The Ruthless

by J Bree

  The Oakridge is thirty years old but impeccably maintained, easily the most lavish old money hotel in the entire city. When the driver stops, one of the doormen dashes over to open my door for me, waiting until Aodhan slides out before retrieving our bags from the trunk.

  Everyone who works here already knows who I am and where we’re staying.

  I slip the doorman a tip and then walk straight into the building, walking straight past the beautifully ornate double elevators and down the hall into the service elevator.

  “No checking in?” Aodhan murmurs and I shake my head.

  “Beaumonts don’t check-in at the Oakridge. Just remember what I said; speak to no one and stay close to me.”

  I scan the card I always have tucked in my purse, one of the few emergency items that move around from Birkin to Birkin just in case a moment like this comes up.

  Aodhan takes a half step to me until I’m pressed against him. “Like you’ll be able to get rid of me, I’ll be on this ass of yours until I can ride it later.”

  Well.

  That sounds like a perfect way to finish the evening.

  I smirk over my shoulder at him and then I step into the service elevator as it opens.

  There aren’t any buttons, only a panel to scan your card.

  “If this isn’t the creepiest fucking place you’ve ever taken me, Queenie. Are you sure you’re not dragging me down to the depths of hell?”

  I shouldn’t be flirting, we’re heading down to the bar area which will be full to the brim of all of the biggest criminal players in the country’s capital. There’ll be people staying here from every corner of the world, all of them coming together to visit the famous murder-hotel that will cater to their every whim.

  I take a deep breath before the doors open and then murmur quietly, “Does it matter where I’m taking you? You’ll come with me, right?”

  I don’t need the squeeze of his hand in mine to know I’m right, he’s with me no matter what. As much as I fucking loathe the Jackal and what he did to us, at least we have each other now.

  There’s a small ping sound and then the doors open.

  The bar is teeming with people.

  There isn’t a set dress code down here, so it’s a melting pot of evil. Bikers, suits, and gangsters, they all sit around together with drinks in their hands in a basement bar that might as well be a bomb shelter.

  It’s been years since I was last here and honestly, I didn’t think I’d be here without Lips or Illi. The information that comes out of this place is renowned because of the strict ‘no violence’ ruling. There’s never been a assassination down here in the thirty years that Oakridge has been operating.

  Probably because of the play rooms.

  Why bother getting kicked out of the club, or taken out of existence entirely, for killing here when there are purpose built murder rooms for reseravation? You don’t even have to clean up after yourself, everything is covered in the fees here.

  It was Senior’s favorite holiday location.

  So much so that he had one of the rooms here fitted out to his specific tastes and requirements, and I was sure to have that room destroyed the second Senior was wheeled into the morgue. It was much easier to sleep knowing that, slowly but surely, I would wipe any remnants of that man’s existence from this Earth.

  The only things left will be Ash and I.

  I won’t rest until I’m sure of that.

  Aodhan finally looks more comfortable now that we’re back in disreputable company. He leans down to murmur into my ear, “Fuck. There’s a few of the bikers from your wall in here. All of them are Demons, they don’t know you’re looking for them, do they?”

  I turn into his chest, my head tilted back so we look like besotted lovers and not scheming criminals. “They’re unaware. I’m not here for them tonight anyway. If you can catch anything they’re talking about though, that would be helpful.”

  He nods and drops a kiss onto my lips, softly enough that my lipstick doesn’t smudge.

  He’s too perfect for me sometimes.

  I don’t deserve it.

  I walk in slowly, looking for the real reason we’re here and finding her at the bar with a cocktail in her hands, the all-black pantsuit she’s in looking amazing on her curves.

  I’m almost jealous.

  Charlotte meets my eyes from across the room and jerks her head at me. I wouldn’t take that sort of summoning from anyone normally, but she’s been too good at taking care of my business for me to split hairs right now.

  The moment we get to her, she leans in close to my ear to murmur, “He’s already here, I was about to go deal with the whole situation without you.”

