Wrath's Genesis

Chapter Twenty Five

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"Welcome back to New York. The time is 10:30 pm and the weather is..."

The pilot stated, his words barely registering with me as I glanced at the figure beside me. My wife was fast asleep, oblivious to the events unfolding all around her. How she could sleep so peacefully despite everything that had unfolded was beyond me. She was confirming everything I suspected about her.

She is not a normal woman. There is much more to Mrs. Alexander...

My suspicions were narrowing down, more so now that she had revealed a side of her that I had not quite expected. Her knowledge of martial arts was not amateur in the slightest. She had been trained extensively.

But clearly not by her assface ex. No, this is more refined than basic police training and a random martial arts class...

"Can you believe just how f*****g incredible she is? Gets on the plane after watching a m******e unfold and the first thing she does is devour an entire breakfast menu and sleep half the flight away. No crying, no fear. She watched us kill, murder and yet she is unscathed. What a f*****g woman."

Diesel praised, his words registering his awe and fascination. It was nothing like what she felt for Ashley Wilder but certainly enough to somewhat worry me. Watching her face off with my unhinged brother had been unsettling, even for me. Diesel was not one to easily forgive and forget. His emotions were volatile, enough for him to torture and burn alive a passerby who had the unfortunate luck of brushing his shoulder on a bad day.

Seeing him confront Emilia, his eyes dark with the madness that he exuded chilled me to my very core. It made me contemplate incapacitating my brother to protect Emilia, a thought that has never cropped into my mind. The sleeping woman was changing me and as much as I detested the shift with every fiber of my being, the dislike was not as intense as before.

She had somehow warmed her way into my mind, implanted herself and all the qualities about her that I found too fascinating to let go of. The possibility of not figuring out who she really was, what she could really do, because either Diesel or some other trigger-loving bastard hurt her, made me angry. f*****g furious.

"What? A girl has to eat. Also, the compliments are getting a little creepy for me. Careful now, face tats, or I might think you actually like my guts,"

My wife muttered, groggily rousing from her long nap. Despite her longing to know more about her best friend's whereabouts during the flight, I had kept her out of the loop. On the sidelines, which seemed to irritate the s**t out of her. And so, instead of being a smartass like she usually is, she had ignored my very presence by watching movie after movie before finally falling asleep for the rest of the night.

Her behavior was as peculiar as it was endearing.

Expounding on the discoveries Diesel and I had uncovered was not something I was planning to keep from her. I was going to tell her everything over breakfast but plans had changed. Now more so that the Intel gathered revealed the Russians being dormant. A new player had entered the field, someone who clearly did not want us to keep asking questions about Noah Basset.

Diesel chuckled at her comment as they exited the plane, the two of them getting along quite well. It was an alarming enough sight that made my men do a double-take, each of them clearly stunned by my brother's actions. And with good reason. Diesel was almost always angling to slit one throat or the other. He fed off of violence and would have been bouncing off of the walls of this plane to get back home and unleash hell upon those who had attacked us.

It's her. In the short period of time, she has been around us, she has managed to somewhat tame Diesel, make Christian genuinely laugh, pique Kenji's interest, and make me attentive to her every need, focus on anything and anyone other than my Empire and the Sins...

It was an alarming reality that was thrust to the back of my mind at the sight of Kenji's phone call. It reminded me of the issue at hand, the need to be on top of my game and find the stupid motherfuckers who really thought they could attack my city and get away with it...

"We just landed. Diesel and I are heading that way a bit... I'll have some of the men drop Emilia at the manor..."

"Actually, that last part will not be necessary. She needs to come with you. We've been combing through the remains of the club and we found something... a message that will certainly be of interest to the new member of our merry little f****d up family."

I paused outside of the black SUV whose doors were already opened, waiting for me to enter through and settled beside my wife. Her beautiful eyes landed on my own, clearly as curious as to my sudden pause, as were the guards who I had ordered to meet us at the airport. We were on high alert and every single one of our protective measures was in place.

"Any day now, brother! We are sitting ducks out here! And my trigger finger is getting pretty twitchy!"

Diesel called out from the car parked behind Emilia's SUV, his words making my men shiver in fear and apprehension. That was a statement that meant more because Diesel said it. It meant the possible m******e of anyone who stood in his way. Collateral damage was not a term the Sin of Greed comprehended. As long as he could consume the battlefield to his absolute fill before anyone else could possess it.

