by Aiden Bates
It was going to look bad. And it wasn’t going to be easy to pull off, either.
But everyone I loved was in the slimy, greased palms of the Fort Greene police. Everyone I loved was in danger, and I was the only one who could put an end to it.
I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do it yet…
But I had to try.
24
Daniel
The tiny room that the Fort Greene police placed Lissa and I in was cold but something close to comfortable. Safe, though—I couldn’t imagine a less safe place in the entire world right now. They’d separated us from Ernesto and Big Man, which left me feeling sick with guilt and nerves both. If they had at least kept us together, I knew that Ernesto and his muscular, massive-handed employee could have kept us out of harm’s way. Instead, I was the only thing standing between Lissa and whatever vengeance my father had planned for us. As for Ernesto and Big Man, I only felt more ill every time I so much as considered what might be happening to them right now.
The Fort Greene police weren’t to be trusted. I’d known that from the start. But were they untrustworthy enough to kill the two unarmed, handcuffed men they’d just taken into custody?
At this point, anything was possible.
“They even arrest pregnant people now,” Lissa said sadly as she looked out the tiny window the room had facing the hall.
She pointed at two men being marched by, flanked by an officer each, with their hands in cuffs as well. They were both handsome, albeit in different ways. One of them, the more visibly pregnant one, had a hot nerd thing going for him. The other had the classic good looks of the son of a banker or a lawyer.
For their sakes, I hoped it was the latter. Or at least, until I remembered that we were in Fort Greene. Money seemed to speak louder than law here. Under these circumstances, having a banker mother to grease palms was probably more useful than a father who could fight an unlawful arrest.
I caught the eye of the nerdy one just before he disappeared out of sight. Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes before the officer shoved him down the hall.
Huh. Only a little while earlier, we’d seen two other men wrestled past in the same direction. One of them had looked like an older, more serious version of Rusty. The other had shared Rusty’s broken nose, although that could’ve been a fluke. But I knew that Rusty’s brothers both had pregnant Omegas, and given that the police had been sent to bring in Ernesto…
It wouldn’t have been a stretch to assume that we’d just seen Kaleb, Harper, Nick and Derek brought into custody as well. Which meant…
Fuck. Everyone that Rusty had any personal connection to in Fort Greene was now in the rough, bloody hands of Chief Sorenson and the Fort Greene police.
Fuck.
“I thought the police only arrested bad guys, Daddy.” Lissa’s voice was distant, disillusioned. “I know you said we shouldn’t judge people for being handsome…but those two looked really nice.”
“I think they are nice, honey. I think…” How the hell did I explain this to Lissa without making her distrust every cop she encountered for the rest of her life? “We did say that you shouldn’t trust people just because of how they look. That goes for people in uniforms too, you know.”
“Like police officers?” She sounded terrified. Even at the kindergarten level, she’d already been taught to respect and admire the cops that were meant to keep our communities safe. The idea that some cops might not be keeping anyone safe at all was obviously getting to her.
“Police officers can be bad sometimes too, yes. That’s why we have to make sure that we get rid of the bad ones when we find out about them. They make the good ones look bad too.”
“Percy Pirate would get rid of the bad ones. Forever.”
Woah. Okay, no, not what I was getting at.
“Um. After we get out of here, we’ll go visit Rusty’s brother Kaleb at his police station, okay? Just because these police officers aren’t…very nice, doesn’t mean that other police are bad. That’s all I’m trying to say.”
Lissa seemed satisfied with that answer, though she didn’t take her eyes off of the window out into the hall. All I could hope now was that I could make good on that offer to introduce her to her uncle Kaleb—that we’d all make it out of here in one piece.
Not just Lissa and I, but everyone.
After what felt like hours, we still hadn’t been able to leave. We’d been given water. Lissa had been escorted by one of the female officers to use the bathroom several times. Nervous bladder, I guessed, or she was trying to case the joint and find her own way out. But no one would answer me if I asked whether or not I was under arrest. When I asked if I was free to go, the answer was always the same: no.
Finally, the door to our little room was unlocked and pulled open. Sorenson was behind it, along with two men in suits. More of my father’s security detail.
Great.
“You and your daughter are finally cleared to leave, Mr. Rasner.” Sorenson gave me a nod, and directed some horrible of approximation of a smile at Lissa. “These men will take you home.”
“I don’t want to go with them.” Lissa stuck her tongue out at Sorenson and put her hands on her hips, ick face engaged. “I think you’re all horrible. And smelly, too.”
The insults of a five-year-old. Under any other circumstances, I might have even laughed at that. Her sass—it was all confrontation. All Rusty. It was almost incredible, how strong that man’s genes were.
But we weren’t out of danger yet. My father had killed Alicia. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sorenson had murdered Josh King himself. And with the string of suspicious car accidents that had happened across the span of my life, starting with my father’s and ending with Bennet Godfrey’s, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of getting into a vehicle with my father’s men.
“I’d like my phone, Chief Sorenson. It was taken from me when I arrived.”
Sorenson narrowed his eyes. “Mr. Rasner, frankly you’re lucky that we let you keep your belt and your shoelaces.” There was something threatening about that, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. There was something threatening about every facet of this entire situation. “Your phone is being held as…evidence. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry about it anymore. I’m sure your father can get you a new one.”