  Aodhan shifts so his body is covering us both a little better as I reply, “There’s limits to how fast I can get across the country. Which room are they in? I need him out of here now.”

  She smiles and leads the way, cutting through the room like she owns the place because, well, she does. Every person who frequents the bar knows it too, moving out of her way like her ass is on fire and they don’t want to get burned.

  Nothing better than a woman getting the respect she deserves, her hands dripping with the blood she shed to get it.

  “A bullet in the head or an interrogation?”

  I glance over my shoulder at Aodhan but he’s focused entirely on protecting me from any wandering hands. “An interrogation. The senator needs to be released first, but I need to know who is trying to get rid of him.”

  Charlotte smirks as we step into the elevator, pulling out a tablet to check the security cameras. “Don’t like people touching your toys? I have other senators you can have, you know, if you lose this one.”

  I shrug, feigning indifference, because no one needs to know how much I’m willing to do to keep Lips’ siblings alive until we know if we’re keeping them or not. “I’m rather attached and, besides, it’s the principle of it. No one breaks my toys except me.”

  Charlotte giggles and we step out onto the sub-floor. I wait until she’s not looking before I take a breath, just enough air in to stay calm and not let the lingering memories of this place take over me. I’m fine, there’s no one here who could ever hurt me, and the ghosts of the men I saw die here are most certainly in hell and not lurking around the corner waiting to finally take a piece out of me.

  There’s only four rooms on each sub-floor and only three sub-floors to the hotel. Each was purposely built for easy cleanup and they have a wide variety of weapons, props, and tools to suit any purpose. The walls are thick enough that even the loudest of screams can’t be heard outside of the room itself, and the doors can only be opened with the cards you pick up from the reception.

  Unless you’re Charlotte and have a master key.

  The door opens with a quiet beeping noise and she pushes straight in, her heels clicking on the concrete flooring as loud as gunshots in the silence of the room.

  Aodhan follows me in without hesitation.

  Blakeley is chained to a chair in the center of the room, a bag over his head and by the muffled grunts I’d guess he’s got a gag in his mouth too. The suit he’s wearing is a little disheveled, some blood down the front that says his nose is probably broken, and his shoes are missing.

  We were a little too close.

  “This room is occupied, cunt! Go have your fucking threesome somewhere else.”

  I glance over at the biker piece of shit talking, and he’s utterly forgettable. The type of guy that blends into a crowd of other rough bikers. He’s ripped but not in a bulky way, and the cut over his shoulders reads proudly ‘Chaos Demons’.

  Grimm sent him here to kill his bastard son.

  “Mister Jones, I’m sorry to say you’ve checked into my hotel and there are guidelines here. You’ve broken one of the strictest rules in place, so I’m going to have to deal with this issue accordingly,” Charlotte says in her best customer service voice. Honestly, it gives me chills.

  The biker’s lip curls as he
turns, but Charlotte lifts a hand and nails him in the chest with a taser gun, taking him down to the ground with ease.

  She steps forward and presses her foot over his throat, her mouth a red slash of smirking wrath across her face. “I’m not really a fan of being called a cunt.”

  Aodhan steps around me to go get the biker restrained before he comes to, nodding his head respectfully at Charlotte. She looks at him with interest but the same type she gives every newcomer to the Oakridge, so I don’t feel the need to stab her in the kidneys which is good.

  I’m wearing white after all.

  I go to get Blakeley up and out of this room before he sees anything else that’s too revealing. I somehow need to convince him not to send the Feds down here and make a headache for us all to have to clean up, and his reputation as a law-abiding citizen and hard-ass has me concerned about how this is all going to play out—but he’s alive.

  That’s the important thing.

  It takes me a second to get the restraints holding him to the floor untied and then I firmly guide him to stand up, walking over to the door and pressing the release button to get us out of there.

