Iniquity (Dahlia Saga Book 5)

by Natalie Bennett

  “What’s the deal with that?” he asked, pulling up behind it.

  “It’s his.”

  “You got in the car with him?” I hadn’t considered that until just now.

  “He’s in the trees,” she replied, opening the rear door.

  I grit my teeth and rubbed a hand across my brow, taking a breath before climbing out after her with a flashlight in hand.

  She’d kicked her heels off and was already vanishing into the trees. I followed her once Ethan clicked his light on. If there had been any doubt before as to whether this Ian person was dead, the smell in the air confirmed it.

  “How many days ago was she out here?” Ethan asked, walking with me into the woods.

  “Two days. Almost three.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Fuck is an understatement; he’s going to be in terrible shape.”

  I shined the light around, seeking out Helena. She was waiting by the base of a tree. Her porcelain skin made her look like an apparition.

  I could see one leg sticking out from behind the tree’s trunk. The stench of death intensified as I got closer. Helena was obviously unbothered by it while Ethan looked close to green.

  “This is Ian.” She motioned to the corpse as if we were supposed to fucking wave to it.

  I had a million and one questions for her, a shit ton more to say. I’d get my answers and make my point just as soon as we handled this. It was way too close to our home. It was reckless. The Dahlia could have been at risk if someone happened upon his body. God only knew who was searching for whoever this man was.

  “We have to take him back with us.”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “I’m dead serious. No pun intended.”

  “Fuck,” Ethan repeated with a sigh.

  “Helena, go lay the seats down in the truck and open the hatch. The handles are near the doors.”

  She scampered off without needing to be told twice.

  “Come on.” I walked the remaining distance to survey the damage.

  I found about what I’d been expecting, minus the brutal stab wounds on the side of his neck. Two red pins were sticking out of his neck, another had fallen to the ground.

  I pointed to them. “She didn’t plan this out, otherwise he’d be sewn up. You know how precise she is about her work.”

  “Do you think he tried to hurt her?”

  “If he did, then he got what was coming to him, but the fact remains she should have never been alone with this man in the first place.” I had no idea why she would get in a car with someone she didn’t know when her aversion to strangers was so blindingly obvious. There had to be a logical explanation.

  “Whatever the reason, this is disgusting” Ethan remarked.

  He trailed his light over Ian’s body. The man was bloated, his skin a garish green color.

  “If you listen closely, you can hear the maggots feasting inside him.”

  “Thanks for sharing that vital piece of information,” he deadpanned.

  I grinned despite the situation before us. “Of course, don’t mention it.”

  “The seats are down,” Helena’s soft voice carried from the clearing.

  “Come here,” I commanded.

  She seemed to falter for a second before slowly making her way towards us.

  “Hold these steady so we can see.” I took Ethan’s light and handed it off to her along with mine, asking Ethan. “Head and shoulders or knees and toes?”

  “Really?” he drawled, moving to grab Ian’s legs. “I thought you’d be pissed about this.”

  “Oh, I am.” I grabbed the man beneath his arms. “Yelling at her won’t make this situation any better.”

  We lifted together, causing settled toxins to rise in the air and ligaments to pop.

  “Aw, hell no,” Ethan griped. “Why aren’t we just burying him here?”

  “Because he shouldn’t have been here to begin with. Now quit being a pussy and walk.”

  “I’m going to fuck you up,” he grumbled.

  “That’s fine, but you’ll have to wait until we get him back to the Dahlia.”

  Working together, we carried Ian to the Tahoe and loaded his decomposing body into the back. As his head lolled, a large black beetle emerged from his mouth and took off across the back of the folded seats.

  “Nice,” Ethan laughed humorlessly, reaching up to shut the hatch.

  I turned towards Helena, who was standing a few feet away from us with both flashlights aimed our way.

  “You’re going to ride up front with me.”

  “Okay,” she replied quietly.

  The three of us loaded back into the truck, her sitting on my lap, and then we took the short drive back home with all the windows down.

  “Do we take him right in the front door, or do I need to drive around to the cellar entrance?”

  “Park in front.”

  He did as I instructed, popping the hatch before cutting his headlights off. Helena started to shift on my lap; I grabbed her hips to keep her still. Now wasn’t the time for my dick to be hard.

  The front doors swung open and my Dad walked outside. He was in his pajamas now that the Agnelli’s had left, which was nothing more than a plaid pair of pants.

  I’d texted for his assistance, not wanting to bother Mason this time. I popped my door open, and then eased Helena off my lap, climbing out of the truck behind her.

  “What do we have?” Dad asked, strolling right past me to the hatch. “It smells like it’s been dead for a few days.”

  “He has,” Ethan replied.

  I left Helena near the hood and went to join him. Dad let out a low whistle as soon as he got a look at our bloated piece of cargo.

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  “Break him down and then get rid of the pieces. I can’t just leave him sit until the cleaners start back up. That’s a week away.”

  He crossed his arms, a thoughtful expression coming over his face. “Do you know who he is?”

