“Sounds good. Then I can lust after your body from above.” She winked and I could feel the heat covering my face.
“Remember none of that once we leave this room?”
Her pout was cute, but she changed form into the small little fairy I’d first met.
“You take all the fun out.” She chirped flitting around only to stop when I pulled off my shirt. “Yummy.”
"Oh, goddess?" Trevor rolled his eyes but turned his back before stripping.
He shifted down to his normal squirrel size as I opened the window with the tree branch we’d used many times over the years.
Blowing Whisper a kiss, I shifted into my second skin and ran out the window only pausing on the branch to make sure that she was following me.
A little blue-winged bug flew past me and I raced to catch up.
We’d just finished eating when Nelson showed up in the dining room.
“Ready to go? I got a call from the hospital that the doctor would like to see you when he makes his rounds.” He leaned over the table to snatch a couple of pancakes.
“Sure,” I wiped my mouth. “Tyson and Gram will be accompanying me today.”
Whisper raised an eyebrow.
“Watts will be letting you wander the grounds today. He has a few plants that need a special touch.”
“Madam,” Watts sputtered pausing mid-grab of the empty dishes.
"Watts, Whisper, and the others are going to be keeping me alive. While you might not think that you need the help, you do. Plus, she needs to be outside as much as possible. It builds up her energy better than any type of human food could."
“Yes, Madam.” His sigh was loud and large so I’d know he’d only said yes to polite.
“Nelson, please show these two the weapons they’ll need and see that they’re in the limo. I’ll just say bye to Trevor and be out in a minute.”
He bristled at being given an order but went to do what I'd asked.
“See that she’s safe please, Watts.” I pleaded as I looped an arm through Trevor’s and drug him to the library.
“I have something special for you.”
“Yes, you’re finally going to rip my clothes off and have your wicked way with me on the desk.” Trevor began to unbutton his shirt.
A quick playful swat to his head had him laughing as he ran around staying out of my reach until we both collapsed side by side on the couch.
“What was it you needed me to do for you?”
“You’re not going to like it, but I need you to scan the house for bugs. Make sure that all of them are disabled so that we only have to worry about shifter hearing here in the house.”
"Oh, you mean like Nelson?" Trevor squeezed my knee.
“He’s going to be a problem. He’ll have to move out if Father dies.”
“Yeah, he’s not going to like that.”
“Nope, but then again neither are you.” I sat up knowing that he was going to unhappy with me.
“Uh, you have to take your position in the Rook Corporation.”
“Cable, no.” He protested, “I can’t do that. I have so many other things I need to do.”
“As do I.” I stood up and walked to the door. “Think about it today, but I’ll need an answer tonight.”
It was one of the hardest things I'd had to do, but the day wasn't over yet and neither were the hard decisions.
5
All day, the only thing I could concentrate on was getting back to see Whisper.
The files and reports weren't anything that interested me. It was torture to sit there and listen to the old men. Especially when they tried to find a way to explain how they weren't stealing from our corporation and it was just business.
My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. I wasn’t taking calls, but this one was from Fiona.
"You'll have to excuse me for a moment," I answered. I had to walk outside toward the doors of the warehouse.
Gram followed a short distance behind while Tyson had run ahead to scout in front of me.
“Hey, I can talk now. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything is fine. We just happen to be in town and thought you could use a night out.” Her voice was the lifeline I hadn’t known I was missing until just then.
I glanced at my watch, “I can meet you at that restaurant downtown by six. I’ll have two others with me if you want to call in a reservation. Use my name and they’ll get us a private table.”
“Perfect. Can’t wait to hear all about it.” She hung up.
“There’s nothing to hear about. Just boring rows and rows of numbers that make no sense which is exactly what they wanted to have happen to me.” I muttered out loud.
“Everything going good out here?” Nelson queried looking around suspiciously.
“Just had to take a call. I’m having dinner with a few friends that drove down to cheer me up.” I began to walk back, “Oh and Nelson make sure that both of these guys have suits to wear while I’m out this evening.”
A string of cuss words followed as I walked out of hearing.
Now, it was time to tell these guys where to stick it because they were just going to feed me more Bullcrap about how they were doing a great job.
Either my father had been blind to their schemes or he knew about it and just hadn’t cared enough to do anything about it.
That was about to change.
“All right. I’m going to give everyone one chance. You have until tomorrow morning to bring me a current list of the assets that you manage.” I looked at each one of them and didn’t stop until they looked away.
“Both sets of books. I’ll know and you don’t want to find out what happens after that. It’s time to clean house and if you don’t like then I expect you to leave me the books with a note of resignation.”
“You can’t do that.” Leon protested.
“Why would you jeopardize all of that?” Vittorio screamed as his face turned red. “Your father would never have demanded that we do anything like this.”
“See that’s kind of the problem Tonio,” I used the name only his closest friends used. “My father was allowing you to exist in his world. He didn’t have the heart to do what needed to be done, but me. Well, I have no problem taking out the trash or letting each of you do it for me.”
