slippery fucker report her missing?

“So I did a little digging,” she turns her laptop so the screen faces me. A company website shows three men outside a building. The much younger one standing in the middle, I recognize straight away. He’s the guy who left the house just before I took Gracie. He’s the man I took her back to.

“He works for the realtor firm where Grace’s dad and his dad are joint partners.”

“Okay, so her boyfriend’s an asshole, is that what you dragged me here to tell me?”

“Hear her out, Brax,” Nyx tells me, and I’m assuming he’s still the only person in the room who knows what it’s costing me to be here.

“Something felt off, so I looked back through the files on the laptop. I found an encrypted file.” My eyes dart around the table and I see the same worried expression on all their faces.

“What did you find?” I pull my hand through my hair just so I have something to do with it.

“I found another list,” Maddy says quietly, but not quiet enough for me to miss how anxious she sounds.

“Show me.” I look at Nyx, whose hand is squeezing Ella’s shoulder. I notice now that she’s crying, and as Maddy pulls up a different page on her screen and my eyes scan the list of names, my heart turns to ice.

Julian Lenard.

Followed by George Lenard. Both her boyfriend and her father’s business partner are on the fucking list.

“I got to go pick her up.” I back up toward the door. I can feel myself losing all rationality, and I can’t do that. Not until I know she’s safe.

“You want us to come with?” Jessie calls after me.

“Nah, I’ll call you if I need you. Just get to work finding out where that peodo cunt is. He’s going down first.”

“Brax, the names on this list… they’re even more established than the others,” Nyx warns, and Ella let’s out a painful sob before he kneels down to comfort her. Jessie nods his head to the door and follows me out.

“Judge Jackson was on the list, her step dad,” he tells me when we were out of ear shot. “Two of the names were the CIA fuckers you took down back at the safe house. I don’t know how they found her, all I can think of is that she was being watched and you were followed. What I’m telling you, Brax, is that you need to watch your back. There ain’t no room for rash decision making with this one.”

“I hear you, Jess, I’ll go get her, and when she’s here and she’s safe, we sit down with Prez and we make a plan,” I promise.

“Go pick up your girl, Brax,” he nods.

“She ain’t my girl,” I tell him, turning away and walking toward my Harley.

“Then why you heading for your bike? There's only one way to bring her back here and that’s on the back of it, stop bullshitting yourself.”

“Fuck you, Jessie,” I lift my arm up and flip him off.

I hate that the fucker’s always right.

The whole ride over to Woodland Park, I try figuring out what to say to her, but it’s hard to focus on that shit when you're tamping with anger. Deep down, I can't help being relieved that I have an excuse to bring her back to the club. She needs protection, and maybe, just maybe, while I have her there I might figure out a way to make things work between us.

I won’t be able to let her go a second time, not now I know how much it hurts. The only car on the drive is hers, so I let myself in through the front door and call out her name. When no response comes, I check the kitchen, before heading upstairs taking the steps two at a time. I find a cracked vase on the floor on the landing, and the pictures that had been so perfectly in line when I was here before are hanging all wrong.

“Gracie,” I call out again, checking her room, and then every other room this oversized house has on its second story. The more I search, the more worried I become. Rushing back down the stairs, I try the living room, nothing. Then her mom’s office, and as soon as I step inside… I know something is very wrong.

The room’s been turned upside down, files are open and paper scattered everywhere, but what has me fucking murderous… are the tiny drops of red that stain the carpet. I crouch down and touch the pad of my finger to the droplets, they’re still tacky, whatever has happened here hasn't happened too long ago. Anger shoots through my system like a bullet leaving its chamber. I pull my cell from my pocket and dial Jessie.

“You got the girl?” he asks.

“She’s gone.” I have to keep myself in check. “Get Maddy to send me the address of Julian and his dad's office, and I want his cell number. Meet me at that address.” I hang up the phone before he can try and talk any of his sense shit into me.

I pace the office floor, clenching my fists while I wait for the text to come through. It arrives a few minutes later, and the first thing I do is call the cell number Maddy has for Julian.

“Hello?” a professional male voice answers.

“You have something of mine, and I want it back,” I tell the asshole on the other end, and the fucker laughs, surging more adrenaline through my blood. But when I hear a scream in the background that has to be Gracie’s, that blood immediately freezes still in my veins.

“Shut up, you little slut.” A loud slam sounds in the background and her scream is silenced.

“You were saying,” he gets back to me calmly.

“You are going to die, very slowly and very painfully,” I manage to get the words out.

“I don’t know if you're aware of this, but I’m a business man. I give nothing away for free.”

“Be ready. I’m coming for you,” I warn, cutting the call.

“Shit!” I slam my fist hard so hard into the wall that it makes a dent in the plasterboard. I have to take a moment to compose myself. Just a few seconds to pull myself together, and once I'm seeing straight again, I check my cell for the address and head for my bike.

I watch the office block impatiently from the other side of the street while I wait for Jessie. If I have any chance of getting Gracie back, I have to handle this the right way. Racing in and decapitating ain’t going to get me answers. It’s only minutes but it feels like hours before I hear the two bikes pull on to the street and park beside mine. Both Nyx and Jessie look relieved to see that I’ve waited.

“You owe me twenty bucks,” Nyx tells Jessie, pushing down his kickstand and resting up his bike.

“What’s he doing here?” I ask Jessie.

