Page 88 of Royal Pain

Needless to say, there hadn’t been any sleep for either one of us after the attack. We’d been taken to a lovely cabin where we’dfelt safe, but it was different. Everything had changed. Maybe nothing would ever be the same again.

My brothers and some of their men were on the plane, Jeff and Ron from my end. We were landing at another private airport few knew about. Guards had already been hired by Jeff not only to watch the place but to guard it when we landed. SUVs had been rented and would be waiting, although they certainly weren’t bulletproof.

Jeff was doing exactly what he’d suggested. After the night before, I wanted the group hit in every single way.

I held a drink to my head, rolling the icy glass back and forth. I had to keep a cool head but a couple of drinks en route weren’t going to kill me.

Valerio leaned forward, glancing over my shoulder to where Evangeline was sitting. I’d arranged for her to have her favorite music. At least she had earbuds in her ears and could relax without hearing our conversations. I’d even turned her to face the other way. This plane had a bedroom in case she felt like lying down, which I knew she’d never do. Besides, the flight was relatively short.

“At least she looks peaceful after everything that happened,” he said.

I lowered the glass, nodding before glancing out the airplane window. “Peaceful. I don’t know what that means any longer. She’s unnerved yet vigilant and she will do anything to get her boy back.”

“I can’t believe you killed four men,” Braxton added softly, as if the woman could still hear us.

“I had no choice. It was kill or be killed. One asshole was strangling her. They want her dead, gentlemen. They couldn’t care less about getting her back.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to tell you when you called last night but we had a reply from the crazy boy.” Valerio’s eyes were twinkling.

“And?”

“He said we’ll never beat him or his family. That we weren’t the chosen ones and couldn’t understand.” Braxton shook his head. “There was something odd about the phrasing he used. He rambled on a little bit more but that was the gist of it.”

“It’s like they’ve been drinking some poisoned Kool-Aid.” I sat back in my seat, wishing I could be amused.

I glanced at Valerio. “But they want to run the world and are building the perfect followers. Highly intelligent. Well educated. The top leaders of industry. What do they really believe they can do?”

“Life without conventional rules for one thing.”

Braxton made some sense but at this point, it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t give a shit why they wanted to be controlling and just plain… weird. They were murderous individuals who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. It was just that simple. It had become our job to stop them.

“Incidentally, I had a buddy who rents out a house near the community. It’s secure, large, and has its own security system. We can start there.”

Valerio had always been the take charge kind of man. At this point, as exhausted as I was, I was grateful.

“Good.”

“I do have some news, but I don’t want you to say anything to Evangeline as of yet.”

As soon as he made the statement, I was sitting up in my seat. “What?”

“Damien has been spotted.”

I almost jerked up out of my seat completely. “Where? Is he okay? That bastard didn’t hurt him. If he did…”

“No. the good news is that it would appear our email had the effect we all wanted.” Valerio glanced over my shoulder to ensure Evangeline wasn’t paying attention.

“How did you find this out?”

Braxton now leaned in. “There were other ways to fry a fish.”

“What?”

“We not only sent in men as service workers who were qualified, but we also found a decent place where a good portion of the community could be watched, including the entrance. I have pictures.” Valerio seemed hesitant to pull his phone from his pocket. As soon as he did and had popped in his security code, I grabbed it, scrolling through his photo album.

When I pulled a closer view of the little boy, I took a deep breath and held it. He had little cherub cheeks and eyes the color of his mother’s. In truth, he looked almost exactly like her. What I could see was the same sadness in his eyes throughout the various photos, including one of his fucking grandfather holding him. The bastard of a man that her father was still floored me.

What I hated seeing were the horrible sobs as the kid acted like he was reaching out for his mother. Seeing Joseph in the background, the horrible scowl on his face was enough to push me over the edge.

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