Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

BODHI

A dam and Milo returned with a pair of Vandals to join us on the family excursion. Liam O'Connell and Vaughn Westbrook were excellent choices as backup. O'Connell because he knew all the players. Westbrook, on the other hand, was nearly six and a half feet of heavy, layered muscle decorated with tattoos.

He also had red hair which was utterly at odds with his genial nature. I didn't have a problem with it, I'd never met a red-headed man that wasn't an absolute barbarian when it came to fighting or madder than a goddamn hatter.

I approved of both. Since this ginger was relatively polite and easy-going the rest of the time? Fine by me. Always needed to watch out for the quiet ones.

Ezra came down before Lainey. The wet hair betrayed his shower. He'd gone for casual, and dark colored clothing. Solid plan. There would definitely be blood spilled.

"Liam," Ezra said by way of greeting and the other man nodded. When Ezra glanced at me, I pointed to the coffee on the table. I'd made it for both him and Lainey…

There she was, and I enjoyed the time it took her to descend the stairs to just savor her appearance. From the neat braid of her hair to the careful tucking of her pants into her boots. Nothing in her appearance or her wardrobe betrayed our plans.

Except…

I canted my head to the side as she took the coffee.

"I know," she murmured. "I need to get my gun. I wanted coffee first."

That was part of it. "You need knives for your boots. We're going to update your wardrobe before we leave."

"You want the tags done now or after?" Vaughn asked. It was his first question since he arrived. That explained the case he'd brought with him. James, the doctor who ran with them, and Vaughn were both skilled at under the skin geo-tags.

"After," Lainey said after taking a drink. "I don't want any more delays. If one of us has a reaction, I'd rather not split us up."

"Good points." Adam agreed with her and Milo just gave her a long look before he nodded.

"Are you sure we all need to get chipped?" Ezra grimaced.

"Yes," Lainey said firmly. "We're all allowed our privacy, and I will never use the tracker unless we think you're in danger. But too much has happened and we're all going to feel better if we can find each other when it matters."

No argument would survive against that reasoning. To give Ezra his due, he gave up the fight without even waging it. If we'd had to pin him down to tag him, we would have. Cooperation, however, was appreciated.

"Plan," I said, taking over. "We're splitting into two vehicles. Lainey B, you're with me and Adam. Ezra, you're with Milo and Liam. Vaughn, I'll give you the option of choosing which team you go in with, but I want you to take the front door after we deal with external security."

Ezra frowned. Yes, I was separating him from Lainey and Adam. With them, he was a distraction. Milo and Liam were more than capable of watching his back and he was less likely to engage in theatrical heroics for them.

It was a win for everyone.

For his part, Vaughn merely nodded. "Fine by me. How many are we expecting?"

The plan was relatively straightforward. Ezra had the security codes and he wrote it down for everyone. Adam knew the layout of most of the guard positions as well as where the main security office was.

"We'll start there," Milo said. It was where I'd wanted his team anyway. As much as I enjoyed removing security issues, it kept Ezra out of the direct line of fire with his most dangerous opponent.

Wallace Graham.

Lainey took a long drink of her coffee then studied the screen on the laptop. Wrapping an arm around her middle, I tugged her back to sit in my lap. It would let her study the layout for Harrows Park that I'd pulled up. She relaxed against me, though there was a tight litte frown where her brows drew together.

The house was a monster and it was parked on a very large tract of land. Strategically, it could be a fortress. The Grahams, however, had embraced entertaining and socializing instead of more intense security measures.

Still, they had a staff of more than forty for security and another twenty or so for the household itself, not counting groundskeepers and gardeners. Sixty some odd people who could get in the way…

"What if they have guests?" Lainey didn't look at the screen anymore, she glanced at Ezra. "I know your mother begins preparing for the Daughters League this time of year."

"She isn't hosting," Ezra said. "That honor went to the Mansfields of Bridgeport, so the ballroom will remain closed."

That was good.

"There are too many variables to account for every single one. So we're going in quiet. You three will hit the security office, close it down and make sure no one can signal law enforcement. Locking down the garages and the gates should be next." We went over every aspect of the plan until it was time to move.

Plans always had to be fluid. It made life interesting and coordination like this survivable. Coffee finished, Lainey strapped on her shoulder holster and covered it with a jacket.

"Be safe, Mayhem." Milo ordered her before dropping a kiss on her lips.

"You do the same, Pretty Boy." She winked then glanced to where Ezra still wore a frown. He hated this. I couldn't blame him. His father was a problem.

We were fixing the problem.

"I'll be good," Ezra promised. "Mostly. Liam will probably kick my ass if I'm not."

"Accurate," Liam said, then waved him to the car.

Lainey blew Ezra a kiss then Adam gave him a long measuring look. When Ezra grinned and saluted, Adam rolled his eyes.

Better.

They were finding balance.

"Let's go," I said, opening the passenger door for Lainey.

All the smiles faded. It was time to get to work.

Once on the road, Lainey and Adam were both on their phones. She made calls to track down Dinah Graham while Adam handled getting his security in place to replace the Graham security.

A few had already been bought and paid for, but that wouldn't be all of them. I already had a cleanup crew on standby. When we finished with Graham, we had one more target to eliminate before we left—if time allowed. If not, we'd deal with him when we came home.

The drive to Harrows Park was over an hour and it flew past as Lainey and Adam made plans. Some calls they didn't want to put Ezra through. The rest? Well, we couldn't make the calls until it was time.

