Rebellion of a Kingdom by G.N. Wright
Chapter 32
ELLE
We shouldn’t be here. Every other normal high school senior is preparing to go back to school tomorrow. Probably catching up on forgotten homework, texting friends to arrange catch ups and picking out the perfect back to school outfit. But not me, not the Rebels. No. Instead, we are spending our last free day before school starts, breaking and entering, stealing, and killing. So many fucking crimes I can barely keep up anymore. My moral high ground no longer exists, not when it comes to the Donovan’s and their band of sick little helpers.
Right now, Dr. Rolland Atkins is sitting inside his mansion. A mansion he got because he made money off of people's suffering. His pharmaceutical company was miniscule, a blip on nobody's radar until he met Elliot Donovan. He created a drug named Atkaprazole. It is known for treating heart disease, but what people don’t talk about is the fact that when you inject it into the system the side effects include loss of consciousness and being unable to move. All it takes is the right dosage and you have yourself a docile little victim, ready to play with. It doesn’t matter if you inject too much and it kills them, because all that will show up on an autopsy is a heart attack, which when they find heart related drugs in your system doesn't seem unrealistic. Helpful, lethal, and completely profitable. By day he heals people of their heart problems and by night he knocks them out to pass over to Elliot Donovan and his son. When Arthur ran my blood work the night we met, he could never make sense of what he found. Not until we started digging up everything on Elliot and his men. That’s when things started to slot into place.
All of that and more landed the esteemed Dr. Atkins a place on my revenge list. So here we sit, watching, waiting. Readying ourselves for the next step of revenge. Max and his team are getting ready to break into the building of Atkins Incorporated. They are going to burn it down until it’s nothing but ash. Elijah and Lincoln have already hacked into his accounts and rendered his insurance policies useless. Not that he is going to be alive to know any of this. The burner phone buzzes in my pocket and I know it’s showtime.
I look to Marcus and nod and he does the same. We push up and over the wall, followed by Lincoln, Jace and Tyler. Asher is our distraction tonight, he, like the absolute fucking psycho he is, just drove through the front gates. When he told me his plan, I thought he was insane, but it’s actually kind of genius. It doesn’t matter what he has done, in this town he is still a Donovan. Royalty by name and nature, meaning when he knocks on Rolland Atkins’ door, he will swing it right open, giving us the chance to slip in the back, undetected.
We make it easily and quietly to his back porch, where he has conveniently left his patio doors wide open. Dare anyone have the audacity to try to break into his house. I note the cigar in the ashtray and the empty tumbler on the table. Like he was having a pleasant quiet evening that has just been interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Isn’t that nice? I love ruining someone’s night and their fucking life. We slip inside silently and hear Asher's voice filtering from the next room.
“My father doesn’t know I’m here.”
“I thought as much,” Rolland responds. “What can I do for you, my boy?” My lips curl in disgust at his tone. Patronizing fucker.
“It’s what I can do for you actually,” Ash replies coolly.
I follow their voices to Atkin’s office; the door is slightly ajar, giving me a clear sight of Asher. Sensing my presence his jaw tightens, and his hands clench into fists. He’s holding himself back, stopping himself from ending Atkins by his own hands. He knows I can do it, that I want to do it, but he still thinks I shouldn’t have to. He would take pleasure in taking out every one of my enemies without remorse and so would the guys beside me.
“And what’s that?” Atkins asks and I can hear the smile in his voice, like the thought that Asher could possibly offer him anything, is laughable. We shall see who’s laughing soon.
I push the door open, letting it bang against the wall, alerting him to my arrival. His head snaps around as I reach behind me and pull the tranq gun from my waistband. Watching his face fall from smug arrogance to recognition and fear thrills me. I lift the gun and shoot it directly into his thigh before he can even move. It’s got a small dose of his favorite drug, not enough to knock him out completely, but it will keep him compliant enough until we can get him tied up.
The guys filter in behind me as Asher catches Rolland and lowers him into his chair. Lincoln moves to help him before he pushes past them to hack into his computer, no doubt downloading everything. Ash makes quick work of tying him up just as Marcus opens the plastic sheeting and spreads it across the floor. Jace and Tyler stand silently watching us work in unison. Once we have Atkins where we want him, we wait. Only a couple of minutes pass before he is pretty much fully lucid again.
