by L. R. Wright
“We’re going in there. Let’s go.” He moved to her side and grabbed her hand, yanking her out of the room with him.
He barreled into the conference room. Alexa stumbled in behind him. He advanced on Janine, not stopping until he had lifted her out of her seat and slammed her back against the nearest wall. He snaked a hand around her neck. “Stop playing games. What the hell are you doing working for me? And who are you really working for?”
“What’s going on Dro?” Lei asked, frowning.
Alexa watched Dro and grew concerned about the choke hold he had on Janine. No matter what was going on in his life, he made an effort to never manhandle any woman. Enrique often hit Dro’s mother when he had fits of rage, and Dro vowed never to be anything like Enrique.
Dro didn’t take his eyes or his choke hold off of Janine. “Lei, get Pop on the phone.”
Alexa’s heart pumped fast. “Dro, what’s going on?” She placed a hand against her chest. “Why does Lei have to call Pop?”
Dro glanced at Alexa then back at Janine. “I know who hired you. I know who let you get past my security checks. The problem is I don’t know who you’re working for. And I want to know now.”
All the color drained from Janine’s face. Alexa guessed the choke hold was getting to be too much for her.
Janine gasped, trying to catch her breath. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about Dro,” she sputtered.
“Janine, don’t play with me,” Dro sneered.
“Well,” Kendrick said. “I suggest you let go of her a minute before she’s dead and can’t tell us anything.”
Dro immediately let her go, and Janine sank to the floor. She heaved loudly, gripped her neck, and coughed violently. Dro stalked over to Lei. “Did you reach Pop?”
Lei’s phone was against his ear. He shook his head. “I’m calling Chase now.”
Dro took a breath and stared at Alexa. She watched him as he marched back over to Janine, slumped over on the floor.
She scrambled away from him. “Don’t hurt me,” she begged. “Or you’ll never find your children.”
Lei slammed his phone on the table. “I can’t reach anyone.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Alexa panicked. “Keep trying.”
“Nicholas,” Dro announced. “He hired Janine. He signed off on all of her security passes. He didn’t even do the necessary checks.”
Alexa gasped. “What?”
“Nicholas?” Kendrick asked.
Dro nodded. “Yes.”
Alexa whirled around to face Janine, who was watching them silently. The look of fear she had on her face a few minutes earlier was now replaced with a smug smirk. “How do you know Nicholas?” Alexa asked, gripping the handle of her gun. It took all the strength she had to not beat the shit out of her.
Janine stood up and dusted her suit off. “We were friends in college. He’s dating one of my sorority sisters. She convinced him to get me into Martinez. Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t realize what he’s done, but he’s been a big help. By now, your father and your kids are right where we want them.”
Alexa drew her gun and smacked Janine in the head, sending her flying back to the ground. “You Bitch. What have you done with my kids?”
Janine spit her blood back at Alexa. “Doesn’t it just kill you to lose something so precious to you?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kendrick asked, holding on to Alexa’s wrist. “What have you lost?”
Janine stared icily at Kendrick. “I hated that you were involved. Wait, no I didn’t. You did a half ass job of protecting me when Steve and Aaron were after me. You were so busy worrying about Alexa and what Alexa was doing that you let Aaron get to me. You let him brutalize me in the worse way. And now you’re going to suffer.”
Kendrick clutched Janine’s fake ponytail and slammed her head against the wall. “Fuck you. You don’t know what you’re talking about. But know this—if my wife and kids are harmed, you’ll wish it was punk ass Aaron brutalizing you.”
“Who are you working for?” Dro growled.
Janine winced when Kendrick smashed her head against the wall again. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Janine, this is not a joke.” Alexa said. “We already know Melissa is in this. Who else? Is it Adam?”
Kendrick released his hold on Janine’s hair and she balled up into a fetal position.
“We need to get out of here,” Lei said, packing his folders into a briefcase. “Grab her. She’s coming with us.”
Janine peered at Lei, fear etched in her features. “What?”
