The Deadliest Secret (The Deadliest Series)

by Lauren Peyton

  He grabbed his kit and entered the hotel, checking the post-it with the hotel name and the number of the suite she had. It would figure she had a suite she deserved the best that was why he was coming to take her again. When he got to the forty-third floor he stepped out and went down the long hallway of the huge hotel when he reached room 4317 he was instantly enraged. He heard moaning and groaning coming from it. Kody knew his Gwen’s voice, she was in there and she was cheating on him. It took every ounce he had not to break the door down and kill the fucker that was touching his property. Instead he went to the back stairwell and kept a watch from there. He would see his Gwen soon and he would be damned if he was kept apart from her longer than he had to. Kody settled to wait.

  “After this bastard leaves she is mine. And she needs to be punished.”

  Darrien came awake first, his arms still were around Gwen, and he was thinking of her and how pure she was. His most predominant thought was wondering if he was good enough for her. Would she accept what happened or would she deny what was obviously building between them? He slipped out of bed, careful to wrap her up tightly. He wanted to make a gesture to show that last night wasn’t some fluke to him; he pulled on his loose fitting jeans, timberland boots, and a t-shirt. He grabbed his key card and left the room silently so Gwen could rest more. She looked tired, a smug smile crossed his face knowing he caused her to be so tired. He left the hotel quickly and tried to find a bodega that was open and that might have something suitable for his need.

  Kody watched the arrogant fuck leave his Gwen’s room. His anger consumed him, tempted to just shoot the male that strolled down the hall, he was a large guy but Kody didn’t care, the unknown male wasn’t the one he wanted to punish. It was the female that was now dirty to him. How could she do this? How? His love dried up and was replaced with a hatred that burned the core of his being. The male walked with a sense of pride that only came after you fucked someone’s brains out, he knew because he had that swag many times himself. The bastard got on the elevator and Kody left his hiding spot, looking down with a hood covering his head to avoid his face being seen by any possible cameras that may be on this level.

  Gwen was awake when Darrien woke and rustled slowly, she kept her eyes closed and feigned sleep while he dressed, tucked her in, and when the door opened then clicked back into place. She kicked the covers off of herself and went to the bathroom. Her thoughts floated to Torrian, how could she have done this to him? She loved him and it was still so soon after his murder and she slept with someone else? How? How is that love? She was a fool to have let herself get caught up in the moment like that. She turned on the finicky faucet of the hotel room she shared with Darrien. Gwen looked at herself in the mirror, her nudity shocked her, she rarely let herself be naked since what happened with Kody at the prison, and she never thought she would want to be nude around another guy after what happened to the last one she let in, her Torrian was dead and defiled his memory by letting herself get caught up in a night of passion. Gwen was flushed, her lips looked bigger from the intensity of the kissing and she noticed there was a bite mark at the base of her neck, Gwen had to blush because she did not remember the bite itself, she remembered pleasure, lots of pleasure. She waited for the steam to rise around her before she stepped into the shower. She tried to push the thoughts away but as the steam rose around her so did her thoughts of Torrian. She began to cry under the beating stream of the showerhead, her sobs barely audible above the noise.

  Kody made quick work of the electronic lock, and tore into the room that contained his woman like an irate bull. The anger he felt was rolling off him in waves he saw the bed messed from what he knew was sex, his ears didn’t deceive him. Kody heard the shower and he also heard soft cries, Gwen was crying he knew the sound he made her cry enough times to know she always covered her tears with something whether it be a shower, a radio, or a vacuum cleaner. That fucker had made his woman cry, he must have hurt her during the sex; no wonder he looked so damn cocky leaving her. Even if she was dirty and even if she did cheat on him she did not deserve to be treated like a common whore, because his Gwen certainly was not and never would nor could be common. She would be punished for what she did to him but he would also punish that fucker if he ever saw him again.

  Without making any sounds Kody set down his bag getting his bearings, where would he take his female? He would need to take her fast, who knew when that fucker was coming back to defile his woman again. Kody opened the bag and doused a washcloth in the liquid from a brown bottle. Silently he walked closer and closer to the bathroom. He was savoring each step as he got closer to his woman, he could feel his cock swell in his pants, he was excited to have her; he was anticipating his skin against hers.

  He nudged the door open and he saw his woman under the stream of the showerhead. Gwen was glorious, all of her curves accented by the beads of water reflecting the light from overhead causing her to glisten like the Holy Grail in front of him. Kody took more steps; each brought him closer to his prize, his woman. Finally after what felt like forever he found himself standing at the edge of the tub, her mind obviously was elsewhere. The water was turned off, what happened next happened so fast Kody blacked out with intense purpose; Gwen drew the curtain back and action had to be taken.

