Page 73 of Havoc

“Okay.”

“One more thing,” I said. “I suggest…creating an alter ego, because Rudie is the one who went through all this shit. Create someone else who can look back and shrug at all the bad shit that happened.”

“I’ve always liked the name Dell.”

“As in Rudelle…your name?”

“Yeah, I actually never liked Rudie.”

I smiled. “Okay, Dell it is. You’ll be great and when you get back, you’ll be as tough as me.”

“What about the Cordell guy?” she asked.

The guy was still going to be after her since he was promised her for his little operation. Hendrix was a fuckhead, but he did know how to make deals.

“It’ll be taken care of before you get back,” I said. “Leave that to me.”

Dell moved off, with just a duffel bag of her things. I didn’t want to break it to her that she wouldn’t see that duffel bag until the day she left the US for home. Let her have some peace in it all.

I stood with the boys, watching as she climbed the stairs onto the plane and disappeared from view. The stairs were pulled away and the door closed. As we watched the plane leave, we stood there silent for a moment.

We still had so much to do, and yet, this was a quiet time for us. No one was actively seeking to kill us.

“What now?” Hadrian asked, breaking the silence.

“Now…we track down Cordell Whitmore and shut down the trafficking ring he loves so much.”

“How?”

“We’ll figure it out, plus I don’t like people having their own businesses that could trump mine. If anyone were to have a sex trafficking ring, it’s going to be me and it’ll be the men being used.”

I got in the car and waited for Lennon.

Sydney was all mine and I was going to blaze a trail through her, watching as the city burned around me.

No one would escape my wrath.

No one would ever cross me again.

And if they tried…I’d wreak havoc on them and make them cry for their mummies.

“Where to?” Lennon asked.

“Cordell’s complex,” I said. “It’s time to wrap some knuckles.”

~

Cordell’s Complex

Cordell Whitmore.

Scoundrel and sex maniac. He brutalized women for the fun of it and he had his sights set on Dell. Not in my lifetime. She’d more than proved herself and I felt quite protective of my little dove now. I sat across from him in his office made up of black and silver furniture. He was just as sleazy as he had been back then when he first started out. His button-down shirt had the first few buttons undone to reveal an olive-skinned chest with a bush of black hair, a gold chain tangled in it. His brown hair was slicked back with so much gel; I could see it gooping at the ends. He had a gold ring on his pinky finger and a smile that told me he was pleased to see me. I couldn’t wait to wipe that goddamn smile off his face. Lennon stayed by the door so we could talk.

“Little Presley Witt,” he said in his deep, baritone voice. “I never thought I’d see you again, not after treatment with Jett Black.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” I bit back.

“So, it seems,” he said. “Not many escape Jett’s maniacal wife.”

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