Who's the redhead,🤷🤷 Any ideas???
JEREMY'S POV Six days ago, Josephine was kidnapped from the hospital. Two days later, Pup sent me explicit pictures of her, beaten and bruised in the worst ways. And since then, a demonic haze has taken over my control. My beast doesn't struggle for control anymore, he just takes and I gladly let him. “WHERE IS SHE?” I punch the last of Pup's men across the face, enjoying the sound of his facial muscles breaking under my fist. The two men I'd left Tonia to fight had brought back up and all of a sudden, two had turned to five. Right now, Four are lying motionless on the dirt with empty eye sockets, shattered spines, and broken necks. This one is still alive and lucky for him, the inferno raging in me has burned down to simmering rage. Now I'm just playing with him. Just toying with his face. Blood sprays across my cheeks and I ignore it, pummeling his face until my knuckles are soaked in his fluid and even then, I don't stop. “Please! I don't know who you're talking about?”
“You found anything from your intense PI level search yet?” Kenny plops backward on my neatly arranged bed with her hands raised. “Didn't you see the Do Not Disturb sign board in front of my door?” I waste a full minute glaring at her as she ignores my question with bored sighs and blowing air bubbles. “This blows, Mal.” She rolls to her belly, her head propped up by her raised elbows digging into my bed. “What'd you want Kenny?” “What'd you mean what do I want with that snarky attitude, I came to help,” “Well, help quietly.” I snap as she continues with the air bubbles. “Jeez, fine… but you don't have to be a tart about it.” I swivel my chair to face her, “Kenny, I feel like I don't even know you right now.” “What's that supposed to mean?” “It means you've been acting weird since Jo was kidnapped.” She straightens up, folding her legs like a yoga instructor with arms folded across her bosom, “No I haven't, in fact I've been doing the very opposite while you've been locked u
“Burkely!” Margie, the chief's secretary, yells behind the door to my office. “It's open.” I glance up from the stack of files I'd been studying when the door doesn't open. “I know it is, I’m just sick of seeing your face!” She yells from behind the door. “What'd you want Margery?” I call her by her full name, knowing how much it aggravates her. “What's wrong with your intercom?! Don't tell me you didn't place it back on the receiver and now it's dead.” I quietly place the telephone back in its receiver. “You tell me, since you've got it all figured out, Detective Marge,” I tease. “Screw you, Burke!” “I love you too, Margery.” “Fuck off, The chief wants you in his office. NOW!” I hear her retreating footsteps and bend the framed picture of Margery, my wife, and me on my wedding day downwards on my desk. Marge and I met as first-year students in the police academy and back then she held a special place for me in her heart. She introduced me to my now dead wife who’d been
Shit! I cut the call and move to touch her but she steps back. “I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, Kenny.” “But I asked you and you said—” “I know what I said. Kenny…” I beg. “Don't say my name.” She steps further backward as I come closer. “You told me that she was attacked by Vongov! You said that the cuts weren't self-inflicted. You two made me feel like a horrible person for even bringing it up!” She gesticulates wildly like the words itself are tearing her apart and she's trying her hardest not to give in. “I'm sorry! She made me promise not to tell anyone!” “And I'm anyone?” She asks and I shut my eyes. I'm not good with emotions and I know how to fix this. A part of me wants to scream at Kenny that things like this happen all the time, that just like how I forget to tell my parents I love them, I also forgot to tell her about Jo cutting herself and she needs to grow the fuck up but that's not true and no matter how much it pains me to say, I was wrong in this. I bite my li
JOJO'S POV Getting used to life in a foreign country and a foreign tongue grows on you faster than you expect ‘specially when the locals are nice and welcoming. My case is not and I feel like I stepped into a sixteenth-century documentary on slavers and the horrors of slavery. Albert, who's Madame Silva’s driver, formed a bond with me after he learned I didn't like working in the poppy fields. None of us liked breaking our backs under the harsh sun to pluck up drugs that'd end up destroying people's lives but I was the only one stupid enough to be vocal about it and that earned me a designated spot at the whipping ground. Albert found me after the first whipping and cleaned up my back and rubbed some healing cream on it. He came back the next night and the next until I found myself waiting up for him after each whipping session. They call The Estate A Casa Do Ouro which makes no sense to me because the Mansion is surrounded by over fifty acres of poppy flowers, growing exotically
JOJO'S POV After dumping my broken feelings on Katrina, we enter the bonding phase, talking about our lives before A Casa Do Ouro for the remainder of the bath and it turns out that Katrina's parents sold her to A Casa Do Ouro for money to pay for her younger sister's illness. Katrina insists the trade was with her consent but I highly doubt that. I think her parents tricked her into getting sold and I think she knows it. Rifling through the closet, Katrina takes out a black gown that covers me up, neck to foot and I nod my approval. “Are you sure this is what you want to wear?” Katrina cocks an unsure gaze at the attire, her despair at the material is mildly entertaining but I'm not budging. “Yes, Kat. This is what I'll wear.” “But it's too old for you and I wanted to dress you up like a princess,” Katrina mumbles her protests with a cute crumbled expression. “Nah, nope you can't sway me on this, I'm wearing the black widow gown.” I grab it from her hands and dump the heap o
JOJO'S POV The first man to reach us, their leader looks at Katrina and me with confusion etched on his face. “Why are you just standing there? Kill that bitch!” The kid screams from the ground. He tries to get up but falls on his face for a lack of balance. “The Madame said not to touch her.” Their leader says with a hateful gaze on me. One of the men tries to grab Katrina, pushing past me and I block his path, my fingers sliding into the waistband of his jeans to pull out a revolver and I aim it at the men. “Step back,” I order and everyone freezes. Except for the guy who's still moaning and rolling on the ground with a broken arm. Such a crybaby. I kick him backward for good measure and the animosity in the leader's eyes flares so I kick the kid again and again for my pleasure. Their leader takes a step forward. I cock the gun and point it at the kid on the floor. Whoever this kid is, he's obviously calling the shots around here. The leader steps back until they're at
