The Monster's Fury

CHAPTER THREE

Laura POV

I look down at the double lined pregnancy test sitting on my bathroom sink. I couldn’t contain the excitement that coursed through me as I jumped up and down. Drugging Hunter, betraying his trust–it was all for this result right here. I pick up the pregnancy test and look at it again. I’m pregnant with Hunter Morgan’s baby. I’ll never have to worry about money or anything ever again. I know that he hates me right now, but with Adrienne dead and his baby in my stomach, he’ll grow to love me.

I grin as I toss the test in the trash can and look in the mirror. I have to find the perfect time to tell him. I have to be careful with my next moves. This can go good or it could go horribly wrong. I look down and put my hand over my stomach.

“You’re already making Mommy so happy.” I couldn’t stop smiling as I rubbed my little lucky charm. A knock on the door ruined my beautiful moment.

“Laura, you okay in there? You’ve been in there for a while.” Josh says from the other side while he continues to knock. I roll my eyes and open the door.

“I’m fine.” I snap.

“Is that all?”

“Well, if you’re done, do you mind getting out? I need to use the bathroom.” I grunt as I storm out. I can’t wait to finally get rid of him. Josh is a good f**k, don’t get me wrong, but he will never be Hunter. I walk into my room and lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling. I could hear my brothers and sisters yelling in the living room, but for once I’m not phased by it. I stretch out on the bed and close my eyes. Nothing could ruin my happiness right now.

“Laura, what the hell is this?” I hear Josh say but I don’t pay him any mind. The door slams shut, making me jump up.

“What the hell is wrong with you Josh?!” I shout before my eyes land on the pregnancy test in his hand.

“Are you pregnant?” I shoot out of bed and snatch the test from him.

“This has nothing to do with you.” I stomp to my dresser and throw the pregnancy test in my top drawer.

“What do you mean it has nothing to do with me? It’s my kid!” I laugh.

“Don’t be stupid, we use protection. So stop lying to yourself, it’s pathetic.”

“Stop lying to myself? When are YOU going to stop? You know we don’t use protection all the time.” He pauses and his eyes squint at me.

“You think this is Hunter’s kid?” He asked when reality hit him.

“Laura, are you serious? Why are you still holding on to him?! He doesn’t love you! He won’t even look at you and after the s**t we did to him, we’re lucky we’re still in one piece! When are you going to see that?” He grabs onto my arms and squeezes them tightly. He’s furious.

“Like I said, this has nothing to do with you. This is not your baby.” I break out of his grasp and open the door.

“You need to leave.” He doesn’t move. He just looks at me. I can’t read his expression.

“Josh! Leave.” I say again, but louder to get his attention. He blinks a few times and slowly walks towards me. He grabs my hand and takes it off the doorknob before pushing the door closed.

“What are you doing? I said–” He smashes his lips onto mine before I could finish my sentence.

“I’m not going anywhere.” His hand firmly cups my chin as he tilts my head to the side, exposing my neck. He runs his tongue down to my sweet spot and bites down, making me moan.

“Josh, stop.” I gasp. My words are telling him to stop, but my body is telling him the complete opposite and he knows it. He reaches down with his other hand and unbuttons my pants. His fingers trace over the outline of my slit through the fabric of my panties. I close my eyes from the sensation.

His lips move from my neck and onto my mouth as his tongue tangles with mine. His freehand glides over my stomach and onto my breast. He takes my n****e in between his two fingers and gently pinches, sending sparks right down to my p***y. I wrap my arms around his neck as I deepen our kiss. As much as I don’t want to do this, I can’t control myself whenever Josh touches me.

He breaks our kiss and takes off my shirt. His tongue travels from my lips down to my breast and then my stomach. I’m lost in his touch. He hooks his fingers into the hem of my pants and underwear and takes them off. He picks me up and carries me to the bed before laying me down.

He spreads my legs and lowers his head down to my labia. His tongue flicks across my c**t and my body quivers in response.

“f**k, this feels so good.” I wrap my hands in his hair and grind my p***y against his mouth.

My heart pounds in my ears as he continues his intense assault on my c**t. Every lick bringing me closer and closer to the edge. He pushes two fingers deep inside me and I’m seeing stars. He thrusts his fingers into me again and I unravel.

“Fuck.” I cry out as my orgasm takes over my body. He places kisses on my inner thighs and stomach as he takes off his shorts. My body was still trying to calm down from my orgasm but as soon as it did he thrust himself inside me.

“Forget him Laura.” He pounds into me harder.

“Stay with me. Start a family with me.” Pound after pound after pound. My body is ready to explode again.

