Page 70 of Bossed By the Orc

I dialed the number, but there was no response. I left a message on the voicemail as I got back into the SUV. Shaking my head at my brother, he sighed, setting his GPS for the second location.

“This one’s a little ways out of town, closer to the city, but I know that we can at least talk to the guard,” he said, sending a grimace to Kor and I.

I nodded, feeling that niggling sensation again. Tapping my foot, I pulled my phone out and shot my mate a message.

Dris: Everything okay?

Rega: Yes. What about you? How’s it going?

I could sense the worry in her message and decided to shake off whatever I was feeling. My mate was safe at home with her parents and we could deal with whatever came from the developers. The only reason we hadn’t gone to them right after the face-off against the bank was because we’d had to wait for the damn police to give us the papers to stop the harassment.

Now that we had them, I was impatient to give them to the developers, get my mate and return us home. I already had the paperwork started for a second home—one that was a little bit outside of the city—with less hustle and bustle, but enough space for our growing family. I’d even added an extra surprise for my mate.

“There’s something you should know,” Kor called from the backseat, frowning down at his phone. “I had an investigator looking into the developers.”

He had our full attention now.

“And it seems like they’re going by a new name. This is a company I’ve dealt with in the past, Dristan,” he said, looking up at me and shaking his head. “And it wasn’t good. They didn’t just harass people. I represented clients against them. It was a huge case, but we ended up losing because, in the end, the clients willingly signed away their homes.” He blew out a breath. “I tried to prove that there was harassment and abuse but none of them followed through with the police or even bothered to file charges. In the end, there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the people were coerced out of their houses. They were forcing people to sell the only homes they had for pennies, and then building hundreds of McMansions all stacked on top of each other to sell for profit. It’s disgusting. We couldn’t arrest anyone the last time, because we just didn’t have the evidence.”

He reached out to squeeze my shoulder and I braced myself for his words. “A few tried, but it was taking too long and they were tired of the harassment, so they just gave in. A lot of them couldn’t even afford to sue them after they lost their homes.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Enough stink was made that the company disappeared, but not before those homes were destroyed and warehouses were put in.”

He clenched his jaw, and I could see the frustration brimming in him as he continued, “They took a smaller sale price than they would have for the mansions and sold to commercial buyers just so they could get out of town, and off our radar faster.” He scowled, looking grim, but then his eyes narrowed in determination. “Now that I know it’s them, I’ll do everything in my power to take them down.”

I nodded, already dialing. When I finished my call, I turned to look at Kor. His brow was furrowed and he was fiddling with his phone.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded.

He squeezed his eyes shut before blowing out a breath. “They weren’t just harassing people with letters, Dristan. It got physical. That’s why I got involved,” he said in a low voice.

“They hurt someone?” My hackles were all the way up and I sent a message to my mate. “Who?”

“They started graffitiing homes and throwing paint on a few residents. Then some of them were being followed. One guy was nearly driven off the road. They were being stalked, called at all hours of the night.” he told me, meeting my worried gaze. “At one point a kid was taken. He was returned a few hours later and they never caught the kidnapper, but the only reason these guys weren’t arrested was because they couldn’t prove it. We couldn’t prove any of it. So they got away free and clear.”

My entire body went stiff and I started dialing before I could think of anything else. We were almost to the office, but it didn’t matter. I needed to know she was safe.

When she didn’t answer, my blood ran cold.

Chapter Forty

Penelope

I put my phone down after Dristan sent his last message, taking a deep breath. He was more than capable of handling anything legal the idiot developers threw his way. Plus, Rudgar was there in case he needed anything and his lawyer friend could get them out of jail if it came to that.

Please, Gods, don’t let it come to that.

I was certain that this would be a quick fix. Once the company knew that our house was now officially paid off—which I was still very suspicious of—then they’d just leave us alone. I left my phone on the kitchen table, certain I would fall down a rabbit hole of worry if I kept checking it for updates from him.

He wasn’t a chatty male on a good day and he couldn’t be counted on for dozens of texts. Still, he was mine and I loved him. With a grin on my face, I settled on the arm of the sofa where my parents were snuggled together watching my mom’s favorite show.

She’d just taken her medicine and that was when she always felt her weakest. My dad took that time to smother her with affection and she adored every moment of it.

“Is everything okay with our future son-in-law?” my mom teased, smiling up at me.

I grinned, not even trying to hide how happy I was with my mate. “He’s good. Just checking in and being overprotective as usual.”

“You’ll appreciate the overprotectiveness when you have children of your own,” Dad chuckled, wagging his finger at me. “Then there’ll be some karma for all the times you’ve given us hell.”

“So never then,” I sniffed, shoving them around so I was snuggled against them.

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