Deadly Chaos (Steel Roses Book 2)

by Samantha Bee

  I nod, that would make the most sense. They probably didn't realize that Noah was worth just as much as Scarlett is. She can't function without all of us and none of us can deny her a thing. They may have realized now that having Noah is more than enough to get whatever it is they want.

  The question is, what do they want? Is he a message? A bargaining chip? Just what is their next move here?

  "Where is everyone else?" I hear myself asking before I even fully realize it feels too quiet for this news. Shouldn't all the others be here too? I know that all of the guys I've met run with them in whatever it is they're all involved in. It seems like a kidnapping would force everyone to come together.

  "Mikey and Ronan went to go stay with Britt. They're acting like business as usual until further notice." His eyes flash over to Scarlett once more before he continues. "Ian and Holden went to get Jade and the boys. Tyler went with Joe to get Rowan and Charlene. They're all being moved to a safehouse until further notice." He shakes his head in disbelief. "We are circling the wagons, pulling everyone in. Minimizing the targets that Romano could go after. And securing the ones with the highest likelihood of him already knowing about."

  I nod along as I consider his words. It makes sense to keep the kids altogether and as far away from it as possible. It's not going to be easy to not be in constant contact with them though. For any of us. I've just become accustomed to having Roe in my everyday life. To hearing a sweet little voice calling me Daddy.

  Fear unlike anything I've ever experienced slams into me, almost knocking the very breath from my lungs. "We need to end this." For Scarlett. For Rowan. For the boys. For all of us.

  He nods, his expression in the same steely determination I can imagine my own face is showing. "We need Scar to come back to us. She's the one who can give us the best leads. Noah is our backup computer guy, so unless you're about to tell me that you're also a secret hacker, we fucking need her. No one else is as good."

  I nod again, not bothering to talk anymore of this out. I have a million questions swimming through my brain, but I push them away. I can get my answers later. I know everything that I need to know in this moment. The most important thing we need to do is bring Scar back to the land of the living. She can't run and hide from this. She will forever hate herself if she doesn't do everything in her power to get Noah back.

  I don't even want to think about what will happen to her, to us, if we don't succeed in this.

  I move over to Kade and gently take Scarlett in my arms. She doesn't fight the transfer, just turns to press her nose into my chest as I lift her. Her eyes remain closed, but I can tell that even if they were open, she wouldn't see anything. She's too far gone in her own mind.

  I carry her out of the room and into the ensuite that's attached to her room. I can feel the other guys' confusion as they follow me. Talking isn't going to work with her right now. There's no way to gently coax her out of this haze, not when time is of the essence.

  I step into the shower with her and turn it on full blast. The shock of the cold water makes me flinch, but I just didn't want to let her go. I also didn't trust her to stand on her own.

  It takes only a moment for the water to break through her mind fog. She shakes herself, sputtering as her eyes finally snap open. She looks up at me, confusion, worry and guilt all swirling in those green eyes of hers.

  "Declan?" She shakes her head again, not even the slightest bit concerned with the cold water pouring over the both of us. She looks down to where my arms are wrapped around her, cradling her to me. I gently start to ease her on to the ground, keeping my hands on her until I know she can hold herself up.

  She's still slow coming out of her daze. I've never seen her disappear inside of herself so thoroughly. It's something she did a lot when we first met. Her eyes would get this glazed look and she wouldn't hear or see anything going on around her. She would lose all sense of time while she was lost inside the mess of her own mind. But never has it quite been this bad. She's never taken this long to shake it off once coming back to herself.

  "Noah," she whispers before doubling over in pain. Her arms wrap around herself as she squeezes them to her body, trying to alleviate the pain ratcheting through her.

  I cradle her face in my hands, drawing it up to look at me. "You're stronger than this."

  She shakes her head at me, her eyes filling with emotion. "I'm not though," she cries out desperately. "He's gone, Declan."

  "Scarlett Everhart," I snap at her. "You have the power to get him back. Not me, not them. You. Don't let them take your power from you. You are strong enough. You will get him back. So get your shit together so we can do exactly that."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Declan's harsh words break through the doubts plaguing my mind. His scathing tone flares through me, firing me up and reminding me that I can do this. That I need to do this. I can't live without Noah and panicking about him being gone isn't going to help anyone. Especially not him.

  There's a hole in my chest where he belongs. I know that it won't go away until I have him back, my hands on his skin, his arms wrapped around me. My senses overwhelmed with all things Noah.

  I can see the expressions of shock on the others' faces behind where Declan stands. I look down and for the first time realize we are both soaking wet. The cold finally penetrates through the numb and I start to shiver.

  Declan reaches behind me to turn off the water and it's only a moment later before Ryder is wrapping a towel around my shoulders. He helps me out of the shower as Kade tosses another towel to D. Ryder pulls me into him, not caring one bit that I get him soaking wet. He kisses my forehead and just holds me. "I know you're not okay, but you're going to be. We are going to get him back."