“Let me take care of you.” He’s trying to f**k me into submission. He’s saying all the right words but he’s not the one I want to hear them from. Another orgasm hits me as I think about the man I love. The man that’s really going to take care of me.

Hunter POV

“It’s been three days since we last spoke, Sandy. I was expecting to be making our way to Monteciello already. What’s the problem?” I’m standing in front of a very annoyed Sandy who’s about two seconds from losing her temper with me, but I don’t care.

“These things take time and preparation, Hunter. You can’t just go in guns blazing and expect to get things done correctly.”

“I’ve given you time. This is the first legit lead we have had in a while. We don’t know how much longer he’ll be in Utah. He could leave and go off the grid again and we’ll miss our chance.” She slams her hands on her desk.

“Don’t you think I know that?! Do you think you’re the only one who wants to find Cole? I need him out of the picture just as much as you do, but I’m not going to risk more of my men jumping into something blindly. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to be smart about it. It’s my way or not at all.” She glares at me, letting me know she’s not going to back down.

“Fine. You’re right.” I wave my white flag in defeat, knowing that I need Sandy more than she needs me right now.

“I’m just getting anxious waiting around. I feel helpless.” Her face softened as she listened to my words.

“I get it, but we only have one shot at this. If we mess this up, we’ll lose him for good, and that is something we cannot risk.” She sits down at her desk and starts to click through her phone.

“I have guys going to Monteciello tomorrow to do some surveillance around the area. How about you and Alex go with them? At least that’ll help with your anxiousness-- but, you are not to engage whatsoever. This. is. Surveillance. ONLY.” She makes sure to emphasize her last words.

“I mean it, Hunter. We can’t have a repeat of Santa Monica. Even if you see Cole and you think you have a clear shot, you do not take it. Do you understand me?” I nod my head.

“I need to hear you say it.”

“I understand Sandy. I won’t engage.” She stares at me for what feels like an eternity. That look can make any man squirm, but I know she's searching for any hint of deception, which I wasn’t going to give her.

“Okay.” She finally said after she was satisfied with my answer.

“Get Alex over here and I’ll take you guys to the warehouse to get briefed and ready to go. You’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

****

We drove up to another one of Sandy’s warehouses that no one ever knew existed. These are starting to pop up a dime a dozen now. I get out of the car and start to look around my surroundings. There were no signs or anything flashy to let you know the warehouse was even operable, but once you walked inside it was a completely different story.

There are two floors. The first floor has a big recreation area. There’s a full kitchen and booths and tables spread throughout to sit and eat. When you look further down, there’s a pool table, a ping pong table and air hockey lined up in a row. To the left of that is a lounge area with three sofas and a huge flat screen TV. I’m sure whoever Sandy has working here loves when there’s downtime.

“Holy s**t! Dude, how long has it been since we played air hockey?! We gotta play!” Alex shouts as he rushes to the air hockey table.

“I hope you're not a cheap ass and make your employees put quarters in this Sandy.” He starts looking around the game for the on switch. Sandy laughs and shakes her head.

“No, I don’t make them pay for the games, i***t, but let’s go, we don’t have time for this right now, maybe another day.” She turns around towards the staircase leading up to the second floor.

There were a total of eight rooms. Six of them are identical with glass walls. They each have two computer screens, an office chair, and a single chair in a corner. There are no name placards or any signs to let you know who works in what office.

“You got a rule against hanging pictures or something, Sandy? It’s kind of depressing here.” I tell her, looking for at least one kid drawing sitting on a proud parent’s desk.

“I didn’t think you’d notice that.” She says, surprised.

“Everyone who works in this building works under a different alias. My team is a priority for me and we work in a shady business with a lot of shady people. Some of my people have families-- this is just one way we try to keep them safe.”

“Why not just hire people with no families then?” Alex asks.

“Sometimes the best people have a little baggage.” She shrugs.

We continued walking until we reached the last identical office. There was a young guy-- probably around 21 or 22 years old, with spiky brown and black highlighted hair. He was typing away at the computer. We walk into the office and he stands up as soon as he sees Sandy.

“How’s it going, boss? Everyone is already in the conference room.” His eyes land on Alex and I and he smiles.

“Thanks Chase. This is--”

“Hunter Morgan and Alex Sawyer. Nice to meet you. I’m Chase, Sandy’s assistant.” He shakes both of our hands, spending a little too much time on Alex. I chuckle figuring out that Alex had just earned himself a new crush. He snatches his hand away from Chase and smiles nervously once he figured it out for himself.

