Virtue & Vengeance

by Tabatha Vargo

  Within seconds, he was hanging up and making his way over to his car. I exhaled the breath I’d been holding when he sped away.

  “Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it now. Once he gets to Kennedy’s and realizes I’m not there, he’ll be back.”

  Allen’s eyes scanned the area around us once again before he popped the driver’s side door open. When he climbed out of the car, I thought for sure he was going to leave me untied and alone. If he did, I was going to make a run for it.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t. Instead, he came around to my side of the car, pulled open the door, and tied my legs together before tying my wrists together.

  “Don’t even think about screaming. I won’t be gone long.”

  He shut the door behind him, leaving me tied up in the car. I watched as he quickly ran across the road and toward the Oldsmobile. The entire time, he continuously scanned the area around him as if he were waiting for someone to attack.

  Once he reached the side of the car, he knelt to the ground and began to reach under the car as he searched for what we had come for. He moved around and even crawled beneath the vehicle at one point. And when he started back toward me empty-handed with a furious expression, I knew my time was up.

  17

  ZANDER

  WHAT KIND OF GAME was she playing?

  As I sat outside the impound lot waiting for her to show, my fury grew every minute that she was late. When seven o’clock rolled around, I was beyond furious.

  About ten minutes after seven my phone began to ring and vibrate in my jacket pocket. When I pulled it out of my pocket, the number for Empire Sevens danced across the screen.

  “What?” I yelled into the phone.

  “Sir, Ms. Vaughn called with a message for you,” the receptionist said.

  “What did she say?”

  “She said she can’t meet you at six and asked if you could please meet her at Kennedy’s place. She said it was an emergency.”

  I didn’t wait to hear more.

  I hung up and made my way to my car.

  I sped across town, passing cars and narrowly missing several tourists. I was driving dangerously, but I needed to get to her.

  I barely turned my car off before I jumped out and jogged into Kennedy’s complex. The elevator ride to the top floor took forever, but when I finally made it, I wasted no time pulling out my key and opening the door to Kennedy’s place.

  The place looked the same. Things were still tossed around with broken glass on the floor. I wasn’t going to call to have the place cleaned yet. Not until I found Eden.

  Once again, I searched the condo only to find it still empty.

  Once again, I was being played the fool.

  No fucking more.

  I pulled my phone out again and quickly dialed. The phone rang twice before he answered.

  “It’s me,” I said into the phone. “Send them out. Have them search the entire fucking city until they find her.”

  I hung up without waiting for a response.

  Involving the police wasn’t an option, but it was more than evident to me that Eden was in trouble and she was hiding it from me.

  Part of me wanted to call Kennedy and question her, but I knew that was a terrible idea. Kennedy would never be involved with anything that would put Eden’s life in danger. Calling her would only alarm her, and after all the time she had spent in New York City, she and Kade were almost done dealing with all the contracts and building permits.

  No.

  I wouldn’t involve Kennedy.

  But slowly my anger was being replaced with something much more dangerous.

  Fear.

  I was afraid for Eden. If something happened to her, I wasn’t sure what I would do. The loss of her would alter me. I was sure of that. Thinking about losing her sickened me, and I’d never felt that before except for when it came to my sister.

  I loved my sister.

  But I couldn’t love Eden.

  It didn’t make any sense to me.

  My feelings were confusing me.

  What did it mean?

  Fear wasn’t something I felt often, but when it came to her, it was all I seemed to feel.

  I drove past the impound lot once more, finding that Jerome had done as I asked and picked up the Oldsmobile to have it taken back to Empire Sevens.

  After parking for a while, and after seeing no signs whatsoever of Eden, I started back toward Empire. When I pulled up, I climbed out of my car and handed my keys over to the valet.

  It was late, but instead of going to my penthouse, I went into my office. No sooner than I sat in my chair, Jerome peeked his head into the door.

  “The car is secure, sir. Is there anything else you need?”

  “Yes. Keep your eyes out for Eden. She’s definitely missing.”

  Jerome’s face cleared, and his lips tightened.

  He nodded. “Yes, sir. Do you think she ran away?”

  I shook my head.

  “I don’t think she ran away. I think she’s been taken. I’ll find her, and when I do whoever took her is as good as dead.”

  Without another word, Jerome nodded and left my office.

  Eden had been taken, and someone was pulling her strings. I knew that someone was the shady fucker I’d seen in the lobby of Empire Sevens.

  He had no idea the wrath that was coming his way, and luckily for me, I knew where he was staying. I was never so glad that I followed someone. If he was still at the Magic Eight Motel, I had an inkling that Eden was there with him. It wasn’t going to end well for him.

  Once when I was eighteen, one of the guys I’d been fucking with stole a hundred dollars from me. I could still feel the sensation of his jaw breaking against my fist.

  Eden was no hundred-dollar bill.

  She had somehow become priceless to me. And the things that were going through my mind when I thought of any person who harmed her, scared even me.

  I was going to kill again, and I had a feeling it would be sooner rather than later.