When his eyes collide with mine, I offer him my most sinister smile. “Dr. Atkins, we’ve never officially been introduced, I’m Elle King.” His eyes track my movements and I note him taking in the wall of muscle behind me, He knows he’s fucked, but they always try anyway right?
“What the fuck is this? Don’t you know who I am?” He slurs out and I laugh. It’s always the same. I pull my knife from my thigh and run my fingertips along it as I settle my other hand to lean against the gun on my side. His eyes flare wide and his bravado from a second ago begins slipping as I step up in front of him.
“Anything you want, just take it.” He manages to stutter out and I can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of me again.
“Is that your life motto Dr. Atkins? Anything you want you just take?” I spit out dragging my knife lightly down his shirt. Not enough pressure to do any damage, but enough to have him squirming in his seat.
“I never meant...” He starts, but I hold my hand up to stop him.
“You can save the excuses and the lies. I know everything. Every sordid little thing you’ve ever done. From the bad batches of drugs that killed people to the type of fucking porn you watch. So please don’t annoy me further by lying to me. This isn’t an interrogation.”
“Then what is it?” He asks nervously again looking at the guys over my shoulder. I wish he would stop that. The real threat is standing right in front of him. The lack of respect pisses me off, so naturally, I stab him. “It's retribution,” I grit as my knife plunges into that spot I love so much in a man's thigh. He screams out in agony and it releases the tension in my shoulders. I really needed this.
“This won’t be bloody, she said,” Tyler snorts from behind me and I flash him a grin.
“Oops?” I say with a shrug and he just laughs. “You’re right though, we should get a move on.” We don’t have the luxury of time on our hands tonight. Once his building is set alight it won’t be long before someone comes looking for him. Not that they’ll find him, but still, it’s best to be quick. I pull the other tranq gun from my waist and don’t hesitate as I slam it into his other thigh. This dose a lot deadlier than the last.
I watch his body react and my grin gets bigger. “I imagine right now you feel your legs and arms getting heavy, you want to move them, but you can’t. Your head will get fuzzy soon, you'll start to slip in and out of consciousness, until eventually you blackout. Don’t worry though it won’t kill you.” This would have scared him more if he weren’t already bleeding out, but oh well. What’s done is done.
He grunts as his body starts to shake, tears and sweat pouring down his face. “What's the matter Atkins? Don’t you love the rush? Aren’t you getting off on it? Or is the high not the same when you are on the receiving end of it?” I purposely bait him as his eyes begin to roll back into his head. He’s fighting it, or at least trying to.
I watch as his body slowly starts to shut down, but I can’t let him die. I hold my hand out to Marcus and he hands over the syringe I asked him to bring. This one is filled with adrenaline, and I pump it straight into Atkins. Time may be off the essence, but I like my enemies to suffer too much for a quick death. I don’t deserve this death, but so many others do. So many people have been hurt by him, he probably doesn’t even realize how many. The adrenaline takes root, and his eyes flare open as his grip tightens on the chair. I can practically see his heart beating out of his chest.
“People like you deserve to die. You deserve pain and suffering. Not just for what you do to all those girls, but for what you do to the people who get left behind.”
He gurgles as he tries to talk, but it’s just gibberish that makes no sense, getting lost in the choked sob he lets free.
“Pathetic.” I want to end him. Want to take my knife and sink it right into his fucking chest until it meets his heart. The only thing stopping me is the resentment and grief I can feel burning through my back. He deserves this more than I do. I shake my head giving Atkins one last look before I turn and walk over to Jace and hand him my gun. “He's all yours.”
He looks at me as he grips the gun, clasping his hand around it. He doesn’t have to say anything, I can see all the thanks I need right there on his face. This isn’t going to heal him, help him get over losing Rachel, or lessen the grief he feels. It will just allow him the pleasure of knowing he took out one of the people responsible for her death, If there is only one thing I could ever offer him, this would be it.
I leave the room just as the gunshot echoes out behind me, and instantly feel overwhelmed with a sense of pride. Jace didn’t even hesitate to pull that trigger, and that’s how I know that he’s going to be OK. We all are. One way or another, we will make it through this, together.