Lei stepped over to her, grabbed her by hair, and picked her up off the ground. “You walk out with us right now, or you die where you’re standing. Your choice.”
“Yeah right,” she said, tugging on her suit jacket. “You walk me out, and I’ll scream from the rooftop that you beat me.”
Alexa couldn’t help it. She smacked the twit again, this time with her fist. Janine fell into the conference table. “You don’t walk out quietly, I’ll throw you from this goddamn building and make it look like you tripped.”
Janine’s eyes widened with fear. “I thought it was them. I thought it was just them that were crazy. You’re crazy too. But you had Erik. You always had him, even when you didn’t. He still wanted you. And it cost him his life.”
Alexa slapped her again. “You’re delusional. Erik died because he befriended that sick, twisted, asshole Steve. Erik died because Steve and his father had a vendetta with my family.”
Erik had been in the wrong place when Chase set off a bomb, blowing up the car Steve’s father was in. Steve went into a blind rage, and stabbed Erik three times before Dro could stop him. Dro killed Steve, but it was too late for Erik.
Alexa hated to leave Erik, but they had to remove all evidence of themselves at the scene. She left Erik to die by himself. Erik had told her he loved her and always would. Dro handed him the gun he used to kill Steve and they left.
Alexa didn’t cry often, but she wept for days over her friend’s death. She cared for Erik and hated that he got caught between her and Steve. It was a terrible situation. In the end, the police assumed Steve stabbed Erik and Erik shot him. He was already dead when they arrived at the scene.
Alexa forced herself to focus on Janine. “If anything happens to my children, you’ll wish you died with Erik. Kendrick will be the least of your problems.”
Lei dragged Janine off the table and wrapped his coat around her. “We’re going out through the private elevator to the garage anyway. It doesn’t matter if you scream or not. No one will hear you. No one will even know you’re gone. But I would listen to Alexa and be quiet anyway. I can’t stand a lot of noise.”
***
They drove to Alexa and Dro’s house instead of back to B5, since it was closer to the Martinez Offices. Inside, they locked Janine, bound and gagged, in the hallway closet.
Alexa paced back and forth in the sitting room, while Dro, Lei and Kendrick talked.
Kendrick took a seat on the couch. “I’m not sure why we brought her back here. This is not going to work. This place isn’t secure. Why don’t we just kill her now so we won’t have to worry about her anymore?”
“Kendrick, just chill,” Dro ordered. “We can’t kill her until we know more.”
Lei shook his head. “That’s a waste of time. I agree with Kendrick. She’s not talking. And bringing her here is dangerous.”
“I needed to come here and pick up some things.” Dro took his jacket off and dropped it in a chair. “It’s not like we can’t take care of more than one thing at a time. It doesn’t make sense to kill her before we get more information.”
Kendrick shook his head. “I still feel like this is a waste of time. The longer we keep her alive, the easier it’ll be for someone to place her with us. We need to kill her now.”
Alexa stopped pacing. “Bullshit. That hoe knows more than she’s saying. And I’m not killing her until I find my kid
s.”
A cell phone rang from inside the closet.
***
Janine cringed when the door was yanked open. She screamed as Kendrick dragged her out by her feet. Alexa fumbled for her cell phone in her suit jacket.
Alexa pulled the ringing object out of her inside pocket and checked the caller ID. “Well, well, well,” she taunted. “It looks like Adam is looking for his wife. Should I answer it or leave it?”
The phone stopped ringing and Janine heaved a sigh of relief. When it started ringing again a couple of seconds later, Alexa pushed it at Janine. “Answer it and don’t try anything stupid.”
Janine looked at the phone and then at four guns and a knife pointing directly at her. The knife, held by Alexa, was pressed up against her neck. “Hello,” she said into the receiver.
Alexa tapped the “Speaker On” button.
“Hey baby,” Adam said. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you. We need to meet. Some things have changed.”
Janine peered at her captors and swallowed. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re meeting at Misti’s in thirty minutes. Can you get out of work?”