  18

  EDEN

  “FUCK!” ALLEN ROARED when he slammed the motel room door behind us.

  I was still shocked that he hadn’t killed me the second he realized his money and drugs were missing from beneath the car.

  I didn’t know where it was. The car had been impounded twice. There was no telling who found it and took it.

  I sat on the edge of the bed with my hands tied, and I waited for him to turn his rage on me. I didn’t have to wait long. Reaching his arm back, he backhanded me, knocking me off the bed and onto the disgusting shag carpeting.

  “You little bitch!” he growled. “You’re dead! Do you hear me? You’re fucking dead!”

  And then he pulled the gun from the waist of his pants and a click sounded before he shoved the barrel of the gun against my temple.

  Tears rushed from my eyes and a scream caught in my throat.

  “It’s a shame. You won’t even get to say goodbye to your mom,” he said, sending yet another round of sorrow through me.

  I hadn’t asked about her. I didn’t want to hear about how poorly she was doing. She wasn’t in a great place when I left her, and I had a feeling things hadn’t changed much for her since then.

  I closed my eyes, a silent prayer rushing through me. I prayed that Zander would know how much he meant to me. I prayed that everything and everyone I ever loved was safe and would be okay without me.

  But before Allen could pull the trigger, a knock sounded at the door. Both Allen and I froze, our eyes going to the door.

  “Don’t make a fucking sound,” he muttered against the side of my face before he climbed from the floor at my side and stood.

  He went to the door, standing close and listening for a second before grunting.

  “Who is it?”

  We both waited, holding our breath until we heard a reply. Secretly, I was hoping Zander had somehow been able to track us by Allen’s cell and had come to rescue me.

/>   “Open the door, Allen,” a voice barked on the other end. By the way Allen’s body grew tense, I wasn’t the only one filled with dread over who was on the other side.

  “Hold on,” Allen called as he fumbled with the chain lock on the door.

  When he finally pulled it open, two large, scary looking men pushed into the room, knocking Allen back a few steps.

  “Think you could find a shittier motel to squat in?” One of the guys asked with a disgusted look on his face, and then it transformed into something else entirely. “Who the fuck is that?” he growled, pointing at me.

  “That’s the bitch I was telling you about. She’s the one who stole my car that had your stuff in it.”

  “Why the hell is she here and where’s our money, Allen? Monty isn’t happy at all, and these games you’re playing aren’t helping.”

  “I’m trying to get it, but there was a little issue.”

  “What kind of issue?”

  “When we went to the car, the money and drugs were gone.”

  “What the fuck do you mean they’re gone? Where the fuck are they?”

  “I’m going to get the money back.” Allen stabbed a finger toward me. “Her boy toy owns one of the biggest casinos here in Vegas.”

  Both men looked at me, and I felt my blood turn cold. Hearing Allen’s words, I knew exactly what he planned to do.

  “Is that so?” Their interest in me terrified me.

  “He’s not my boyfriend. I just work for him. He’s not going to care about me. He isn’t going to give you any money.”

  Allen snorted, the sound sending a few sprays of spittle from his lips. “Don’t listen to her. She’s a fucking liar. He’s been at her house almost every night for the last month. He stays late or sometimes stays all night.”

  Hearing Allen tell them about Zander made me sick to my stomach. He’d been watching me for weeks.

  The three men were staring me down, and I knew I needed to lie.

  “Allen’s lying! He thinks you’ll spare him if he tells you he has another way. Zander doesn’t care about me, and he isn’t the type to give in.”

  “Shut up, you bitch,” Allen roared and stormed toward me.

  I braced myself for the blow coming my way. The strike of the back of his hand across my face made me see stars, but when the butt of the gun came down across my temple, my head rolled forward, and I saw black.

  For several seconds, I was out of it altogether, and then the muffled sound of voices started to penetrate the haze. My entire face felt swollen, and my head pounded so bad I wanted to sob.

  I could feel something against my thigh, and when my vision cleared, I could see the pool of blood that had gathered there from my face.

  My first instinct was to go into full-on panic mode, but then the voices became harsher and I was forced to focus on their words.

  “She’s lying. I can get the money.”

  “You had your chance, Allen. Monty doesn’t give second and third chances.”

  “Wait-”

  And then it happened.

  A loud shot sounded, echoing throughout the room. I screamed at the unexpected sound and watched in horror as blood and pieces of Allen practically exploded. His body went limp before he folded over and fell to the ground.

  The room went silent, and tears streamed quietly down my face and onto the front of my shirt. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep from seeing Allen’s body just a few feet from me.

  “What about her?” One of them asked as if I wasn’t right there quietly weeping.

  “Bring her.”

  “Please,” I whispered, my voice cracking from thirst and anxiety. “Please just let me go.”

  “Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

  They handled me like I was a sack of potatoes, not caring that my face felt like it had been rearranged and it wasn’t long before I was being loaded into the back of yet another car.

  THE HOTEL THE NEW guys took me to was much cleaner than the motel Allen was squatting in.