  I let myself soak in his comfort for just one single moment before I force myself to shut it all down. I need to put my emotions back into the little box that resides in the back of my mind. I need to be able to think clearly and logically through all the possible moves.

  The ache in my chest doubles as if mocking me that I could ever forget I'm living without a piece of me. I let myself feel it. Afterall, I'm used to living with the pain. I just can't let myself go numb again.

  I lead the way out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Luca leads Declan into the hallway. I assume to get him his own clothes. Declan hasn't been leaving any of his stuff here, even though he stays over quite a bit. I don't think he's ever wanted to force himself on the other guys. That ends now. I'll move him in here myself if I have to.

  I strip quickly and get redressed in black leggings and one of Noah's shirts that he left in my room the other night. It hangs past my ass and smells like him. I just might not take it off until we get him back. Who knew I would turn into such a sentimental bitch?

  I don't bother with shoes or even brushing my hair. I just throw it up in a bun, I'm going to regret that later, but I can't bring myself to care.

  I lead the guys out and head straight for the office. It's a similar setup as the one at our safehouse, but since there tends to be more than one of us going in on a regular basis, we used a fake wall instead of going through a closet.

  I type a code into my phone as I move over to the far wall. Once I hit enter, I move the mirror that hangs on the wall and press my palm into the biometric scanner that's there. It won't even turn on until after the code has been put into the system by one of us. We each have a different code that activates the scanner so only that person will be recognized.

  The wall slides open, revealing a narrow staircase that leads down to our security room. Declan and Luca rejoin us just as I start to descend the stairs. I hear Declan whistle, but he says nothing as they follow us down. Ryder has already seen this place and Luca and Kade spend as much time down here as I do.

  When I first started staying here with Luca, I had all of the systems and equipment added and modified so that I can do everything I need to be able to do here. He didn't always have su
ch an extensive computer setup here.

  I head straight for my monitors and pull up the systems that I have constantly running to track Romano and all of his key players. For most of them, I have alerts sent to my phone as soon as they ping any unusual activity. I haven't gotten any, but it never fails to look through what the system has collected and see if there's any leads for me to follow up on.

  The guys spread out around the room. Kade watches me over my shoulder, Luca starts to go through his own setup and information that he's collected to see if he can find anything. Declan and Ryder walk along the edge of the room, looking at the security feeds and all of the weapons that line the walls.

  I call out to both of them and get them set up to watch over the footage I have of the entire street leading up to Luca's house. I added a new feature to the security so that any activity on the drive would have immediately sent an alert to all of our phones. The program is set to recognize our cars so that we aren't getting alerts when it's just us coming and going. But any vehicle the system doesn't have programmed into it, will send the alert. So I'm confident that we won't find any type of strange activity on those videos.

  We just might be able to find something if we watch the ones from the street though. I have most of the street covered, but specifically the areas that would be best to park if someone were to want to keep an eye on our driveway. If anyone has been staking us out, I'm positive that I would have caught at least some footage of it.

  I should have had the same setup at Noah's place. Why the fuck didn't I? I curse myself for being arrogant. He just never stayed there anymore. I don't even know why he's kept the fucking place. Not anymore. I'm demanding that everyone moves in here. Full time. Permanently.

  I go back to the programs I have and start running through all the different key players, the safe houses that I know of, and the surveillance I have on all of them. I will call in every ally, every favor if I have to.

  There's no suspicious activity other than the usual shit Romano has going on. Absolutely nothing looks out of the ordinary. None of the safehouses that I have surveillance set up on have been put into use in the last twenty-four hours. I'm not so self-important to think that I know all of Romano's hidey-holes, but it sure would have been nice if it had been that easy.

  I start to scour through the records of every person I have a file on. I go through them one by one. Checking all recent financial transactions and flagging anything that could indicate a new location. Where they're getting gas. What food they're eating. If they're ordering anything, the address where it's being delivered.

  Romano isn't an idiot but not every member of his force will be as careful as he is. The majority of the safehouses of his that I have discovered have been because of something as mundane as a guard having pizza delivered while they were working.

  I go through Romano first even though I know my chances there are slim to none. I find nothing. I move on to William. Being his second, there's a good chance that he's with Noah. Especially, if they've realized having Noah is as good as having me, if that's what they were in fact after. If I had to guess, I'd say they wanted to lure me out to use me against Luca.

  They've clearly switched gears since they moved Noah and haven't reached out to us again. There's no way we wouldn't know that something happened to him after being led out to the outskirts of town, to find no trace of him. So they must not care if we are aware now. Which just begs the question, what is it that they want?

  Are they still of the thought that Luca is holding back information from them? Do they know that we've been working against them the entire time? I've chilled out on releasing the information and offing people from my list since Luca handed over the name. So I don't see why his suspicions would be raised.

  My mind races as I find nothing in William's transactions either. I move on to Ciar but he's a quick search. He's gone completely off the grid since the raid where we saved Jade and Roe. Hasn't made one purchase, used any of his fake identities, or showed his face on any of the places that I've managed to get security into. He's vanished into thin air. Not an easy thing to do in this day and age but somehow, he’s managed. He must be keeping an incredibly low profile and using an identity that even his own father isn’t aware of.

