20. Devon

Chapter twenty

Devon

T he minute Dom and Lenny come charging into the meeting room at the back of the Palace, I know they have news. Finn perks up beside me at seeing their stiff postures and serious expressions, his green eyes darting my way.

The fucker is an adrenalin junkie. He loves drama, and loves getting his hands dirty and one thing he hates about Christmas is how the killing business tends to die off for a week or so.

I guess even the scum of the earth celebrate the most ridiculous holy celebration that most people don’t even recognise other than gift giving and filling bellies while getting drunk.

The latter is the only perk if you ask me.

“What do you have?” I ask as they sit quickly, and Miles joins us, his hulking frame folding into a seat much too small for him.

“I’m sorry we didn’t find the connection until now.” Dom starts, our resident hacker looking a little nervous. “We’ve been so focused on finding Mr V that the pictures you sent from Melissa’s phone got pushed to the side.”

I frown, about to ask what that has to do with Mr V when Lenny butts in.

“Dom was stressing himself out, so I told him to take a break and work on something else for a bit while I continued searching CCTV footage for the car, and that’s when he did a deep dive into the profile you sent him that was from Melissa’s phone.”

“It’s him,” Dom continues, tossing some grainy pictures on the table as I stare at the man I killed over a year ago.

“Fit Nick is dead. I fucking killed him myself.” I spit and Lenny nods.

“You did, but this fucker…” He jabs his finger onto the grainy picture. “This fucker is Vincent Ballen, Nick’s little brother who fucking resembles Nick so much so that he’s taken over his social media and kept Nick’s profile alive with his own fucking selfies.”

Fuck.

“This makes much more sense now,” I mutter, and my men nod.

“So Melissa’s ex that you killed has a younger brother seeking revenge?” Miles confirms and I nod.

“Looks like it.” I turn my gaze to Lenny. “Do we have a location yet?”

“No location yet, but now that we know who it is, we have a better chance at finding him.”

“Good. I’d like to get it done before Christmas.”

“I thought you didn’t like Christmas.” Finn smirks and I shoot him a glare.

“I fucking don’t.”

“Uh-huh. This year’s different though, isn’t it?” He chuckles and my other men grin. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with that feisty blonde you kidnapped?”

I flip him off, and the men erupt in laughter.

I let them off this time. Normally I’d tell them to pull their heads in and focus, but today all I can think about is said blonde asleep in my office, not wearing any panties and dreaming about all the filthy things I’ve done to her.

Fuck. That thought has my cock waking up.

Down boy.

An alarm tone from not just mine, but all of our phones has me picking the thing up off the table and opening the alert message just as fast as my men .

Their curses fill the room as I read the alert.

Gate Breach - Outbound.

“The fuck!” I yell, standing and charging from the room as I call the front gate. Aaron answers on the first ring. “What’s happened?”

“Sir, I’m sorry. She came charging for us in the Corvette, and you said we weren’t allowed to shoot her.”

“The fuck!” I boom again, “Tell me you didn’t just let my guest fucking leave?!”

“She was going to run us down, and she drove that thing right through the gate. They are reinforced to stop that happening from the other side, but not from the inside.”

“FUCK!” I roar, slamming my fist into the wall beside me before a hand comes to my shoulder.

“Calm down, man. Try to think clearly,” Finn mutters close to my ear, and fuck, he’s the only one I wouldn’t kill for telling me to fucking calm down.

I end the call to the front gate and bring up my cousin’s number before turning to Dom. “Bring up the gate footage in my office now.”

He nods and hurries around me, charging down the hall towards my office.

“What are you gonna do?” Finn asks as we follow Dom.

“Well, I gotta tell my cousin his car has just been stolen and hope he doesn’t fucking hunt me down and remove my balls from my body.”

Finn chuckles, slapping me on the shoulder as I call my cousin.

It rings a couple of times before Conrad answers, sounding a little drunk.

“Sup, cuz? How’s my sexy princess?”

Fuck. He calls his car, Princess. This isn’t going to end well .

“Hey, yeah, uh… She’s currently ripping up the pavement out here in the sticks.”

“You don’t sound like you’re driving right now,” Conrad asks, confused, and I grip the back of my neck.

“Yeah, that’s because I’m not driving her,” I admit, entering my office to see Dom at my computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he logs into the video footage from the front gate.

“But you just said…”

“Look, I’ll be frank. My guest is driving the Corvette.”

“What!” Conrad booms and I pull the phone away from my ear as the speaker crackles. “You’re fucking kidding, right?! That’s a five hundred thousand dollar car, Dev! Why would you let some chick drive it?”

“I didn’t let her exactly.”

“Dev.” He sneers in warning and I can imagine him gritting his teeth.

Dom waves me over, so I round the desk to look at the screen, watching Aaron and Bruno fly up from their posts, guns in hand as they start yelling before their stance turns panicked. It’s then that the Corvette comes onto the screen, so fast I’m a little fucking impressed, right before my men dive out of the way and the Corvette bursts through the gates, speeding off down the road.

“Are you listening to me!” Conrad’s voice registers and I realise I must have zoned out as I watched my little mouse make her escape.

Fuck.

I really thought she’d stay.

My eyes fall to my desk where her phone was and the note I left her to see two words written under my message, the handwriting perfectly neat.

I’m sorry .

“Do you have tracking on the car?” I ask my cousin.

“Of course I have tracking on her.” He snarls like it’s the most ridiculous question ever.

“Good. Track her and tell me where she goes. I’m going to get her.” I spit, storming from my office.

“I hope you mean my Princess?”

“No, I fucking mean my Princess, and she’d better be prepared for the punishment she’ll receive for this.”