Tick, tock, tick, tock, is there any time left on the clock?
EVEN THOUGH THE PAPER SHOULD have been smooth as silk in my hands, it felt razor-sharp against my skin. Aside from Eric and whatever fucking ridiculous drugs he was on to think a cutesy note like this one was the way to go, the meaning was still serious. They had my Alex, and they didn’t just have her as a bargaining chip—not that I suspected they would. They’d seen me be ruthless too many times, cried at the hands of my savagery themselves on too many occasions, and they didn’t mean to maim. They meant to kill.
I only hoped their stupidity and need for show would give me enough time to alter Alex’s foretold fate.
I’d been in touch with Cal several times since boarding my plane back from DC, but he hadn’t given me much information. I hoped desperately that it was because he didn’t have it—and not for some bullshit reason about me keeping my cool. When the only woman you’ve ever loved was with men who hated you, hated her, and were too stupid to be afraid to act on it, it wasn’t the time to keep your cool.
You raged, you plundered, you killed and threatened, anything you had to do to make sure she came out of it alive.
Nonetheless, we were finally on our way to my Alex. Harrison and Damien had followed every lead on every safe house we had and had come up with nothing.
It was only when Cal finally went back to my apartment, set to retrace her steps and do his best to trail her, that he noticed the package he’d gone down to get sitting on the counter.
I didn’t often receive packages at my home because I made it a point not to divulge my address. But neither Cal nor I had been clearheaded enough during our first conversation to realize what an anomaly it was. Now, the package opened and nothing more than a clock with an address on the back and this note inside, we barreled toward our destination at high speed.
And thanks to friends in high places, we even had a police escort—the police chief, at that.
He probably wouldn’t appreciate what I planned to do when I got there, though.
“Easy,” Cal murmured as I crumpled the note into a ball so tight I expected it to spontaneously combust.
“Fuck easy,” I said back. “They’re going to fucking suffer.”
“Come on, Matt. I know they’re going to fucking suffer. I’ll help you make them suffer. I might even exhume their bodies and make them suffer again. I’m just reminding you to be smart about it.”
“You think you have to remind me?” I snapped.
“I think Alex is the kind of woman that you lose your head over, and with good reason. I think she’s the kind of woman you feel about rather than think. And I think I care enough about both of you to watch your fucking back.”
I sighed. “Fine. If you’re going to be all fucking poetic about it, I’ll be smart. Jesus.”
“Good. Now get ready. We’re only two minutes out. Chief Kerik is set to pull off in thirty seconds, and from there, we’re on our own.”
“Good. He’s not going to want to see this part anyway.”
“Yeah, I think he understood that after one look at your face. If I didn’t know you, I’d be pissing myself just looking at you.”
“Enough telling me you love me, Cal. Just drive.”
“I don’t have to.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we’re here.”
I looked out the window immediately, the big, run-down warehouse dark on the outside with lights shining brightly from inside. It’d be time for sunrise in a few hours, and part of me wished with its arrival, the sun would wash away everything that had transpired in its absence.
“Let’s go,” I said, jumping from the car before Cal could try to talk me out of it and into focus.
I moved quickly but quietly, taking cover on the side of the building to survey the surroundings before making any moves to breach the inside. Damien and Hare came out of the darkness.
“No one outside,” they told me, evidently having gotten here and done surveillance first. I glared at Cal. He’d obviously held on to knowledge of the note for a little while.
He shrugged.
“It’s like they want you to come inside,” Hare observed. “Probably a setup.”
“I’m sure. But there’s no way I’m letting my dick swing out here while Alex is in there suffering or worse.”
Damien’s jaw went hard. “We’ll go in together. Hare and I will each take out Mickey and Jaybird. Cal can handle the three underlings if they’re there, and you can deal with Eric.”
“Fine,” I grunted. Anything to get the fuck inside.
After a brief argument, everyone but me decided I should go in last.
“I’m really hating this democracy bullshit,” I muttered, and Cal, the asshole, had the audacity to laugh.
“I just bet you are.”
“Let’s go.”
As a group, we moved to the door, listening briefly for activity on the other side before storming it at once.
My ears rang as a cacophony of gunfire roared out inside the oversized, empty space, and everything slowed down to hyperawareness. Mickey and Jaybird went down nearly immediately, the thud of their bodies barely breaking through the remaining gunfire, and Bobby, Diamond, and Spade didn’t even get their guns out before hitting the ground. Jesus Christ, Cal was one ridiculous son of a bitch.
All of their guns swung to Eric as they realized I hadn’t taken him out.
“Wait,” I commanded.
Eric’s smile was evil as he looked from me to a lifeless-looking Alex. Her blond hair hung in big curls and her face seemed peaceful, but the rest of her sagged and sank in the chair like she’d crumble at any minute. I found instant relief from the rise and fall of her chest. It was slow. But it was there. Time was still on my side.
“Why?” I asked, one word voicing the only thing I cared about from Eric fucking Queen. This was about more than simple power. I didn’t know what, but I knew it was something.
Eric’s smile turned bitter. “Because I should have been you.”
I rolled my eyes, and he shouted, “Fuck you! I should have been you, you piece of shit. Little Matty Hadder, perfect son to John. You don’t know what it was like to be the son he hid.”
Cal laughed. “You’re not John Hadder’s son.”
“Yes, I am,” Eric disagreed as I studied the familiar lines of his face in a new light. His stature was much smaller than mine or John’s, no doubt a trait of his mother, but something dangerously similar to my father lived in the line of his jaw. “My mother was upper-class, young. The complete opposite of your fucking whore of a mother,” he spat directly toward me. “They were together once, but according to her, John thought I was better off outside of Wonderland. He felt like my mother and her wealthy family could provide me with a better life than he could—normal.” He laughed harshly. “Whatever the fuck that means. But then he finds out Matt’s trashy mom killed herself, and all of sudden you’re the son he never had. Because he fucking pitied you, and the fact that your whore of a mother couldn’t even keep herself alive, you became the gold fortune, the one he’d groom to take over Wonderland. But it should have been me. It should have fucking been me!”
“I knew you were his son,” I lied, knowing nothing would hurt Eric more than to feel even more worthless than he already did. “But John hated you. Always did until the day he died.”
“Fuck you!”
“No, Eric. Fuck you. Why do you think he wanted to keep you out of the organization so badly?” His eyes glistened. “It wasn’t for your benefit. It was for his. I only took you on because I felt bad for you. Fucking pathetic Eric Queen.”
He made a sudden move toward Alex, and a single shot rang out. I’d finally made my move.
But it wasn’t the kill shot. He needed to suffer.
Blood oozed from his shooting hand as he lay on the floor and cradled it, and Cal was on him in a second. Landing a kick to his ribs about a millisecond after kicking his gun away.
And now, I had a choice. Stay there with Eric, torture him until I could see straight again, until all the blood left his fucking body. Or leave with Alex and get her help.
Good thing Cal was handy with a pipe wrench.