Lissa slipped her little hand in mine. “Daddy? Are we going to go with them?”
“No,” I said definitively. Not without my phone. Not without any guarantee that we’d make it home at all. At this point, I didn’t know what to expect—but the time for taking chances had long since passed. “No, I don’t think we will.”
“I think you misunderstand me, Mr. Rasner. We’re not asking.” Sorenson drew himself up to his full height, taking up the entire space of the doorway. “I really think it’s best if you’re somewhere safe right now. Don’t you?”
Another threat. This one even less thinly veiled than the last. Did they want to take us somewhere safe so my father could dispose of us as he saw fit? Or was it just so we wouldn’t hear the struggle when Sorenson and his men took care of Rusty’s family in the same way they’d taken care of Josh?
Either way, I couldn’t find out what would happen if we didn’t oblige. I had Lissa to think about. And I couldn’t help anyone if I was shut in this cell until my father’s cronies finished up all of his dirty work.
It was unlikely, I decided, that my father would kill his granddaughter. Even for a filthy lying scumbag, the moment too many incidents like Alicia’s murder started piling up, the public scales were going to tip away from sympathy and toward disbelief instead. Likewise, six deaths in the Fort Greene holding cells—including those of two pregnant Omegas—were enough to be beyond even Chief Sorenson’s ability to cover up.
I didn’t like it, but in the end, I knew I had no choice but to comply.
Just like my father had asked me to.
My father’s bodyguards led us ou
t to an official-looking town car. They moved tightly with Lissa and I, herding us into a close little pack. To keep us from running, probably. As if I thought they’d hesitate to shoot me in the back if it came to that.
Back at my house, I’d hoped Lissa and I could decompress for a little while. But of course, sitting there in the living room was my father, helping himself to my secret stash of whiskey.
He sat the glass aside and rose as we came in. Immediately, he took Lissa from my arms and squeezed her to his chest.
“I’ve been so worried about you, Princess!” He threw her up in the air, obviously expecting a giggle. He didn’t get one, though. Lissa’s body was practically slack in his arms. “Did you have fun at the police station?”
“I’m not a princess,” she informed him as he put her down. The tone of her voice was confrontational—like she was daring him to find out what she’d do to him if he called her that again.
It was hard to tell whether she’d inherited that trait from Rusty as well—or if she’d picked it up from my father himself. For once, though, he heeded the warning.
“Why don’t you go play with that dolly I brought you,” he suggested, pointing her down the hall. “Your daddy and I need to have an adult talk.”
She glanced over at me, looking like she wanted nothing more than to cling to my leg until all of this was over. But I actually agreed with dear old Dad for a change. We did need to have a talk.
“Go play, baby girl.” I nodded at her.
She scowled, but after a beat, she nodded back.
Dad’s demeanor changed as soon as she was out of sight.
“Speaking of playing, son…I wish I could say I was impressed with you, but I’m not.” The mask had dropped so quickly, it was almost eerie to see him without it. Stern, sincere and sinister. It was a face I was still getting used to—one that I didn’t want to get used to at all. “Your little game is over now, Daniel. Frankly, how dare you. You’ve jeopardized my career with your bullshit, and I’m not going to stand for that happening again. Don’t you have any idea what I’m trying to do here?”
“Pretty good idea, yeah.” Alicia was dead. Rusty was on the run. After everything that had happened, I wasn’t backing down. Not now. “The King brothers have a pretty solid case built against you. They know how you worked with Bicroft and AFF to orchestrate that storm of Omega heat. They know all the lives you impacted with it. Frankly, Dad, how dare you? All of this, just so you can undermine a piece of legislation?”
“Oh, please, Daniel. I don’t expect you to understand the real stakes here. You’re an Omega, son. You need to remember your place.”
“Beneath your boot with all the rest, right?”
My father was too dignified for an eye roll, but an annoyed flutter of his lashes was enough. “I don’t need to answer your questions. All you need to know right now is that you’re going to be kept here, safe and sound. At home where you belong.”
“Should I make you a sandwich while I’m at it? Iron your clothes and cook your meals, too?”
He scoffed. “Daniel, we can afford servants for all of that. What you should be doing with this time I’m giving you is working on raising your daughter. That’s what you should have been doing all along—not playing Dick Tracy with those fucking King boys. But I’m proud to announce that you won’t be able to do that again. They’re all in custody. Russel along with them, now.”
My heart fell, but I couldn’t let myself get caught up in that. There was a good chance he was bluffing.
God, I hoped it was a bluff.
“If you’d caught Rusty King, you wouldn’t be here right now.” I called him on it without hesitation. “You’d be wherever he was held, either doing your fucking supervillain monologue over him or ordering Chief Sorenson to shoot him like he shot Senator Callum’s so-called assassin, too.”
“His fingerprints and hair are all over Alicia’s home, Daniel.” The mask went back on as soon as I mentioned Callum’s name. “I know you must just be completely heartbroken over it, but the crime scene doesn’t lie. Russel King fooled you again, I’m afraid. Maybe this time, you’ll learn you lesson. But while you mull it over, you can rest easy knowing that her killer is no longer a threat.”