I pointed to my fitness band and tapped it.
“Tick-tock time’s running out.”
Watching them scramble for the door, I just hoped that I could back up my statements.
I made a stop on the way back to the mansion at one of the high-end clothing stores.
"Is it ready?" I stood at the counter as the clerk eyed my not-so-expensive jeans and button dress shirt. It had been my concession to business attire for the day.
“Yes, ma’am.” The clerk looked uncertain until I held out my black credit card.
“Oh, I’ll get that carried out for you. Will there be anything else?”
“No, thank you.” I hated it when people suddenly became nice when they knew you had money to spend.
Slinging the dress bag over my shoulder, I couldn’t wait to see Whisper in it. Or maybe it was more I wanted to take it off of her.
“Hello, I’m home.” It was a little on the quiet side when I entered the house with Tyson and Gram following on my heels.
“Watts? Where is everyone?”
A distant thumping sound echoed through the walls and only those with shifter hearing could have heard it from far away.
I took off running skidding to a stop at the pantry in the kitchen.
Watts fell through to the floor as I opened the door.
He was bound and gagged.
Hurrying to untie him, I knelt and gently began to massage his wrists.
“What happened?”
“It was Stefano’s men. They came in and searched the house for Whisper. When they found her, it wasn’t much of a fight because of the special dust. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in here tied up.” He wouldn’t look
me in the face.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Cable. I tried to protect her, but they were ready for us.”
Placing a hand under his elbow to lift him off the floor, I guided him over to a chair before getting him a glass of water.
“If anyone could have stopped them it would have been you.” I knew it wasn’t much in the way of comfort, but it was true. When someone wanted to hurt you, they didn’t always go for the physical assault approach. On occasion, the best way to make sure that the enemy knew where you stood was to hurt their loved ones.
Tyson made sure that I heard him come back into the room.
“I’ve taken a look around and it was four men. The trail leads out to a truck parked in the driveway.”
"Stefano just made the worse mistake of his life." I pulled out my phone.
“Fiona, I’m having Trevor pick you up. I need Hemlock’s help with tracking someone’s that been kidnapped.”
She gasped, “Oh, no. That’s why the tension from you just tripled. We’ll be right there.”
Nelson waited until I finished the call. “He’ll have her taken to the one place that you won’t want to go.”
“My father’s kill site out on the property.” I nodded, “Of course, he’ll want to use that place to make me doubt myself.”
Eyeing him with suspicion, I glanced over at Watts to see if he was on the same wavelength. Nelson had just as much to gain if I was out of the picture and using that part of the property would put me on edge.
"Come on," There was only one way to find out if Nelson was in on the kidnapping or if he was trying to help. "When Fiona gets here, have them start the magical trackers. If necessary, you can send back up."
I hoped Watts got my unspoken message. This was just a decoy to get me out of his way. I was probably walking into a trap.
He nodded before taking another sip of water.
“Let’s go. I don’t want to take a chance on missing her.”
The truck rattled as I raced over the ruts and down the not often driven dirt road.
While Tyson and Gram were in the back of the truck, Nelson was holding on for dear life.
I couldn’t be certain that he hadn’t done something that would earn the loyalty of these two so that instead of backing me up, they were going to help him take me out.
A group of trucks were parked in a circle around a campfire.
"Who permitted a camping trip out in the middle of where we bury the bodies?" I gripped as we moved past them toward the back of the property.
On alert, I threw the truck into park and jumped out glancing to the edge of the trees for others attempting my demise.
Nelson was right behind me, but he wasn’t expecting it when I turned and punched him in the throat.
“What the hell?” He sputtered trying to catch his breath until he felt the tip of my knife against his pulsing vein.
“Both of you stay back,” I warned Tyson and Gram not taking my eyes off of my step-brother.
“I should have taken care of you when you forced yourself on me all those years ago. You haven’t changed at all. I’m not going to keep watching my back or trying to save others from the terrors that you inflict upon them.”
“No, Cable. Sis.” He tried to move, but I dug the knife deeper. “I would never do anything like that to you. You’re remembering it all wrong.”
"Oh? So I just imagined your horrible breath as you pinned me to the wall." I pulled the shoulder of my shirt down, "This is where you used your thumb to put pressure so that I wouldn't move because it was too painful."
Gram started to edge toward me.
“Back off,” I yelled. “Unless you want to pay for his sins, then I suggest you stay out of it.” The growl coming from me radiated a warning.
“Okay, we’ll stay over here.” Tyson nudged Gram and climbed back into the truck bed.
While I’d been distracted, Nelson had gotten on his knees and was trying to crawl away.
"Not so fast," I muttered grabbing one of his legs as he fell flat on his stomach.
“You’re going to tell me where Whisper is and who has her?”
He rolled over and laughed.
I lost it and plunged the knife into his shoulder. With a cry of pain, he just continued laughing.