  “Personally, no. She’s been calling him Ian. His car is still in the field, so I’m hoping there’s an answer inside it. Registration or ID should tell me the who. Won’t tell me the why, though.”

  He glanced in Helena’s direction. She hadn’t said more than a few words through this whole ordeal.

  Unlike the last time something like this had occurred, she seemed relatively calm.

  “Ethan can take her home. You can help me get him up to my room.”

  “Alright.” I looked to Ethan to confirm he’d heard that.

  “Want me to wait for you before I ask her anything?”

  “No.” I shook my head. While I wanted to be there for this it would be better to get as much out of her as quickly as possible, so we knew what kind of situation we were dealing with. “I trust you to handle it. Just…”

  “I know,” he reassured without me needing to finish my sentence. We couldn’t lash out, or she’d shut down.

  “Ready?” I asked my Dad.

  “Yep. You want heads or tails?”

  I chuckled at his wording and reached for Ian’s legs.

  Chapter Twelve

  Declan

  The first thing we did was strip him naked. In the light I could see he was in worse shape than I thought. His body cavity hadn’t ruptured into a frothy mess yet, but all the internal organs that had started to liquify were beginning to leak from his ears and nose. Being in the woods had made his corpse both a smorgasbord and a maternity ward for bugs to feast and lay their eggs.

  Once we had him unclothed, we moved him from the chair to the large metal tub on the far side of my Dad’s red room.

  “Can’t believe that wisp of a girl did this,” he said, a hint of admiration in his tone.

  “Shouldn’t you be somewhat upset about it?” I asked. “What if someone would have found him?”

  He made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat and walked to where his various knives were hung on a cork board, s
electing one with a lethal point.

  “Declan this place has existed for decades. Longer than both me and you’ve been alive combined. This town is ours. While your Uncle Julian would lose all his shit if we went running through it like Edward Scissorhands, a body being found wouldn’t have been the end of the world.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Course you don’t,” he replied, kneeling beside the tub with his knife. “You and Mason were brought up to be the way you are for a reason. One day, this beautiful beast of a house and this town will belong to you two and be your full responsibility.”

  “Until that day comes, there’s a shitload you two won’t know, and even more you’re going to have to learn. Luckily, you’ve got a family that’s here to make sure you’ll be ready for that.”

  He perforated the body quicker than I could have, cutting the front of Ian’s thighs deep and diagonally, to slit the femoral arteries before making a few more quick cuts to help all the shit drain out of him faster.

  “Huh,” he mused once he’d finished.

  “Huh what?”

  “I think I know him.”

  I looked at him in disbelief. “You say that after we’ve stripped him ass naked and you start cutting him up?”

  “No, I thought he looked somewhat familiar downstairs. I wasn’t sure. I never seen him swollen up like a damned balloon.” He rose to his feet, knife still in hand. “Cover the top of this with plastic, will you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then flip the switch for the ionizer.”

  I did the plastic first, finding it in a closet full of shit I wasn’t going to ask about. I hooked it over the tub in its designated slots specifically for this purpose. I hit the switch for fan next, simultaneously activating the industrial ionizer system. When I was finished, I finally took notice of Dad holding a faded brown wallet.

  “Where’d that come from?”

  He didn’t respond. On closer inspection, he looked mad as hell. Thank fuck not at me. I was aware of the side of him he kept under wraps. He wasn’t known for being one of the most brutal butchers the Dahlia had for no reason.

  “So, you do know him?” I fished.

  “His names Ian alright. Ian Moore.”

  “Moore? That isn’t the last name he gave Helena.”

  “The mans a dumbass, son. But not that dumb.”

  I tapped my lips and waited for him to explain. That name didn’t mean anything to me either way. I’d never heard of him.

  “He’s your mother’s ex.”

  I stiffened, my thoughts immediately leaping to try and understand why he would have been anywhere near our Dahlia or Helena.

  “I wasn’t aware she had any,” I replied, confirming everything he’d told me minutes ago. I didn’t know shit.

  “He was fucking her behind my back before I forced her ass to move here from Redwood. Course, she was doing everything behind my back our whole relationship.”

  Well, holy fuck. I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head.

  “She threw it in my face during an argument,” he explained.

  “Why did you stay with her?”

  “Because after the argument she got pregnant with you.”

  What the fuck? If this were anyone other than my Dad, I would have laughed. As it was, I wanted to set Dakota on fire and watch her fucking melt.

  “I thought he might have been the man that approached Helena at Aunt Tony’s bakery.”

  “He more than likely is.”

  “She said she’d never seen him before.”

  He laughed, the sound the opposite of something warm and joyful. “I didn’t run around announcing your mother was a whore Declan. The only people who knew were your uncles. She hasn’t ever seen him before. He wouldn’t dare show his face here…until now.”

  I would’ve asked why, but I was already piecing it together. “So, this whole thing isn’t about Helena at all. It’s about you?”

  “It’s about all of us.” He pocketed the wallet and rolled his shoulders.

  “Helena’s part of our family. If someone wanted to get to us, they would figure their best bet would to be to use her or Katie.”