  Gwen turned off her shower water, she felt as if she was being watched. She dismissed the feelings she normally was being watched by Darrien now. She was never left alone. Her eyes focused on the present moment, she was too shocked to scream. Kody was standing before her this was her worst nightmare; he was staring as if she was a slab of meat and he was a carnivorous dog. Gwen’s scream echoed the bathroom stinging her own ears. Kody’s hand reached for her attempting to grab her. She was still slick and wet she was able to escape the grasp until he opened his arms even wider and grabbed her and lifted her off of the ground. She was flailing, kicking, punching, scratching, and biting anything she would. Her instinct was to survive this, and if she didn’t survive she sure as hell was going to take a part of him with her. He brought his hand up and covered her mouth. Gwen tried not to breathe but that was impossible especially with the fight she was putting up, she needed air. The rag that was over her mouth was drenched in chloroform, her fight became less and less until she stilled in Kody’s grasp, her last thought before the blackness overtook her was of Darrien and that she was glad he wasn’t here, at least he was safe from this.

  It took a while for Gwen to finally sleep; Kody was devising his escape route while she flailed in his arms. He wanted to dress her but he did not have time to doddle in the room. Kody ripped the shower curtain from the tub and wrapped Gwen’s passed out body within it, he put her over his shoulders and slipped out of the room towards the service elevator, he had to remain calm or else his plan would be blown. Kody had to readjust Gwen so he wouldn’t hit her head against anything. It took him twenty minutes to get down the entire hotel’s back entry thanks to the slow elevator. He didn’t see any of the hotel staff thankfully. They would be slacking off for the moment, he was thankful that the government put Gwen up in a place like this, fancy yet lax on their security. No one saw him take his Gwen.

  Kody loaded Gwen’s limp body into the trunk of the stolen Lincoln. He checked the street before he pulled out of the underground parking garage, he drove as if nothing was out of the normal routine. His day was only beginning. He drove towards Lake Pontchatrain, the outskirts of New Orleans. He did not want to be disturbed once he started reconnecting with his greatest and only love.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The bodega around the corner was filled with random items that really did not apply to Darrien’s search. He only wanted a rose, coffee, and maybe something sugary to eat, was that so much to ask for? Darrien had to settle for regular roses from the bodega, they didn’t have a large selection naturally. He didn’t want to go too far for coffee and sugary items.

  “So where can I get a good cup of coffee around here?” He asked while the cashier typed in t
he item number for the roses.

  “You can get that good coffee from Café Du Monde, right on the Quarter.” The old man replied, his Cajun accent was pretty thick Darrien had to ask what he said twice.

  “Ok. I gotta make it fast man, my woman is waking up soon and I gotta get it back there before she gets up and makes her own.” He decided to grab a cab at that moment.

  “You go right get her that coffee she be your woman fo’ keeps.” The man encouraged Darrien.

  “Thanks,” Darrien left the bodega and hailed the cab, it looked like the weather was about to change. He laughed to himself about the old adage that if you did not like the weather in New Orleans wait five minutes.

  The café did have a line, but since he was putting in an order to go he was sent to the front so he could do so. He put in his order for two large chicory coffees and two orders of beignets then sat on a stool nearby. The café was full of couples canoodling over a sugarcoated breakfast of champions. He thought of Gwen and wondered if she would ever do this with him? Did she truly want to be with him after last night? He stopped his thoughts, he was sounding like a woman, he needed to turn off the vagina and put a dick on.

  Soon after he changed his thoughts his order was called up. The beignets then called to him, the sweet smell wafting from the kitchen and the bag. He left a tip on the counter and started back to the hotel. He ascended the forty-three floors in the elevator quickly, it was a jolt when the elevator stopped and pinged announcing his arrival at his destination. He exited the elevator moving with his normal lithe strides, the power coursing in his legs. He nodded a polite nod to two twenty-something ladies walking down the hall, he could laugh because when they spotted him they pushed their breasts up in an obvious attempt to be sexy. He ignored the attempt and walked to the room, it wasn’t until he got closer he saw the marks on the door.

  The door looked like a fuse blew while he was out; there were black marks along the wooden frame, liquid dripping from it. Darrien’s stomach started to clench with worry and his hands failed him dropping the coffee and the beignets to the floor they scattered at his feet. Darrien removed the gun from his holster; he knew something was wrong because the door was ajar. Gwen doesn’t like leaving the bedroom door open when she sleeps she never would leave it open if she were asleep or just in the room. Darrien kept his back to the wall and slowly investigated the common area of the hotel room, he could smell chemical in the air, but he could not place it, the strength of the pungent stench stung his nose.

  He inched closer and closer to the bedroom, the sheets were tousled and on the ground, his heart was suddenly in his throat. Darrien rounded the corner and pushed the bathroom door open and felt sick. Gwen wasn’t in there. Gwen was gone, as was the shower curtain; Darrien couldn’t help the snarl that bubbled up from the pit of his stomach. He punches a hole in the plaster of the wall near the door, he whipped out his cell phone and called the police first with the news, he explained who he was, who Gwen was, and why they were in New Orleans. He paced, barely able to speak through his gritted teeth. His lack of urgency led to Gwen being hurt, he would never forgive himself, and he needed to get her back. The next call would be to his superiors, and that call would be dreaded.