I internalized Kenji's words even as a cold chill traveled through my body. I had a bad feeling about the events to come and my emotions must have spilled over to my wife, whose eyes clouded over with fear for her friend, no doubt. I wanted to reassure her, to tell her that it would be okay, but I settled for outstretching my hand for her to take.

"Alright. We'll all be there in the next ten minutes. Law enforcement?"

I inquired, pleasure coursing through me at Emilia's instant obedience as she took my hand and let me help her out of the SUV and towards the waiting car. It was clear she could sense my urgency and the volatile energy that was leaking out of me. She was stiff beside me, shrugging at Diesel's questioning glance. My brother's gaze settled on mine, the question within satisfied by a simple nod.

"They have been dealt with. We have our men on the ground keeping up appearances, 'processing' the scene, but Division Two is continuing their own canvassing of the scene. They were the ones who found this little message from our rivals."

Kenji seemed less than amused by whatever he was looking at which spiked my anxiety all the more as I glanced out of the window at the passing cars and the glittering city lights in the horizon that were getting closer and closer as we sped down the freeway.

"Let them keep looking. We will be there momentarily."

I stated before hanging up, the silence surrounding us was welcome as I gathered my thoughts. It was short-lived, though, as my wife spoke up, her confused expression tugging at me as she turned to fully face me.

"I don't know about you, but I never go into any kind of situation without information about what the hell I am about to face. You gave me your word that you would tell me about what that guy said about Noah-where the hell is he, by the way? He better not be dead- and now, not only have you not kept your word, but are also taking me into whatever volatile situation that caused the Fiji cluster f**k. I need answers, Soren, and it's either you give them to me or I stop following you around like some lost puppy. I'm losing my trust in you,"

The last sentence was said so silently, I almost missed it but my heart couldn't. My very soul could not envision not having her full devotion.

It wounded me more than I thought it ever could...

Releasing a small sigh, I reeled in my conflicting emotions as I turned to face her. My plan to keep her out of harm's way, from the danger that always surrounded me had fallen through the cracks. My plan A wasn't working as well as it should and although it pissed me off, I reminded myself of the variables.

We knew this might happen... that's why we created contingencies... One I may have to apply for now...

"Our runner did not want to talk, at first, but Diesel got him chirping away after a minute or two of forceful urging. He said that he didn't know the man that hired him to approach Noah at Wrath's Playground. Only that the man paid in cash and informed him to take Noah out into the alleyway and ensure that your friend did not suspect a thing. He did not think anything of it and did as he was told. The men took them both but dumped him along the roadside after three or four blocks. They threatened to come back for him if he went to the police or anyone else. He thought of going against them, of reporting, but then his companion from the club appeared on the news, murdered, and changed his mind."

"He began running soon after, trying to get away from what he had done, but then his conscience pricked him. He wanted to somehow make things right and so, using the few underground contacts he had, began to look for Noah. That's why he was in Fiji. That's why he ran at the sight of us. He did not give us much new information, but his description on the men that took Noah has narrowed down the suspects substantially, especially now with this attack."

I leaned toward my wife just as the car came to a stop outside Inhibition, one of the many prolific chains of clubs we owned both in New York and beyond. The usual long line of partygoers was no longer there, replaced now by crime scene tape, policemen milling about and a crowd of onlookers beyond the barriers erected. I was sure this was the scene in Chicago, Portland, and Denver because each of the branches had been attacked at the same damn time.

I took a short breath, preparing myself to deliver the news I knew would fill my wife with confusion and turmoil. It had been in the back of my mind and although Diesel advised me to rip the band-aid off and tell her, I had been too preoccupied with her delectable tasting c*nt to follow his lucid instructions.

It's now or never, Soren...

"The people who took your friend are not ordinary kidnappers who demand ransom. No, these guys are different. Professional. An M.O that we have seen before. I have an idea about who might have hired them but I need to confirm something there first."

I finished, watching her internalize every single piece of information I had provided her. There was a lot I was still keeping from her, shielding her from it until it was completely necessary to reveal.

Until I truly know what the hell is going on here and how I can protect my wife from whatever is coming for us...

"Kenji needs us inside. We should go and try to garner even more information on what we may be facing."

I added, not waiting for her response, as I nodded over to our driver who was quick to exit the car and open our door for us. I knew it was a lot to spring on her last minute as she silently internalized everything.

She's strong enough, though...Tactical...She's going to be okay...

And, soon enough, she was back to the world of the living and seemingly more determined than ever as she walked beside me confidently, her head held high.

That's my girl.

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