“Alright, let’s not keep them waiting too long.” Sandy ushers us out the door, ending a very awkward situation. We walk into the meeting room and there are two men and a female already sitting around a large round table, waiting.

“Have a seat.” Sandy gestures at the open chairs. I pull one of them out and Alex was about to do the same until Chase came and pulled it out for him.

“Allow me.” Chase grins.

“No, I got it.” Alex tenses up and grabs the chair from him. Chase puts his hands up in submission and saunters away from the chair, his smile never leaving his face.

“What the f**k is his deal man?” Alex whispers to me as we take our seats.

“Sucks when the shoe is on the other foot huh?” I joke, but he didn’t find it the least bit amusing.

“Look, if a chick wants to pull out my chair I’m all for it, but I’ll leave the dudes to you since you seem to be okay with it.” I hear Chase laugh as he sits down on the chair across from us, obviously listening to our entire conversation.

“Oh honey, of course he would be my first choice, but any gay man can tell there’s no chance in hell with him. You, on the other hand-- well, we can have a little fun.” He winks, and I have to hold Alex down before he leaps over the table and destroys that pretty boy’s face.

‘“Chase, stop messing with him.” Sandy laughs as she sees how pissed off Alex is getting.

“Wait, so you’re not gay?” Alex asks in relief.

“Eh, depends on the day.” Chase shrugs and Alex’s face went from relief right back to horror in less than a second. I can’t hold my composure anymore and laugh the hardest that I have laughed in a long time. It seems like everyone else did too.

“Alright guys, let’s get serious.” Sandy speaks out, trying to get some order back in the room. It slowly starts to simmer down and silence takes over the room.

“Quick introductions. Hunter, Alex, this is Andrew.” She says, pointing at the man to the left of her.

“He’s in charge of weapons and explosives. The man next to him is my leading technical analyst, Patrick. He’s a hacking machine. Megan here, leads the imagery team. You need satellite imagery? She’s the best in the field and finally Chase, whom you’ve already met.” We all give each other a nod. Of course, Alex gives Megan a little more than a nod, but she doesn’t seem amused.

“Okay now that we got that out the way, let’s get to the matter at hand.” She picks up a remote that is lying on the table and presses a button. Soon after, the lights in the room shut off and an image of an old but well-kept mansion projects on all four walls of the room.

“Murphy Mansion. Cole’s birthplace. We found out this place isn’t even supposed to exist anymore. It was burned down almost 30 years ago, but as you can see, that is far from the truth.” She clicks the remote again and two pictures are now projected on the walls. One is a typical old Irish man. He has a head full of gray hair and black bushy eyebrows. The other picture is of a woman who looks to be in her early to mid 30’s. She’s on the paler side and has dark brown hair. As soon as I saw the picture I knew exactly who she was.

“Cillian and Cara Murphy, Cole’s mother and grandfather.” She points her laser at Cara’s picture.

“Cara’s parents died in a car accident and she was raised by her grandfather, Cillian. The Murphy’s weren’t part of the four families but they were well-known. They owned a lot of businesses and were really wealthy, but they lacked protection and that’s when Danny came into play.” A picture of Danny Sullivan pops up.

“He offered Cillian the protection of the Four Clovers for a fee. Once he was in the door with Cillian, Cara came shortly after and she fell in love with him. They got married and Danny soon became the son that Cillian lost. He taught Danny how to become a legitimate businessman and when Danny added that, with his street smarts, he helped bring the Four Clovers to the next level. Drugs, guns and clubs became The Sullivan’s bread and butter. The more Danny rose the more Cara fell. One day, Cillian died of a heart attack and Cara went into a deep depression. She got heavily into drugs until one day she overdosed. Danny found her in the boy’s room with a needle in her arm and the boys tied up in the closet. Cole was eight, Conner was five. With Cara dead and no other living relatives, all of the Murphy assets went to Danny. Sounds like too much of a coincidence, doesn’t it? Here’s where it gets really sketchy. The Murphys and anyone close to them started disappearing, some died, some moved away. Eventually, the Murphys didn’t exist.”

“If that’s the case, then how did you find all of this out?” I ask.

“When you have the connections I do, it’s not hard to dig things up that people want to keep buried. We know where Cole is but what we need to find out is why he’s in hiding in the first place. We can’t make any rash moves until we know why.”

“After his brother’s funeral, he’s been off the grid.” Megan adds in. “Any meetings or clan related issues get delegated to his number two, Ryan.” His picture pops up next.

“He could be grieving.” Chase speaks up, but we all dismiss the idea knowing a monster like Cole doesn’t grieve.