  Kody schlepped Gwen over his shoulder after he registered himself at the cabin-motel on the lake. The motel was run down and very secluded it was perfect for his needs. He needed to re-educate his love. Kody opened the door and expected to see cobwebs strung from corner to corner of the ceiling, it was clean, quiet, and decorated in navy blue and white color scheme. It was plain, he didn’t care; the oak bed was solid which was a plus. He laid her carefully on the thread worn duvet cover. Her gaze was peaceful, she wasn’t over thinking; was unconscious which was the only time her guard was ever down from when they were together before, he cheated, lied, and downright was mean to her but he had changed and with his change he wanted her back for good this time.

  Carefully Kody brushed the hair from Gwen’s soft features. He had given her a lot to keep her subdued; he did not expect her to wake any time soon. She was nude to him; Kody was not a complete savage he left her with dignity. He got out his leather binds and wrapped them around the bedpost securing her left hand then her right. She murmured something in her rest, it sounded like “Darrien” but Kody wasn’t sure, he was enraged at the thought it could be another man’s name, but she was unconscious, she did not know what she was saying. Kody was more violent with her legs, his anger not completely suppressed from her murmurings. He tied the leather tighter on her legs, she was spread eagle presented to him. Kody was still angered from her discretions and she would have to be cleaned when she was awake, she needed to feel the pain he caused her. This behavior was not allowed from his woman. He covered her with the blanket and left the room for a moment, he needed a fix before he confronted her.

  Darrien slammed down his phone after his boss reamed him for losing possibly the key to giving Kody McQueen the needle. Darrien didn’t know everything about the man but it would be a dream-come true if he could inject the prick with the needle himself, or was the one who made Kody McQueen meet some other violent end. He was pacing for a moment, he could barely articulate let alone call the chief of police and start making demands. He decided his first call would be to call the hotel security, and hotel manager. He needed to get information from all of the cameras on the premises.

  Due to Darrien flashing his badge and the anger permeating the air around him the staff of the hotel saw fit not to argue with his demands. The security team escorted him down to the security office where they held all of the footage on multiple screens, he instructed the unnecessary security in the room to shut down the hotel and start searching from room to room, only people allowed in would be his team and the local police department, they nodded their acquiescence and left the room to start on their tasks, Darrien was skilled at commanding the attention. He soon started to review the tapes starting with the ones from the floor his and Gwen’s room was located on.

  Darrien paused the tape when he exited the room, the hallway camera facing the emergency exit showed a glimmer of movement at the end of the hall. Darrien’s back was turned and he watched himself walk off of the camera towards the elevators, he knew how he felt then the mood was light, cheerful he was feeling hope for the first time in months. Only moments, mere seconds later the emergency exit door opened again, no alarm sounded of course, he was seething. He recognized Kody from the file picture, he never gave much more thought to the man, the bureau was on the hunt for him and Darrien expected the trial to have been started or at least given a date by now but now he knew, this guy was volatile.

  Kody was on the screen, his movements, his face searing into Darrien’s memory. Darrien was thinking of a thousand violent deaths, each worse than the last he thought of but not a one was painful enough for Kody, especially if he laid a finger on Gwen. He watched as moments later Kody walked out carrying a rolled up shower curtain, he knew immediately Gwen was in there and his heart fell. Was she alive? Her dripping blonde locks escaping slightly from the end of the curtain. Darrien’s control faltered again, he was violent and leapt up from his chair. His movements were hurried, but he forced himself to sit back down. He barked an order to the security helping him sort footage.

  “That service elevator where does it lead?” His sudden order seemed to shock the guard.

  “It just leads downstairs out the back of the hotel right by the exit for service personnel.”

  “Do you have footage in the elevator?”

  “No sir.” The guard was shrinking back from the explosive anger that seemed to consume Darrien.

  “Fucking show me what you got.”

  “Yes sir it’s not much, the exit has a camera on it.” The security guard’s words were unsteady

  “Just bring it up, anything out of the back doors too I need that as well.” Darrien ignored his bosses call, his pocket was vibrating he was not wanting to listen to another ass-reaming from his sup
erior, he would handle that later once he knew Gwen’s fate. The footage from the elevator exit proved useless, it only showed Kody carrying Gwen, his hands on her body, which made Darrien seethe. This was not how today was supposed to go.

  The footage changed from the cameras in the hotel to the exterior, only minutes before Darrien returned to the hotel he watched Kody’s head peek from the abandoned service entrance in the back of the hotel, he looked left, right, then left again before he exited the door. There was a car, all was not lost his trail was not cold. Darrien was having trouble with the image, he watched Gwen get thrown like luggage into the trunk of an older Lincoln.

  This was something he could work with. Darrien whipped out his phone his fingers dial the New Orleans police. He spoke with some sergeant he couldn’t recall the name of; he was not interested in learning names he was interested in saving his ass and Gwen’s.

  “Look for a tan and any colors that are related to a Lincoln Town-Car, 1999 era reported stolen.” He demanded

  The sergeant sounded utterly bored, he was obviously not too keen on his job anymore, the sort of man that should have retired ages ago. Darrien was tiring of speaking with him, but he felt a small amount of satisfaction when he heard the clicking of the keyboard. A few moments later he answered. “We have three in the last week from the surrounding area, one was stolen from the airport park and ride terminal.”