  “Queenie, if you leave this room without me you will not like the consequences,” Aodhan calls out, and I huff at him, but I do pause long enough for him to finish getting the biker trussed up.

  Charlotte smirks at me over his shoulder, and I roll my eyes at her.

  “Don’t deal with the issue until after I’m back. I have some questions for him,” I say as Aodhan grabs Blakeley’s arm and Charlotte nods, slowly running her hands over the rack of weapons that were intended for the senator.

  I’m sure there’ll be some pieces missing from the biker before we get back.

  I’m also sure I don’t give a fuck.

  We walk Blakeley over to the elevator and step in together, my card getting us back up to the main floor. I get out my phone and arrange for my town car to circle back to pick the senator up and take him back to his offices.

  I direct Aodhan out to the back of the hotel to where the valet parking is, away from prying eyes and with less security cameras for me to have to deal with, and it’s only when we have Blakeley sitting in the car that I finally speak to him.

  “Senator, forgive me for meeting you under such difficult circumstances, but please rest assured that my driver will see you home. You may want to triple your security for the time being, just until we’re able to find out who wants you dead. The Wolf of Mounts Bay sends her regards.”

  His spine snaps straight, but I shut the car door before he can start swearing and struggling against the bonds and gag.

  We can argue about it later.

  “He didn’t seem… happy to see you. Does he even know he’s in your pocket?” Aodhan says as we walk back over to the service elevator.

  I flick the card around and scan the other end of it to get us to the correct floor, Aodhan’s eyes taking the action in. “He’s not in my pocket and… he’s not going to be. I need him alive for other reasons.”

  He nods slowly and takes my hand. “Secret reason, got it.”

  He’s too good for me.

  As suspected, when we get back to the room, the biker is bleeding everywhere, and Charlotte has her jacket off and her crisp black button-down sleeves rolled back to her elbows.

  “He doesn’t have that much to say. He wanted the senator’s agenda to disappear.”

  I sigh and step over a large piece of flesh on the floor so I can get a good look at his face as I question him. I try not to think about all of the holes in him now.

  “Was it Grimm himself who asked you to kill him or some other higher-up?”

  “Councilman. The higher-ups in the MC are the councilmen,” Aodhan says, leaning against the wall where he can still be within arm’s reach.

  The biker opens his mouth and blood comes pouring out, flecks of it spitting out at me as he speaks. “Grimm wanted him dead. Blocking the imports will shut half our shit down. He’s a fucking do-gooder, those types don’t last in politics. You’ll never fucking turn the cunt, every man and his dog have tried.”

  Jesus.

  It still doesn’t help me hazard a guess over whether or not the president of the Chaos Demons knows that Blakeley is his biological son, and that’s the real question I need answered tonight.

  I can’t ask it with Aodhan and Charlotte around, and chances are this guy wouldn’t know anyway. Better to cut my losses and just be done with this conversation.

  We got Blakeley out alive.

  I’ll speak with him tomorrow.

  “We’re done here,” I say, straightening up and nodding at Charlotte. She smirks and pulls out a huge knife, too big for how small her hand is, and I turn away before I have to see it.

  I also take three very large steps away so my outfit isn’t completely ruined. Aodhan watches the whole thing but I only listen as Charlotte slits his throat, the biker gagging and gasping and choking through the wound until he bleeds out. It’s a pretty quick process, but I feel like it drags on forever.

  Disgusting.

  I need a long, hot, sterile shower.

  “I’ll meet you down in the private bar, Beaumont. We can share a drink before you head up for the night. I know you’ve had a long day,” Charlotte says, and I nod.

  “I’ll call for the cleaning crew, just to speed things along.”

  Aodhan holds my hand the entire way down in the elevator, only dropping it when they open back up into the bar. He knows how rattled the blood-soaked parts of this life can make me. I couldn’t care less about the death but all of that DNA just spurting out everywhere around me?

  It’s enough to have me screaming and running the hell out of this place.