Tears streamed down Janine’s face. “I don’t think I can.”
“Why?” Adam asked with concern in his voice. “Have they asked you to work late or something? Remember we’re supposed to pick up Marnie for the birthday party later.”
***
When Janine’s eyes flashed to Alexa, she didn’t miss the smirk that played across her face. She couldn’t speak. She watched Kendrick leave the room and wondered where he was going. Lei and Dro kept their guns trained on her.
“Janine,” Adam repeated. “What’s going on?”
Janine couldn’t swallow past the lump in her throat, but she knew she needed to speak. “Adam, why are we meeting?”
“Melissa wants to meet to discuss our next move.” Adam sounded irritated.
Alexa yanked the phone from Janine’s grasp and hung up. “That’s enough. We know enough to take it from here. Too bad Janine. I guess we can pick Marnie up for you.”
“No,” Janine cried. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know. Just don’t hurt her. She’s my—”
“Answer this for me,” Lei cut in. “Why should I care who Marnie is? You obviously didn’t care about my family.”
Janine couldn’t stop the tears from falling if she tried. She would beg if she had to.
“Can you please stop with the dramatics, Janine?” Alexa snapped. “You said you would tell us everything, so talk. I’m not in the business of hurting kids like you and your buddies. But if I have to, I’ll make sure you never see Marnie again.”
Janine felt a desperation she had never felt before. Her stomach was flip flopping and her throat seemed like it was closing up. “I met Melissa when I graduated from college,” she croaked. She cleared her throat. “I went to work for her family’s company. When she found out where I was from, she asked if I knew you. We bonded over our mutual dislike. Eventually, she came to me with a proposition. She would make sure you all paid for everything that happened to me and Erik. By this time, Adam and I were dating and he wanted in. Melissa thought I could use my connection to Nicholas to get into Martinez Security. Nicholas has no idea who I really am. He’s totally loyal to you. In fact, I’m pretty sure he would kill me if he found out.”
“I don’t care about Nicholas,” Dro said. “Is Melissa working with anyone else?”
“She is,” Janine admitted. “But she hasn’t named him.”
Alexa rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot. What does she have planned for my family? Where are they?”
Janine shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know they were supposed to pick them up. I found out the location of all the safe houses when I hacked into Nicholas’ computer. I found out where you were and then we figured out where you sent the kids when I traced Nicholas’ phone.”
Lei arched a brow. “And you were okay with Melissa just taking innocent children and putting them in harm’s way just to get to us?”
“Yes,” Janine replied. “I just wanted to bring you down. Melissa assured me the children wouldn’t be hurt.”
Alexa smacked her. “And you believed her? How did you become such an idiot?”
“It looks like we’re going to be getting a little package,” Kendrick announced, walking back into the room.
“No,” Janine shouted. “Please, don’t hurt my little girl. She’s just a baby.”
CHAPTER 19
Lei jammed a syringe filled with a clear substance into a frantic Janine’s neck. She immediately fell on her back, her eyes wide open. He dropped the needle into an orange biochemical bag. “She’ll be gone in a few. It’s pentobarbital. I didn’t feel like cleaning up any blood.” He wrapped up the syringe then put it in his bag. “We need to figure out our next move.”
Janine’s breathing slowed, and Alexa felt a quick tinge of guilt. “I don’t need to figure out my next move. I need to get to my kids.”
“I agree,” Dro added. “We don’t do anything until we find out where my family is. For now, we dispose of this.” He pointed to Janine’s body. “Then we go back to B5.”
Kendrick knelt down and picked up Janine’s wrist. He pulled a white tarp out of his bag and tossed it over Janine’s now dead body. “Lei.” He sighed. “I really wish you hadn’t killed her yet. We may have needed her.”