  Not that it mattered, I still ended up tied to a chair as the two men, whose names I learned were Winston and Rodger, openly planned and talked in front of me, which could only mean two things.

  One: they were idiots, which I highly doubted was the case.

  Or two: they weren’t worried about me knowing anything, which meant they were going to dispose of me once this was over.

  They had no qualms about killing. Neither of them batted an eyelash as they kicked Allen’s dead body to the side when we left Allen’s motel room.

  Meanwhile, it had taken everything I had in me not to puke everywhere every time my eyes landed on the bits of brain matter scattered on the wall beside his dead body.

  Winston and Rodger left me in the room alone for an hour once they had me tied and secured. When they came back, they had food, and their expressions were much happier.

  My stomach growled with hunger when the smell of their food met my nose. I hadn’t realized it, but it had been a long while since I’d eaten anything.

  “How much longer are you going to keep me here?” I asked.

  My lips cracked when I spoke, and I licked at them, trying to soothe the burn.

  “Until we get our money back,” Rodger said around a bite of his food.

  “I don’t have your money.”

  And I didn’t.

  I had no idea who did, but there was no way we would ever find it.

  “No, but you’re a way to get our money.”

  “How?”

  I had nothing, which meant I had nothing to give.

  “Your boyfriend Zander is loaded.”

  I wanted to scream.

  Why was no one listening to me?

  “I already told you, I’m nothing but a waitress to Mr. Hale.”

  The bigger of the two, Winston, stared me down until I thought I was going to disappear. “This would be a whole lot quicker if you just told the truth. While we were out, we did some digging. Let’s just say, a few of your coworkers were more than forthcoming about your relationship with Zander.”

  My breath stopped.

  This wasn’t happening.

  I tried to lie once again. “We slept together once, but the truth is Zander Hale couldn’t care less about me. I’m telling you, you’re wasting your time if you think he would pay even a dime for me.”

  Winston stood and picked his gun up from the table beside him. “Then I guess we’ll just kill you and get it over with.”

  The gun clicked, and he pointed it at me.

  “Wait!” I said in a panicked rush. “There has to be another way.”

  He dropped his arm to his side, the gun dangling from his hand, and he stood there a full minute before a cocky grin stretched his thin lips.

  “I can think of a job or two we could have you do.”

  I should have been relieved, but something told me the “job” he was referring to would make me wish for death.

  19

  ZANDER

  THE MAGIC EIGHT MOTEL was the biggest piece of shit in Vegas. As I made my way across the parking lot and toward the room where the shady fuck was hopefully still staying, rats scattered behind the building and around the overflowing dumpster.

  Room one-sixty-two was in the last building in the line of buildings, and the parking lot out front had a broken street light, leaving the place dark and swathed in shadows.

  Pulling my gun out of the holster beneath my jacket, I didn’t cover it as my shoes scrapped across the broken asphalt.

  Once again, I was met with a door that was slightly ajar.

  That was never a good thing.

  As I stepped up to the door, a familiar scent reached my nostrils.

  Blood.

  I paused, scared for one of the few times in my life of what I might see on the other side of the door.

  The door was sticky against my fingertips as I pressed them to it and pushed. The door creaked when it opened, and then I was met with a mess that left me both r
elieved and shaken.

  Relieved that Eden wasn’t the mangled body on the floor, but shaken because whoever did this, probably had Eden with them.

  The shady fucker from the hotel lobby was the one dead, the side of his head blown off and his eyes still open in shock. Blood spatter covered the wall at his side.

  I panicked, moving past his body and into the room as I searched for Eden.

  “Eden!” I called out. “Angel, are you in here?”

  I looked on the floors around the bed before rushing to the bathroom. The door was closed, and the light was on inside, giving me a tiny bit of hope, but that feeling dissolved when I opened the door and found it empty.

  She wasn’t there.

  She might never have been there at all.

  I turned, ready to get the hell out of the room before someone else came along, and when I did my eyes landed on a chair in the corner with pieces of rope hanging from the slats on the back.

  Someone had been tied to that chair.

  Eden.

  My angel.

  I moved across the room and touched the ropes gently as if I was touching her. She had been tied to the chair. Of that I was certain. It was as if I could still sense her there.

  However, the chair was empty, and she was gone, which could either be a good thing, or really fucking bad thing considering the dead body lying on the floor by the door.

  “Fuck!” I roared, knocking the chair across the room.

  Feeling helpless for the first time in my entire life, I closed my fist and turned, sending my fist through the wall.

  I would find her, and once I did, I would never let her out of my sight again.

  She was mine.

  20

  EDEN

  I LOST TRACK of how long I’d been tied to the chair in the hotel, but at some point, I fell asleep. When Winston and Rodger busted through the door of the hotel, I woke with a start. They were talking so fast my sleep induced self could barely keep up.

  I wanted to cry out when I attempted to move because my arms and legs had gone numb sitting in one position for so long. Not to mention the pounding in my head and the pain that was radiating through my face.