“Surrender,” I say, stalking toward her with my gun raised as Charlie takes down the last man standing. “Or I’ll happily let Manning put a bullet in your skull.”
Drew creeps up behind her, disarming her in seconds. “I would love nothing more,” he hisses, yanking her hands behind her back, slapping cuffs around her wrists.
“If I’d known you were into kink, we could’ve had so much fun,” she purrs, looking way too unruffled for a prisoner.
“Get out of here,” Diesel commands, racing around from the side of the house. “We’ll clean up, but you need to go now.”
“What about the slut?” Anderson asks.
“Put her in the van,” I say, tucking my gun into the belt around my waist. “I want to ask her a few questions.” We might as well try to get something out of her now she’s caught us in the act.
“I’m telling you nothing.” She flashes me an arrogant grin.
“Famous last words, sweetheart,” Drew says, pushing her toward the vehicle.
20
Sawyer
Johnson drives us to an outbuilding on the very far side of town. One they had scoped out before coming to Alabama, in case we needed a place to lie low. Or somewhere to interrogate a haughty bitch. Clever planning like this is why Diesel and his crew are worth every penny I’m paying them.
“Start talking,” Drew says when he has secured Alessandra’s wrists and ankles to the chair. We’ve already checked her for recording devices and weapons.
“Fuck you.”
“How original,” Xavier drawls, not lifting his head from his Mac. I know he’s embedding a virus into the camera system back at the house, just in case they had any backups.
“Shut your mouth, faggot.”
My hands are around her throat in a flash. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re a woman. I’ll snap your neck in a heartbeat if that word leaves your mouth again.” I apply more pressure to make my point before reluctantly letting her go.
She coughs, stabbing me with venomous eyes. “You’re very territorial about your ex-lover for a married man.” The knowledge she’s been keeping tabs on us is alarming if not surprising.
“Why weren’t you at the gala ball?” Anderson asks, tossing a knife back and forth in his hand.
“I was, but I left early. I had better things to do with my time.”
“Like spy on us,” Charlie says.
She smirks, and I grow uneasy.
“Why haven’t you reported your father as a missing person?” I ask.
She barks out a laugh. “I told you I’m not telling you dick. We can do this all day. It’s no skin off my back.”
“Fuck this shit.” Drew snaps, snatching the knife from Anderson and pressing it to her crotch. “Unlike Hunt, I have no qualms about torturing or killing a woman like you. I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.” He presses the knife down, and a shrill cry leaves her mouth. “How valuable would you really be without this weapon between your legs. Huh?”
Charlie steps forward, knife in hand, and he yanks her head back by her hair. “Who would want you if we mess up your pretty face and cut off your hair.” He lops a chunk of her hair off, dropping it on her lap, before trailing the edge of the knife down the side of her face.
“Okay! Stop! I’ll tell you.”
Anderson and Lauder grin at Drew and Charlie. Anderson is recording this on his cell, to show Abby, I’m guessing. She’ll get a real kick out of this.
Charlie releases her hair, but he doesn’t step back, hovering over her with a menacing look on his face that gives me chills. Drew eases the knife back a little but keeps it pressed to her pussy. “Talk, cunt. I’m low on patience.”
“I want the money,” she spits out. “If we report him as missing, his bank accounts will be frozen, we’ll have the authorities breathing down our necks, and the elite will force me to take Daddy’s place.”
“Why would that be an issue for you?” I ask, watching her scowl in Xavier’s direction. “You love every sick and twisted part of that world.”
“You know jack shit, Hunt.” A muscle pops in her jaw. “They’ll never let a woman have any real power despite Hamilton’s promises. I’ll be their fuck toy. Nothing more, and I’m done being tossed around by those pricks. I hate those fucking bastards as much as I hated my father.” She stares me straight in the face. “I guess I should thank you for taking care of that problem for me.”
“You mean to say you didn’t enjoy opening your legs and your ass for your father and his friends?” Drew drags the tip of the knife across her crotch, and she jumps a little.
“Rape. The word is rape, and of course, I didn’t enjoy it.”
“You know what I think,” Drew says, putting his face all up in hers as Charlie crowds her from behind. “I think you loved every fucking minute of it.”
“Where is the money?” I ask, growing tired of this.
“If I knew, I’d already be a million miles away from here,” she hisses. “You can forget about getting into Daddy’s safe. It’s impenetrable. It’s fitted with a safety feature that will set it on fire as soon as you attempt to open it. You’ll burn the contents, and they’ll be lost to you forever.”
I keep a neutral expression on my face as I tilt my head to the side, staring at her. She doesn’t know Techxet has developed a tool for opening every type of safe. Dad commissioned it after the issues we had getting into Hearst’s safe. As soon as Diesel organizes shipping the safe back to Xavier’s warehouse in Rydeville, we’ll have that baby open in a couple of hours.
“Hunt. You need to see this,” Xavier says, his gaze swinging to mine. He’s wearing his shitty poker face, barely concealing his obvious delight.
I walk toward him, leaning over his shoulder. “What is it?” I whisper.
“The code is the same as that code Jamison found the other day,” he explains, meaning whoever hacked into Techxet’s system also helped to set up Denton’s secret home computer.
“Can you unscramble it?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” He grins, his green eyes sparking to life.
“Keep at it.”
I return to Alessandra, watching her glare at Xavier with undisguised disgust. I find it hard to believe she’s that homophobic, surrounded by the world she lives in. Guy on guy action is not unheard of within elite circles.
“Why did your father go after mine?” I stand in front of her with my arms folded across my chest.
“I’d think that’s obvious. He was acting on Hamilton’s instructions, and Hamilton knew your father had evidence on the elite that could cause a lot of problems.” Angling her head, she smiles at Lauder. “Hamilton targeted your father first because it was just too easy to get to him.” She barks out a laugh as Jackson stiffens. “I met her, you know. Your sister. I attended a party on the island one time. Well, it was more of an orgy. Dani was chained to Montgomery’s side at the banquet. Naked as the day she was born. He fed her his leftovers. Like you would a dog.”