Lei glared at Kendrick. “We don’t need shit from her. Besides, I couldn’t stand to look at her any longer. My whole family could be dead because of some high school vendetta she has against Alexa. Who in their right mind would befriend someone as crazy as Melissa and come up with some stupid scheme for revenge? Erik died because Steve killed him—not because of whatever twisted reason they came up with in their minds. And you didn’t owe her your protection, Kendrick. You agreed to do it because Alexa talked you into it. It wasn’t your fault Aaron raped her. Aaron raped her because he was a sick fuck, not because you didn’t protect her. Janine was an idiot for using that to put this stupid revenge thing in motion. But that’s what happens when people are crazy. They make things up in their minds. You weren’t even with Alexa on the night in question. But Janine has always been jealous of Alexa, and couldn’t see past that.”
Alexa watched Lei move through the room, gathering up his coat and his briefcase. He was obviously very irritated with this whole situation. And he definitely wasn’t the type to sugar coat things. He was one of the best attorneys she ever had the pleasure of knowing. He only looked at the facts. Lei stalked out of the room, mumbling under his breath the whole time.
“I can’t stand Lei sometimes,” Kendrick said to Alexa.
She smiled slightly. “I’m sure he feels the same way, Kendrick. He was right, though. Janine was an idiot. And as soon as we get the rest of the idiots she’s working with and get my children to safety, I’m getting the hell out of dodge.”
Dro’s eyes flashed to hers. “Alexa—”
“Dro, I’m tired.” She grabbed her coat. “I understand all the reasons why we’re in this predicament, but I’m tired of living like this.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Lei called from the foyer.
Alexa glanced at Dro briefly, and joined Lei in the foyer. Kendrick rolled an old trash can over to Janine, picked her up, and dropped her in it. Dro threw another tarp over the steel object.
One of Martinez’ trusted guards, Julio, appeared in the doorway. “Kendrick called and asked me to take care of something.”
Dro pointed to the trashcan. “Get rid of this. And take John with you. Send a crew to clean the house.”
***
As they entered the kitchen in B5, Alexa paused at the sight of Chase pointing a gun at them.
Chase let out a deep sigh and dropped his gun on the counter. “Sorry.”
She pushed past Dro. “What are you doing here? Where are the kids?”
“I don’t know,” Chase replied with a sigh. “I was hoping they were here
.”
“What do you mean?” Kendrick asked. “You were supposed to be with them, Chase!”
Alexa took in Chase’s appearance. He looked haggard. His clothes were burned and he had visible bruises on his face.
“Chase, what happened?” Dro asked.
“We were ambushed,” Chase began. “On the way up to the house, I got this feeling we were being followed.”
They followed him into the kitchen.
Chase picked up a beer bottle from the counter and took a sip. “I called Pop and told him to go the contingent route. Nicholas and I continued up to the house to secure it. Once we got out of the car, the bullets started flying.”
“Oh my God,” Alexa gasped. “Were you hit?”
“No. Nicholas didn’t make it, though. I tried to get him out of there, but I couldn’t.”
Kendrick sighed. “Well, it’s a good thing you weren’t hit. Nicholas getting killed saves me from having to kill him.”
Chase frowned at Kendrick. “What are you talking about? Nicholas was one of us.”
Kendrick tossed a set of keys on the counter. “No, he sure as hell wasn’t. Nicholas is the reason our security was breached. But that’s too long a story for right now. What happened to Pop?”
Chase shrugged. “I got out of there as fast as I could. When I tried to call Pop to let him know not to go to the house, I didn’t get an answer. I thought he would come here.”
Alexa closed her eyes. Where are my babies? If she didn’t find them soon, she would go crazy.
“If Pop arrived at the safe house and didn’t see your car, Chase, he would’ve gone to another safe place,” Dro said. “It makes sense to come here, but maybe he went somewhere else. Lei? Any ideas?”
“Well,” Lei said, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Maybe we should check Pop’s house. He might have gone there.”
“We were just over there,” Alexa said. “We didn’t see any sign of activity at Daddy’s house. Besides, he wouldn’t go there. It’s not secure. No one has been there at all since we got Ma out of there. We’ve pulled most of the security teams to this area.”