“Like I was gonna hang back and miss all the fun. I’m your brother. I’m here to help ya,” Nyx cuts in, and instead of trying to argue, I nod back gratefully.

“So, what’s the plan?” Jessie asks, standing up beside me and looking across at the building.

“Gracie is with Julian, I called him, heard her…” I can’t continue talking because the taste of the words in my mouth are making me feel sick.

“So we need to find out where he has her,” Jessie gets on my wavelength quickly.

“The old man is gonna tell us.” My focus centers on the office doors.

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Jessie asks with a smirk already hitching on his lips.

“The only way we know how.” Dusting my hands together, I start making my way over to the building, knowing that Jessie and Nyx have my flank. The inside of the building is quiet and calm. That annoying soft music they play you when you’re being kept on hold playing in the background. The receptionist stands up on her feet when she sees us enter, her eyes stretching with intimidation.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” she asks, trying to keep a professional composure.

“We’re here to see George Lenard?” I tell her.

“He’s in his office, I’ll just let him know he has visi—”

“We’ll announce ourselves, darlin’,” Jessie winks at her, as he places his hand over hers, preventing her from picking up the intercom. She nods her head, stunned into silence as her other hand lifts up and points to the door on the left.

I lead the boys through the door and down the long corridor, until I find the one with his name plaque. Then, looking to them both, I check they’re ready before I kick through the door.

George looks startled when the three of us invade his office. He has that helpless panic in his eyes that me and Jessie have become accustomed to over the years, one we welcome with pleasure.

“Morning, Georgie, we're here to talk to you about your son.” I move forward, resting my hands on the front of his desk. Imagining how it’s gonna feel to slowly choke the life out of him.

Nyx sits his ass on the corner of the desk, picking up a paper weight and tossing it in his hand like it’s an apple. While Jessie rounds the desk and closes the blinds to the street outside.

“I don’t know what this is about, but you need to leave immediately,” George commands, trying to draw some courage in to his feeble voice, I guess the guy victimizes kids for a reason, he’d be no fucking threat to a grown man.

“Where's your boy keeping Gracie?” I narrow my eyes at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re talking about the agency,” Nyx says, smashing the paperweight hard on to the table and snarling like a wolf. This has to be fucking hard for him, having a kid himself. And as I watch George turn whiter than Mexican cut cocaine, I realize how grateful I am to Nyx for being here.

“We know everything, George. We also know that your son has Grace. What we don’t know, is where he’s keeping her. That… you’re gonna tell us.” Jessie spins his desk chair sideways, caging him in by holding on to both arm rests.

“And you think I’m just going to tell you that?” George's eyes flick from Jessie’s to mine and he braves a laugh.

“No, I don’t, that's why I bought these two with me. Take an arm each, boys,” I order, and a dark smile crosses Nyx’s face as he moves and takes one of George’s arms, holding it around the chair while Jessie does the same with the other. I step around the desk myself, standing in front of him.

I tilt my head and tick over all the things I could do to get him talking before I pull my knife from my belt. And starting behind one of his ears, I make a shallow incision, all the way to his temple. His blood drips off my blade and over his face as I follow his hairline, and I hold my hand over his mouth to catch his cries of pain.

“Wh…whhh…what are you doing?” he asks, when I take a break and pull my hand away.

“I’m peeling your face off,” I answer calmly, knowing he’ll regret his question.

“Is that even possible?” Nyx looks like he’s genuinely intrigued.

“Guess we’ll find out.” I shrug, before turning my attention back to carving George’s skin.

“Wait, wait I’ll tell you.” He’s clearly panicking.

“Go on.” I pause the blade against his torn skin.

“There’s an old abandoned mansion that belongs to Adriano’s brother.” His voice shakes.

“Write down the address.” Jessie reaches across the desk and grabs a notepad, then a pen. He pulls the cap off it with his teeth and releases George's arm so he can write. The old man’s fingers tremble as he scribbles down the address and I snatch it from him as soon as he’s done.

“We can’t finish this here, not with witnesses,” Jessie reminds me to keep my cool.

“We have all the evidence, we know everyone involved, and we’re gonna start with your boy. I think we’ll leave you for last,” I tell him.

“Run if you think it’ll help, but rest assured, we’ll find you,” Nyx threatens as he releases him, and we start making our way out the door.

“Sleep with one eye open,” I warn, before I step back into the corridor. When I hear Nyx catch up and snort a laugh behind me, I tip my head at the still unnerved receptionist and spin round to ask him what he finds so fucking funny.

“You gotta work on some new lines.” He shakes his head, still smiling, as he follows me out onto the street toward our bikes. Jessie works on the address, pulling up the directions on his phone.

“The old man’s gonna warn him we’re coming,” he says while he waits for his phone to catch up.

“I got that handled,” Nyx winks and holds up an empty syringe. “Gave him a little shot on the way out. He should be out for a few hours.”

“Where the fuck you get that?” Jessie looks surprised.

“You’d be surprised what Tac has lying around the studio.”

“Come on, we need to move fast,” I say, feeling a little sense of pride as I saddle my bike.

“This says it’s twenty minutes away,” Jessie points out. “You sure you wanna go in like this? We could call it in and wait for some more brothers.”

“And if it were Maddy and Ella, what would you guys do?” I ask them both. Nyx nods like he understands my point.

“Follow me,” Jessie mounts his bike. And I follow him as he pulls off, hoping to god that we ain’t too late.