“Gaslighting,” I said with a scoff. “Incredible, Dad. You’re a talent. Truly.”
But my father had already said his piece. He turned to his security men, shoulders back as he gave his orders.
“I want tight security on this house. You boys stay sharp. This is a…delicate time right now. I have enemies that might wish to do my son and granddaughter harm. And…” His voice broke in a way that was so manufactured, he might as well have gotten it from one of those off-shore factories he’d been diverting state jobs toward ever since he’d been elected. “I just don’t think I can handle another tragedy right now.”
Another tragedy. It felt like a code for something. Probably, “If they act up, make it look like an accident.”
He closed the door behind him with a soft little click. For as safe as I felt in that moment, he might as well have slammed it or left it wide open, swinging in the breeze.
25
Rusty
The case couldn’t have been more damning. The deeper I dug into the files Detective Frank had sent over, the more fucked I felt. Somehow, my fingerprints were found at the scene of Alicia’s murder. The system had turned them up as soon as they’d been run through, thanks to my delinquent past. A few dark strands of hair were found beneath Alicia’s nails. Despite the fact that I’d never met the woman, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the hairs were mine.
Rasner had covered every angle. Wouldn’t have been surprised if his security detail had gotten my DNA from Daniel’s car, kitchen, or living room couch when they searched the house for bugs. Anything else they needed, they could’ve easily picked up with they raided Harper and Nick’s house.
They had everything they needed to build a case against me, and here I was, swearing in my car in a Sunoco parking lot with only half an idea of what to do next.
I was screwed. I knew the feeling well. Whether I’d been tagging train cars out at the Fort Greene railroad tracks or throwing hands with my friends’ drunk, abusive fathers outside the town bars, the sensation that I’d been got always set in just before the police arrived. Unless I could somehow just get Rasner to confess…
But I knew how shit-for-brains that plan was as soon as the thought came to mind. He wasn’t going to squeal on himself. Not after all the lengths he’d gone to to keep his name out of the mud and his reputation pristine. People had died for the sake of Rasner’s continued Father of the Year persona.
If I couldn’t stop him, he’d only keep adding bodies to the pyre until the entire world burned for the sake of Brent Rasner’s so-called good name.
But right now, I couldn’t do fuck all. Not until I knew where Daniel and Lissa were. Not until I could make sure they were safe. And my brothers, probably their Omegas too—they were in custody here in Fort Greene along with Ernesto. Even if Chief Sorenson hadn’t snagged the rest of Ernesto’s crew, I couldn’t put them at risk by trying to enlist their help.
Sorenson had killed for Rasner before. I didn’t doubt that he’d do it again. By now, the bastard probably even liked the way it felt.
My head hurt from the way I was banging around in my brain. I needed a way to save everyone, but right now I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to get out of town without my hands in cuffs or a bullet in my back.
I hated this. It felt like I had to choose. Harper and Kaleb, their Omegas, Ernesto and his men—people who were family to me, or at least, were close enough.
Or Daniel and Lissa. The man who’d stolen my heart all those years ago and left his own fingerprints all over it, long after the pain of losing him should have washed them away. The perfect little girl he’d given me—the daughter I’d let Sorenson tear me limb for limb for if it only meant that she’d be safe.
With Rasner still a
t large, though, no one would be safe. Not just the people I cared about, but Omegas all over the country, as well. And if he hated Omegas so much, I didn’t even want to think about how he felt towards women. The way he’d treated Alicia, like something disposable and worthless, spoke volumes enough about that.
I pulled out of the Sunoco and headed toward Spartanburg. I couldn’t exactly stage a jailbreak on my own, and Alicia’s murder was the lynch pin that held all of this together right now. Detective Frank had included her address—it was where the murder had taken place. If I could find some evidence I could use against Rasner there, even just the tiniest thread to follow…
It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
But on the way to Alicia’s house, Daniel’s own was en route. I didn’t expect to see anyone there at all. Rasner surely had appearances to make, and putting Daniel and Lissa back in the only place I knew to look for them didn’t make a lick of sense.
There was a car in the drive, though. Maybe he had security posted there while Daniel and Lissa were behind held somewhere else, just in case I showed up? I spotted the front grill of one of those now-infamous black SUVs down the street. If I’d been in my Mustang, they probably would’ve noticed me immediately. But the old Crown Vic I’d left in wasn’t on their radar, and unless they spotted me behind its wheel, neither was I. Silently thanking Ernesto for having so many spare cars around, I continued on to Alicia’s.
It was a bust. I realized it as soon as I drove past. There were still police posted there. Either still sweeping the place for more of Rasner’s carefully planted evidence, or just waiting for me to return to the scene of the crime.
I circled back toward Daniel’s. The house was perched on the corner of his block. If I could get a better look at the place, maybe from the cross-street, maybe I could figure out what was going on there instead.
There was a flutter of curtains in one of the side windows as I rolled by. They caught my eye instantly—the white skull and cross bones on the black fabric was a dead giveaway. It must have been Lissa’s room.