  The bartender at the end of the bar lets us through and into the private rooms without a word, nodding at me respectfully and keeping her eyes away from us both. It reminds me of how everyone in the Bay treats Lips and has me smiling a little.

  I wait until we’re seated in the plush lounge before I update her on how the evening has gone. She doesn’t have any questions about her brother, only about my safety, but I tell her I’ll have more to say about him tomorrow anyway.

  I don’t have very high hopes.

  “The enforcer of the Chaos Demons is here. They’re going to notice their brother is missing and come after the hotel,” Aodhan murmurs, and I shrug.

  “The Oakridge has very strict rules. If they ask about him, Charlotte will inform them that he broke a rule and paid the price. They can get angry about it but, honestly, this place is more valuable to them than some underling. I can’t imagine they’d wage war over Jones.”

  Aodhan nods and then straightens slightly as Charlotte walks in, two drinks in her hands. “Sorry! I only know what Beaumont drinks so you’ll have to forgive me, Stag.”

  He shrugs and says, “I’m keeping my head about me tonight.”

  She smirks at him and takes a seat, handing me a glass and then clinking it with her own. “It’s been too long! You should visit more often.”

  I roll my eyes at her. “You’ve been too busy to even notice how long it’s been, Gamble. The revenues have tripled here since you took over. A lot of money in murder.”

  She grins at me again, all teeth and smugness, sipping away at her drink. Aodhan stares at her for a moment too long, like he’s trying to memorize every little part of her face, and I know he has no idea of how he should be acting in this situation.

  “So why are you protecting the senator? He’s well-known around here, the type that gets up everyone’s asses and has the whole club bitching about him.”

  I shrug and take a sip from the glass. Margaritas are my preferred drink of choice but the gin and tonic she mixed for me is top shelf and smooth enough. “He’s on my protection list for now.”

  Charlotte sighs and smirks at me. “And that’s all you’ll tell me? Classic Beaumont.”

  I take another sip as Aodhan’s eyes bounce between us before focusing once again on C
harlotte. “This is an… interesting business. Did you inherit it or build it?”

  She smiles at him in a way I don’t at all like and his face tightens up a little around the edges in response, clearly not happy with her interest. “I inherited my half of the business from my father. He built it with an old friend. The two of them designed each and every one of the rooms here, they came up with all of the rules and vetted each and every member. It’s not for everyone but I wasn’t made for living a clean life. I always wanted blood.”

  He gives her a curt nod. “And the other owner? Do you get along with them?”

  Charlotte grins and flicks her eyes over to me. “Avery and I go way back. There’s no one else I would want to share Oakridge with.”

  I ignore the flash of Aodhan’s eyes as they snap back to me. “Technically, you share it with Ash and I now that Senior is gone, but he wants the place burned to the ground. I’m a little more business savvy than that.”

  Charlotte smirks. “And thank God for that. I’d hate to have to go straight if this place shut down. Can you imagine me bartending for real? No fucking thanks!”

  I refuse a second drink, even though she tries to insist, because running on zero sleep is finally starting to hit me now that I know Blakeley is home safe and the adrenaline has seeped out of me.

  We make our excuses and head back up to the main floor to the other set of elevators to get to our room. Dozens of people are walking around, completely unaware of what is taking place under their feet.

  As we stand at the main elevator, waiting, Aodhan takes my hand in his again and brings my knuckles up to his lips. “Why does Ash want this place destroyed? He never seemed squeamish to me and it obviously has its uses.”

  I shrug. “He’s not but I almost died down there once… and it’s the first place Ash ever killed someone. Not that he cares about that sort of thing, but his first blood wasn’t exactly… I was attacked in there and he found me. He killed the man who did it, but now he’s tied the whole thing up into this place being too dangerous for me. He’s not exactly… rational sometimes when it comes to my safety.”

  Aodhan nods and smirks at me. “So you’ve told him exactly nothing about what’s been happening since he left the Bay?”