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I push my bike to its limit. The engine growls at me as I lean forward, willing it to go faster. The wind stings against my skin, but it won’t slow me down.
Nothing will slow me down.
Not now, not ever.
Revenge has fueled me for so long. The thought of taking the life from the person who’d taken lives from me. Revenge is the ultimate decision maker. The one thing I thought that could turn a rational man into the devil himself. I was a step closer to the devil than most men already, but I know now it’s not revenge that makes the sane insane.
It’s love.
For love, I’m willing to burn down the world and everyone in it.
For Frankie, I’ll destroy, maim, and avenge until I’m swimming laps in the blood of those who dared to lay hands on her.
The landscape passes me by in a blur. I can’t see it even if I slow down. I can only see one thing right now and one thing only.
Frankie.
It’s fueling me to go faster, push harder, and fight the wind to get to her.
The thought of her smile, her laugh, her heart, her body. Her everything I didn’t deserve but can’t imagine ever living without.
Please be alive, Frankie. Please be FUCKING alive!
Chapter Fifty-Four
“It’s gonna take some time, Uncle Griff,” Duke says, but he’s not really Duke. Griff had called him Leo.
I’m in a state of shock when I’m pulled up and dragged to another room. One lined with a wall of computers and another with a server just as large. Fans blow on them from the ceiling.
The ties at my feet have been cut, but my hands are still bound.
“But can you do it?” Griff asks, his jaw ticking impatiently.
Duke looks from me to Griff. “Of course.”
“Good, you have two hours.” Griff turns his back and leaves the room. “Or you’re both dead.”
Duke lifts me up by my elbow and pushes me into a chair. “Shocked?” Duke asks, firing up the center computer and taking the seat next to me.
“Why?” is all I can ask.
“Coincidence if you can believe it. I didn’t realize you were my Uncle’s enemy number one until he asked me to break into your house and install the cameras in the basement after you were taken from school that day by that cop.”
“He’s not a cop.”
“I know that now,” he says.
“Since when are you good at computers?” I ask. “Didn’t you fail your computer course last semester.”
“I guess I’m like you in that way,” Duke says, flashing me a sad smile. “Hiding in plain sight.”
He turns back to the computer, and for a second, I feel bad for Duke. I don’t know all the details, but from where I stand, he might be just as much a victim as I am.
“Where do I begin?”
Duke wipes his palms on his khakis, his fingers poised over the keys.
“You’ll want to start with…” I fire off the most intricate exaggerated knowledge of the inner workings of the web. It’s a test to see what Duke really knows.
He fails.
Duke’s eyes go wide. “Fuck,” he swears, dropping his head to his hands.
“I’ll do it,” I tell him. “I promise, I’ll get your uncle’s money back. I just want him to leave my friends alone. Please.” I beg, even going so far as to push out my lower lip.
Duke growls. He’s going to give in. I haven’t given him a lot of choice. “Fine, but don’t fuck it up, or we’re both dead,” Duke says.
I’m sorry Duke.
He cuts the restraints from my wrists and slides the keyboard over to me. He looks over my shoulder, and I don’t bother to cover my tracks as I pull up the codes I need. Something tells me Duke’s biggest hacking boast is stealing someone’s Facebook password.
My fingers fly across the screen as I tap into the in-house server and empty every single account Griff has. Then I do exactly what I came here to do. Why I had to come here alone. Why I couldn’t risk Smoke and his friends storming in here for revenge and possibly destroying the information before I got my hands on it. When it’s done I send a backup of every file on the server to Nine, including what I hope will be enough information to allow him to locate Smoke’s baby.
I’m the conductor again, leading my orchestra to the grandest of finales. The entire time Duke is watching me and nodding like the poor fucker knows anything about what I’m doing.
“One more thing and it’s all done,” I say.
“No funny business,” Duke warns.
I turn to face Duke and smile sweetly. “Oh, I guarantee, there isn’t anything funny about it.” I press enter. The power to the building shuts down.
The room goes black.
“You little bitch!” Duke shrieks, pounding on the keys of the now dead and useless computer.
I smile. “Oops?”
The door swings open. Griff appears flanked by two men dressed all in black with guns at the ready. The three men are aglow in red from the emergency lights lining the ceiling.
Duke stands and points accusingly at me. “She…I…” he stammers.
Griff nods to the man next to him who raises his gun and fires a single bullet into Duke’s chest. Duke stammers back with a shocked look on his face and blood seeping from his mouth. He collapses backward onto the table, breaking it in half and taking it down with him.
I’m oddly calm as Griff enters the room, storming up to me. His fist connects with my jaw, and for a moment, I see stars. The room is spinning around me as I fall off the chair.
“What. Did. You. Do?” He breathes his question as he stands over me. His angry, red face made even redder by the lights.
“I took away your power,” I say, laughing maniacally at my pun.
“How much did you take?” he asks.
I smile in response.
“How the fuck much?” he bellows, holding out his hand for his lackey to place a gun in it.
“All of it,” I say. “I took all of it.”
“Fuck!!!!!” Griff yells, tearing at his hair and yelling to the walls. “Fuuuuuuuuccckkkk!”
“You think you took my power?” he chuckles and kicks me square in the gut. I feel my ribs crack on impact. I fold in on myself trying to breathe through the pain, but it’s impossible because it’s too much. It’s all too fucking much.
“You’re not smiling now, are ya?” Griff says, aiming the gun at me. “We’ll see who has the power when I’m through with you.”
