While Teddy was watching her and Dean, I let my mind get to work on what to buy her to distract me. I knew exactly what store I wanted to go into.
We stopped by a few jewelry stores and picked up a few pieces that we think would look stunning on her, and I can’t wait for her to open what I found. Teddy wandered off before I could stop him, but he met me back at the car and refused to show me what he got. Max only told me to get her more of the soaps she likes, and Dean suggested a few items to make her room look cozier than the hotel room it looked like. All in all, it was a pretty fast trip, and we were heading back to the manor.
“I liked seeing her dance this morning.” Teddy’s voice broke through the silent car ride, and I jumped at the disturbance.
“Yeah, I did too. She seemed…” I trail off, not knowing the word I’d like to use to describe it.
“At peace. She said it last night.” I’ve never seen Teddy so… stable before. He’s usually going on about torture techniques, random morbid facts, or of course the volunteer work he likes to do in his free time.
“We need to make her an official Karma. I know there are some things we still need to see her do. But she fits so well.”
“Do you think Max will go about the same ritual to make it official?” This brings back his devilish smile and he wiggles his eyebrows at me.
“Oh, I hope so. I’d love to see her go through it.”
The ritual is sacred to just us four. It was what Max put us all through when we became a family, a unit. It was our own thing that was completely separate from the empire and separate from Kahl. And I look forward to making it all official with Zoe. She is one of us, our missing link,ours.
The second we pull into our underground garage, Teddy is out the door and running to enter the house, “Teddy! Wait!” I called out.
He stops in his tracks with a huff, “What?”
“I need help getting Deangelo out and to the cellar.” He rolls his eyes but comes to help me, thankfully letting me knock him out to make the trek to the cellar easier.
We’ve decided to keep Deangelo and Darren delegate for the time being. After thinking it over, Max agreed to let Zoe take Deangelo for herself to mark him as a Sparrow kill. I know she wanted to hunt for him, but this was the safest possibility considering all the threats we are currently working through.
We make quick work of getting him in a holding cell, and hurry to unload the gifts into her room. And fucking finally, we can go see her. I put the heart in our own deep freezer making a mental note not to forget it's there in the morning when I pull out the sausages for breakfast.
Teddy and I both race to the gym, itching to just be in the same air as her. We burst through the door and come to a screeching halt.
I burst into laughter, ignoring all the guards that are waiting in small groups by the mats
“Dean," I snorted. "Who kicked the shit out ofyou?"
28
F = ma
Zoe
Assessing the security team was an absolute shit show, but incredibly insightful. We found two individuals that were the most impressive. Drake, who has been employed by the Karmas for nearly three years, was able to fight off three other guards and hold his own on the mat against me for about twenty minutes. Of course, I was able to best him, but out of the entirety of the personnel, he held me off the longest.
Dean and I decided to make Drake our replacement for Darren. He’ll oversee our arms warehouse until further notice.
Then I got to meet Jessica, the only woman in the entire collection, and she put Dean on his ass.More than once.The Karma’s hired Jessica into their security team about four months ago, and although I didn’t get to physically spar against her, we did match shot for shot in the shooting range. I spoke with the brothers and came to an agreement to add her to our inner circle security for when we have to go on any jobs, she will also be taking the lead of our security personnel in general when Dean can’t devote his attention to them.
Which leads us to here, Jessica and Drake are standing with me in the cellar, staring at a tied-up Deangelo- who iscovered in his own piss. I’d say I was surprised but I’d expect nothing less considering it was Teddy and Brandon who picked him up.
“So, Drake,” I begin, turning to face him. “You’ll be in the weapons warehouse and not the packaging, but how would you deal with someone in our troops trying to steal our product?”
Drake is in his mid-twenties, a little older than me, average height and build, and topped with ruffled brown hair. From the outside, he looks completely unsuspecting and even has an innocent ‘boy next door’ look, but when he opens his mouth all the entire facade disappears. Looking at Deangelo he asks, “Do you know what they do to thieves in Saudi Arabia?” And seeing as Deangelo is gagged, Drake answers for him, “They chop their hands off.”
I give an appreciative nod to him followed by a click of my tongue, “Then do it.”
“Cut off his hands?” He chuckles.
“Yes, what tool did you want?”
He raises his eyebrows and mirrors the same nod I give him, “A bone saw will do.”