  I begin to work on Ciar’s second in command, Andrew Greene. I start to look through the stats my programs have been collecting when Declan calls my name. I turn my attention to him and Ryder as they point out a nondescript blue car on several of the monitors they're watching.

  "This one is from earlier today." Ryder points out the same car with two men sitting in the front seats. I look at the time stamp and see that this was right around the time I got the phone call from Noah.

  "Move," I say. He pushes back from the desk, but before he can vacate the seat he's sitting in, I'm plopping down in his lap. I know I didn't give him much time, but I decided I couldn't wait. This was faster. I take control of the monitors, rewinding to before Noah left this morning. I watch as he leaves, the blue car already parked outside.

  My eyes drift to the other monitors with the blue car on them, all from different times and days. They never park in the same spot and they usually leave the blacked out windows rolled up. Declan has paused on a few where they rolled one down to smoke. It's mostly the same two men, but occasionally it's someone different.

  I start watching the feed from this morning. They were parked farther down the road, but still had a clear view of any cars that came in and out of our driveway. I watch as Noah pulls down the street in the opposite direction from where they are. I watch as the passenger pulls out his phone. They wait a few more moments before following after Noah. He would have no idea to be checking for a tail.

  Mother. Fucker.

  The anger rushes through in a familiar torrent of raging energy. Lashing through me until I can feel nothing but the ice cold hands of demons circling my neck as they whisper in my ear the need for revenge. The need to make the people who stole from me pay. It shouldn't be a comforting feeling to fall into the touch of my demons, but it is. It makes the chaos make sense. Gives all the violence that never stops swirling through my insides a purpose.

  They say if you're going to seek revenge, you should first dig two graves. The thing is, I already did. I buried myself a long time ago, under the ever present storm that flows through my soul. Under the betrayal and loneliness that turned my veins to ice. Under the loss and regret that filled my heart with electricity. Under the fucking guilt that hangs around me like a dark cloud.

  The only difference is, I found myself in the shattered pieces they left behind. Let myself be reborn from the flames that destroyed my home. I'll make sure that they can't do the same. I'll make sure to bury them all so deep, they'll never be able to find their way out of the pits of hell I send them to.

  A growl rips from my throat unbidden as I rewind and watch the sequence again, zooming in closer on their faces. Luca and Kade come over to stand behind us. Kade leans over me and Ryder to point at the man with the phone to his ear. "He's a fighter. One of Romano's."

  Luca presses a hand to my shoulder, stroking my collarbone with the lightest touch of his fingertip. "At least we can confirm it was Romano now."

  Declan turns to look at him. "You seemed pretty sure it was."

  Luca shrugs. "We have a lot of enemies. Romano is just the biggest current threat. He made the most sense, but now we know for sure."

  I flinch at Luca's casual words. I hadn't even stopped to think about exposing all of this to Declan. I shut down that train of thought because I can't afford to get caught up in it. I'm going to have to come clean to him and Noah anyways. I guess this at least provides some type of preparation for him, instead of just throwing him into the deep end. Or well, this might actually be that. I sigh and push the thought away.

  I climb out of Ryder's lap, his hands squeezing my hips as I do. It gives me a quick sense of comfort, a small reminder that I'm not alone. That even without Noah, all of my men
will help me get him back. They will all be here to catch me and help support me as we fight for him.

  I move back to the screen I was working on before they called me over. It's nice to have the confirmation, but Kade, Luca, or even Ryder can run the plates. They don't need me for that, and I sincerely doubt that it will lead to anything. I'm surprised they used the same car every day though. So who knows? It is worth a shot.

  It's always worth a shot. You never know when your enemy is going to slip up. When they will make a fatal mistake. You just have to be there, be prepared to catch it.

  I pull back up the record for one Andrew Greene. He isn’t a huge name in the criminal underground. His family was actually fairly clean. Some small crimes here and there. Until they moved and Ciar and Drew became fast friends.

  I'd feel bad for the kid that was corrupted by Ciar and his fucking legacy, but all of my research has indicated that Greene dived headfirst into this life. Jade and I have talked enough about her time stuck with them to know that he's just as sick, just as twisted as the rest of them.

  He's one of the ones that isn't just letting these crimes happen, isn't in it just for the money. No. He's in it for the power. He relishes holding it over the captives, forcing his will on them. Feeding off their fear and fight. I've been wanting to get my hands on him for a long time and I cannot wait until he learns what it's like to be on the other side of it. When his power is taken from him and lorded over him.

  He may not have touched Jade, but I know he's one of the ones who abused Roe. I may not know to what extent, but it bears little importance. He hurt my girl and he will die a slow and painful death. I've been meticulously tracking any potential movements.

  I sift through his other known identities but none of them have been used. I start next on his financials. He has money sitting in the bank account, not as much as he should, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He probably blows through his money on gambling and cocaine. None of that is helpful though.