“Did you think I was suddenly going to spill my guts just because you stuck me with a knife?”
“Oh, no. I didn’t expect it would, but I’m going to enjoy spilling them for you.” With my foot in the middle of his chest, I pulled the knife out before slicing open his stomach. “This might prove to be a better incentive.”
“AGH!” His scream could be heard for several miles as he tried to hold his intestines inside his body.
“Cable, don’t.” Fiona’s voice cut through the rage and I paused with my hand ready to rip him to shreds.
“We know where they took Whisper. She’s still alive, but you’ll have to hurry.”
Hemlock stood beside her and chanted a spell.
Nelson's body rose as an invisible force field wrapped around him to keep his insides from leaving his body. It also kept him from trying to escape.
Hemlock lifted a finger and floated Nelson over to the truck bed, laying him down none too gently.
“You drive.” He pointed at Gram, “I’ll ride with them, you go with Fiona.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I slid into the passenger seat as Fiona began to turn the SUV around.
It wasn’t long before I realized that we were headed back to the truck stop where the trafficking deal had gone down in the first place.
A group of muscled men stood circled a few trucks and a limo that Stefan was leaning against.
He barely flicked a look my way assuming that they would keep me from getting to him.
Rounding the truck I grabbed Nelson by the hair and pulled one of the swords from the bag of weapons that had been tossed into the back with Tyson and Gram.
He screamed as the full force of his body hit the pavement. His legs tried to move, but the containment spell kept him from doing anything.
The bodyguards caught a glimpse of his insides ready to spill out and moved aside to let me pass.
“Hemlock,” I yelled.
His answer was a long sigh, but the spell keeping Nelson from moving dropped right as he landed at Stefano’s feet.
“I don’t think you took my warnings seriously, Stefano. I know that Nelson didn’t when he gave you the information on the house that you needed to go in and kidnap Whisper.”
"Awe, he's just a minion darling. You know that he's always done just as I asked him to." Stefano's smile was filled with such evil that I had to restrain myself from snapping his neck right that moment.
“Oh, that’s very good to know. I have plans for all of you, even the minions.” I left his body lying there groaning as I stepped over him to get closer to the man in the business suit.
"I don't believe we've met yet." I held out a blood-stained hand, "I'm Rook of the Rook Organization."
"Ah, yes." He glanced at Nelson on the ground and then at Stefano trying to gauge the situation as he grasped my hand. "I've met your father. My condolences on your loss."
“So I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’ve been doing deals behind his back for a while now. There’s just one problem. You’re trying to buy my property.”
It felt ugly saying it in that way, but it was the only way someone of this evil nature could understand why it was a problem.
“I had no idea. I’ve already paid for the merchandise though and a deal is a deal isn’t it Stefano?”
“Oh, you know what? I completely agree with you.” I smiled and then hit Stefano in the face.
Blood squirted out of his nose and dripped down his face.
“I’m going to give you an even more special type of shifter that you can sell to the highest bidder. He’s even got a few enemies that will pay you top dollar to do whatever they want with him. It’s time he got a taste of his own medicine.�
��
Haven moved out of the shadows to hand me a pair of magical cuffs for his wrists.
“No way. You can’t do that.” He lunged at me and I planted my fist into his stomach.
“I can and I will.” Slapping the cuffs on his wrists, I shoved him toward the man in the suit.
“One other thing and I want all of you to know I mean business. No one and I mean no, no one messes with me and mine.” I took the sword that had been ignored in my left hand and brought it down on Nelson’s neck.
The strength needed to severe someone’s head couldn’t be done in one blow even by a shifter with abnormal strength.
Nelson’s eyes bulged as it sunk in that I was going to kill him. I was going to make good on my threats.
With a fistful of his hair, I yanked his head from his body as those around us gasp. They hadn't expected me to do it.
“Now, if anyone thinks I’m not serious then they need to think again.” I threw my knife at Stefano hitting him squarely in the chest. “Where is Whisper?”
Haven had been standing back with her protected behind him since he didn’t know what I had planned next.
His boss nodded at him and he released her from the small cage that they’d put her in.
She fluttered to land on my shoulder.
"Are you hurt?" I continued to keep my gaze on the man in the business suit that was holding Stefano from falling to the ground.
“No, Boss Rook.” She answered staying character as one of my underlings.
“Good. Let’s keep it that way shall we?” I waved her back to where the others stood on the outside of the armed guards.
“Do you swear that you’ll sell him to the highest buyer because if I don’t have your word, then I’m afraid I’ll have to find one that likes old man for dinner?”
He shoved Stefano at Haven. “Put him in a cage and see that the auction starts immediately.”
With his hands now free, he bowed. “I, Otto Lanius, humbly pledge my allegiance to the Rook Organization and its leader, Cable.”
“Thank you. Please spread the word that I won’t be this generous again.” I took the still dripping head of my step-brother and walked back toward the truck.
Supernatural Syndicate: A Limited Edition Collection of Magical Mafia Stories Page 51