“They’re in the middle of a change in leadership, a critical moment in any clan and he’s nowhere to be seen. I need to know why and we’ll find the answer in this mansion.” The projector switches to a blueprint of the Murphy mansion.

“There are five ways to get on and off the property and each way is blocked by his men. There’s a gate about two miles from the house no one really knows about. It leads to an underground tunnel to the mansion. The only problem is that we don’t have eyes down there. We know it leads to the mansion but we don’t know where exactly, or if it’s even possible to access it– but that will be our best way in without getting noticed.” The projector turns off and the lights come back on. I squint my eyes to adjust to the change.

“A copy of the mansion's blueprints and everyone’s photo have been sent to your phones. Stake out the mansion, learn the movements of the guards and find a way to get inside without being noticed, get back to me with a full update. That’s the mission, any questions?” She looks around the room and waits for someone to say something. When no one did, she nodded her head.

“Okay Andrew, take Hunter, Alex and Chase to get their weapons and vest ready for tomorrow. Megan and Patrick come with me.” She walks out the room with Megan and Patrick following behind her. Andrew stands up and walks to the back of the room where there was a door with a keypad next to it. He enters a code and two beeps sound off, unlocking the door. He opens the door and looks back at us. Alex and I stand up, excited to see what this warehouse is really for.

My mouth drops in awe as I see the rows of weapons and different types of gadgets. As we walk through the rows, Andrew grabs AKs and handguns along with their bullets. He picks up a few bullet-proof vests and earpieces before walking to a table with a computer on it. I could tell that he’s not much of a talker, which I’m perfectly fine with. I’m not much of one either.

He types in his username and password on the computer and opens up an application. Soon after, I hear a buzzing sound echo through the warehouse. A drone lifts from atop one of the shelves and flies around before landing on the table in front of us.

“OOOOOOHHHH!!! I CALL DIBS NEXT!!” Alex shouts, trying to bulldoze Andrew away from the computer, but Andrew is no wimp so he barely moves.

“No one touches Wanda.” He says monotonously, not taking his eyes off the computer.

“No one touches Wanda.” Alex mocks.

“Are you kidding me dude? The first words you say all day, and those were it?” He waits for Andrew to respond but he doesn't; he just keeps typing away at the computer.

“Yeah, he doesn’t say much, but I would keep your distance. What they say about the Russians is true. They’re f*****g nuts.” Chase intervenes, giving Alex a heads up.

“Whatever. I’ll get my hands on it eventually. I’m not worried.” He shrugs and Andrew smiles. Probably the Top 5 most sinister smiles for me.

“What the hell are you smiling at?”

“It’ll be fun crushing your windpipe.” Alex stares blankly at him for what felt like an eternity. Everytime I thought he would say something he would just blink again.

“I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to say to that, so I’m just not gonna touch that one. What about you, Chase? Are you Russian too?” Alex finally says, turning away from Andrew.

“Nope, all American here.”

“How did you start working for Sandy?” I ask him.

“That’s a funny story. Before I started working for Sandy, I used to rob high rollers at casinos. Female, male, young, old-- it didn’t matter. With a few drinks and this gorgeous face, I can make anyone do anything for me. One day, I was at Top Tier Casino and Sandy walked in. I loved going to Top Tier because you only go there if you’re ready to spend some big bucks, so I knew Sandy was loaded. I watched her for a little bit before I made my move. We started drinking and having a good time and I thought I had her, but I was sadly mistaken. When I went to rob her she was ready and waiting for me. I thought she was going to call the police but she hired me instead. Apparently, she was watching me for a long time and when I attempted to rob her, I was being tested. Seems like I passed.” He smiles but it quickly fades as Andrew shoves an earpiece in his ear.

“Jeeze, will it kill you to be just a little gentle?” As expected, Andrew doesn’t answer and Chase rolls his eyes. Andrew hands me my earpiece and gives Alex his next. He gives us all a vest to try on and adjust them as needed.

As we continued to get everything ready for tomorrow, my mind drifted off to Taylor. I haven’t seen her since we lost Adrienne, and after the conversation I had with Carlos and Rosa, I figure it’s time to see her. Before Adrienne died she was in bad shape. I can only imagine how she is now that she’s gone. Guilt starts to wash over me the more I think about it.

She lost Adrienne too and at the worst possible time in her life, and I kind of just left her high and dry. I know she has Chris, Rosa and Carlos but I know Adrienne wanted me to stay by her side-- at least until we found Cole. I sigh, realizing that I’ve been letting Adrienne down in more ways than one.