  “It obviously didn’t go how he expected,” I replied, gesturing towards the tub Ian was currently draining into.

  “No shit. Those girls are just as fucked up as we are. Especially yours.”

  I took that a compliment.

  “Do you think the women that showed up here are connected to this too? Whatever this even is.” I’d told him about all this the other night when he lured me in Mason in here for another round of show and tell.

  He gave me a bland look. “Do we believe in coincidences around here?”

  His question was my answer. The two were related. “So, the chances of Clarice being Helena’s sister?”

  “That verdict is still on the table. I can’t see how her claiming that title would benefit Ian.”

  “What do I do then?”

  “About Ian? Nothing. Matter-of-fact, go home to the two people waiting on you.”

  I was shaking my head before he finished speaking. “I can’t just do nothing. I need to--.”

  “You need to go home. Porter will be back soon. He can help me with the car. He was there. He’s aware of the history. As for the women, get them here and we can figure out the rest.”

  He turned away and walked over to one of his cabinets, retrieving a gallon of something. I was reluctant to leave him alone. I knew he was raging inside, smothering it for my benefit.

  “Are you going to be okay?” It was a stupid fucking question. I wasn’t sure how he could be. I wouldn’t.

  Luckily, I never had to worry about Helena entertaining any other men. Thanks to this, I wasn’t sure I could tolerate them even looking her way. The gilded cage fantasy seemed much more feasible now.

  Dad laughed, softer this time. “I’m always going to be okay Declan. There’s nothing your mother can do that will surprise me anymore.”

  “You think she was involved?”

  He turned back around.

  “I know she was. Julian got rid of Ian’s cousin when Morgana came back. That’s a whole other story I won’t get into, but it would’ve been the perfect way to bait Ian into our town. I’m only sorry she dragged Helena into this.”

  He didn’t need to apologize for that. Helena could take care of herself, clearly. A fact I didn’t want to accept. That I would only pretend to accept for her benefit.

  At a loss of words for once I said, “I’m sorry you’ve been stuck with her all your life.”

  “Having you made that worth it. Now go home, I need to think. She isn’t going to get away with this…again.”

  There were many responses to that, but I kept them all to myself. My night wasn’t close to being over and the sooner I got back, the better.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Helena

  I expected every noise to be him.

  Ethan sat me at the dining room table, then decided he wanted to make hot chocolate. I watched him move around the kitchen, giving Hannibal pets.

  “You can’t go around killing people,” he said after placing a pan on the stove.

  “I don’t kill people. You do.”

  He pressed a hand to his head. “You can’t go around fixing people.”

  “I need to fix them. I make them better. I tried to fix Ian. For you. And Declan.”

  He turned away from the stove and crossed his arms. “Why for me and Declan?”

  I shifted on my chair.

  “He said…you would go to prison.” I grabbed my arm. “You would get the needle, like on TV.”

  “Helena that--.”

  “He knew too much.”

  He uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the oven. He left the kitchen area and came to where I was, grabbing another chair to sit in.

  “What did he know?” he asked softly, taking hold of my hand.

  I relayed everything Ian had known by repeating our conv
ersation word for word. Ethan waited until I was finished before he spoke again.

  “Helena you should have told one of us. It’s not your job to keep us safe. Anything could have happened to you, baby-girl.”

  I didn’t like that.

  “I wasn’t afraid. I told you.”

  “Being fearless isn’t always smart.”

  “He wanted to break my family. I fixed him instead. I’m not sorry. I’d do it again.”

  His brows rose, his mouth opened then closed again. “And what if you were caught?”

  His words had a prickling sensation erupting beneath my skin. Why wasn’t he happy? I did this for us. I would never let anyone take away someone I loved. I didn’t blame Ian, though.

  People who broke things didn’t know it was bad. I could make them perfect. They’d all be better. Like Buddy. And Mother. Like all the people they had me help in the kennels. Besides, he was the one who killed people.

  “What if you were caught?” I retorted.

  “When the hell did you get that mouth?”

  A laugh had us both looking the other way. Seeing Declan, I turned away, wanting to upstairs to my room. He wasn’t going to let me. He walked over to where we were sitting and knelt next to my chair.

  “You don’t have to protect us, sweetheart. We’re capable of handling ourselves, but I appreciate what you did.”

  Ethan made a sound and stood up. “Is this good cop, bad cop? Because I’m pretty sure you just stole my role you kiss-ass.”

  Declan laughed, straightening to his full height when Hannibal tried to lick his face. “I need to speak with you about a few things.”

  They shared a look I couldn’t understand. I didn’t care, though.

  “You’re not upset?”

  “Ah, I didn’t say that. I know why you did what you did now. But you can’t hide things from us Helena. Ethan was right, he could have hurt you.”

  “Okay.”

  “And if you ever get in a car with some random man again, the things I’m going to do to you will make you hate me for a very long fucking time. I don’t care if he has a gun to your head.”

  He wasn’t yelling. I knew he was mad, though. I would still do it again if I had to, but I’d tell them first.