"She's definitely out," Lainey said as we arrived at the gates to Harrows Park. No one was in the guardhouse and the main gates were closed. "She's checked in for a full spa day to get ready for the memorial service."

I nodded then used the remote from Ezra to open the gates. Both cars had one. They were entering from the back, while we came from the front. I wanted all the attention on us.

Honestly, I wanted all the resistance on us too. It would be great fun to see them try to keep us from doing what we came here to do.

I parked in the porte cochere and took my keys before sliding around the car. Adam was already out and he had Lainey's door open. I gave them both a nod as I ascended the steps to the entrance.

Unsurprisingly, these doors weren't locked. They opened right into the foyer. The doors on the far side of the foyer might be locked, but I wasn't concerned. Security cameras, patrolling security, and an estate of land offered the feeling of protection.

Arrogance. The downfall of so many and a lesson that the wealthy and the powerful should have learned. Influence was only valuable to the people that needed it or wanted it. The rest? Well, it only provided a shield against those not willing to take what was owed to them.

Pushing open the doors to the main house, I wasn't surprised to find a footman hurrying to greet us. "I'm sorry, Mr. Graham is not receiving visitors today."

"Henderson," Adam said as he swept past me. "We need to talk."

If we didn't have to kill the staff, we wouldn't. Some of them would have to go. Unfortunately, some would have blind loyalty, either bought and paid for or earned over the years.

They could no more sacrifice it than they could their own families because they built their whole lives and identities around the families they served. It was a throwback to a different age, and a different place. I never wanted staff like that.

Frankly, I didn't want staff. I preferred people with principles that would turn on you if you turned out to be a raging psychopath who locked up your wife. Or beat your son. Or plotted the sexual slavery of your stepdaughter.

I didn't think that was unreasonable.

Lainey walked at my side as we trailed behind Adam. He collected another footman, then a butler on our way to the kitchen.

The housekeeper rose as Adam and his entourage swept in ahead of us. The cook turned around, his expression fierce. Yeah, we were intruding on their territory.

"Gentlemen, ladies," Adam began, summoning their attention to him. "I have an offer for you and it's only available for thirty seconds."

Outside the windows, I could see one of Adam's security teams moving. Excellent. Touching Lainey's shoulder to remind her I had another task, I left her guarding Adam's back as I took the door down to the wine cellar.

The Grahams had quite the collection stored in temperature controlled vaults, along with a few other artifacts and items they didn't share with the public. Vaults within vaults.

I liked digging through secrets. However, I wasn't down here for the secrets. We'd have time to sort all that out for Ezra later. Right now, I wanted the primary security room.

As much as I disliked applauding the man, I had to give the Grahams credit for this. Stored within the wine vault, in a room of its own and on a separate feed, was the primary servers and control room for the whole house.

Security had access to some feeds and some cameras. This room recorded everything. It was how Wallace Graham manipulated and extorted his way to the top. He had dirt on a lot of people, all safely stored where no one could get to it.

Ezra knew two of the codes.

Adam actually had a third.

But Lainey B surprised us all when she handed over the last one. Her amusement at how stunned Ezra and Adam were had shown.

"You boys are so cute that you think I don't pay attention to everything going on around me."

I would never make that mistake.

The codes got me into the first wine vault. Then into the second, and finally the last two opened the door behind the wine rack that took me into the security room. Quite paranoid in the placement.

I approved.

Inside, the room had several dark monitors but one touch of the mouse and they populated. Camera angles for every single room, several on the ballroom, the courtyard—the bedrooms.

Sick fucker watched his own son?

Another confirmation that he needed to go. I found Adam and Lainey in the kitchen. All but two of the staff had gone. Unfortunately, those two would be leaving the same way as their employer.

Now, where was Graham senior?

Of course, he didn't have the cameras in his office on an auto feed. Probably didn't want the wife spying on him. Though that might require Dinah Graham to think beyond the next major event.

There he was…

The camera was dormant until I activated it. He sat behind his desk, tie and jacket free, the collar of his shirt unbuttoned and a large glass of bourbon or maybe it was brandy.

He wasn't on the phone or with anyone, he was studying something on his computer with a scowl on his face. Straightening, I swept the room around me.

No cameras in here. That was a blindspot. Returning to the screens, I spotted Milo's team heading toward the main building from the security cottage. Another sweep of the grounds and I identified eight more.

Raising my phone, I texted everyone to give them the locations of the targets, as well as the primary. That done, I began shutting off the recordings one at a time. If Ezra wanted to turn the system back on later, we'd overhaul it.

For now, what happened next was for no one's consumption. Once I cut the feeds, I cut the hardline. Then I paused to stare into the room next to the server boxes.

A wall of tapes. Discs. Other hard recording media.

They were labeled.

I took Benedict as soon as I spotted it. Cavendish was a shelf below. Nothing on Reed. Harper probably scared him. I recognized nearly all of the names on these shelves. If he had this much physical media…

We had another task for Fletcher Reed when this was done. For now, I stored the discs in the inner pocket of my jacket and sealed it up.

Upstairs, I found Liam and Ezra in the kitchen with Lainey and Adam. Our two members of staff were no longer visible. I trusted them to have handled it.

"Milo on the way?" I asked.

"He's meeting us," Adam said, then flicked a look at Ezra. "You can stay. You don't have to watch what comes next."

For all that this had troubled him, Ezra straightened and his jaw set. "No, I do. Because he's used the two of you as leverage for a long time. I want to see him learn his lesson." He took another deep breath. "I need this."

"Then you'll have it," I told him. "Shall we…?"