JEREMY'S POV We gather in the insanely cramped space that is Mallory's room and I feel her eyes poking lasers into the back of my head. She's not happy with my presence and neither am I. Without a doubt, I believe that if she hadn't tipped the fucking police, Josephine would be here amongst us. Amongst them, at least. Any problems I have with Josephine are between her and I and no one has the right to interfere. I yell the words at the brick-headed Mallory and she yells back that anything that concerns Jo is also a concern of hers. She didn't travel across the Pacific to watch her best friend fall apart over an arrogant prick with no heart and do nothing about it. Kendrick, who'd been glaring lasers into Mallory's head also comes to her support. They're all sisters, she says and they live to support each other because that’s the only way they can thrive. I laugh at their bullshit talk, mocking them with my reply. If they were such a tight-knit support group, why'd they leave Jos
JOJO’s POV Two Months Later… They were graduating high school today but Josephine would always go back to that day each time she passed the workshop. She and over three hundred graduates passed by the workshop today but no one spoke about it. They had all forgotten. It felt like they'd forgotten everything linked to him along with him and that made Josephine sick to her stomach. One month ago, She, Junnev, and Jeremy were hanging on for dear lives in the hospital. Of their three cases, Jeremy’s was the most baffling because apart from the external injuries he suffered from the accidents and the cement, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him. So why wouldn't he wake up? They closed off Jeremy in a special room for “intense observation purposes,” that's what they called it. They kept him there until he was cleared for flight to be transported back to America. Junnev knee joints were broken from the weight of concrete. He’d woken up during the surgery, his tone mighty
Kendrick tried to stand but her ears were ringing so badly from the explosion so she used her hands to cover them and suddenly there was a semblance of peace in the chaos that had become the world. Kendrick blinked debris and dust from her eyes as she looked around, trying to find a familiar face. She couldn't see past the dust that had formed from the explosion but she could hear the awful screams and the rapid-fire gunshots and those sounds would stay with her forever. Bullets were flying left and right and Kendrick knew she had to get out. She needed to get out of there before she got hit by a stray bullet or before the ceiling caved in or before she died from a heart attack so she put one leg in front of the other and trudged along. The dust was settling and she could see certain parts of the building clearer. She looked around the unconsciously fed bodies of men to see Jeremy and Junnev covered with debris and as she got closer to them, her mouth widened in horror. They wer
Jeremy couldn't comprehend when the plan started falling apart but it had in fact… fallen. Lying in front of him were two bodies, Josephine was lying on the dirty ground, blood pouring out of her chest, yet she tried to sit up. Jeremy ran to her and took her trembling body into his arms, trying to apply enough pressure on her wound but crimson just kept flowing to the ground, steadily forming a pool of red around them. She’d run into the line of fire as he shot at her kidnapper. Why did she do that? Why? He racked his brain for a tangible reason but came up empty. Next to her was the masked kidnapper, they called her The Mistress. He had heard tales about her horrible doings since he'd been a tween, each one more fearsome than the last yet here she was, fallen by a mere bullet. She was dead. “Kila!” His father's men called from behind and he whipped around to see Maxim holding onto his bleeding neck. Apparently, the Mistress had decided his father would be her last victim.
“You are more like a pirate than an actual cop,” Junnev sparked after Burkely ended the call. “I am retired, Kid. Besides, all my years of following the law and reporting everything I saw left me without a wife, a roof over my head, and eventually a Jobless alcoholic with no future except nabbing one man.” “That's…” “Pathetic, I know.” Burkely fished out another stick of cigarette. “I'm a living, breathing bundle of addiction!” Burkely finished his tirade with his arms spread apart– eagle form on the sidewalk with a wide smile, pasted on his face as horns blared from vehicles passing by them. Junnev tugged his hands down and hissed through clenched teeth, “Control yourself, Old man. We don't want to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves.” Burkely shrugged out of Junnev’s hold and glared up at the kid, “Don’t call me an old man. You know my name, so use it.” “I'll call you whatever the fuck I want since you are the one who keeps forgetting,” Junnev responded with angry sparks
Something was wrong and Doc was certain, it had something to do with Josephine. The Dukes couple and their men were currently situated close to the bushes, away from the main road. Their men were well hidden with their guns and rifles in the surrounding bushes while waiting for the signal from their bosses who were inside a parked reporter van down the road. Doc was furious, anxious, and more so, scared as she got out of the van and paced down the length of the road. She tried again and again to get a hold of Jeremy Vongov but his line was switched off. “I told you we shouldn't have trusted him.” Will quipped from the back of the vehicle. “This is no time to point fingers, Will. Something bad has happened and we need to do something.” “How about you get Mallory and Kendrick and their friends involved? Get them to track down Jeremy.” Doc turned away from her husband, “It's too dangerous Will, why’d think we've been knowingly throwing them off course? Our hackers will easily h
“There was something in the air,” Jeremy thought to himself as he stalked to the back SUV where his father was already seated. Maxim looked composed and rather cheerful as he watched his son get into the vehicle from his side eye. “I told you no one was to touch her,” Jeremy growled in a chilling tone. “Oh, stop your grumbling, we have a big day ahead of us.” Maxim waved him off and grabbed the glass of vodka on the armrest, taking a healthy swallow. Jeremy schooled back his features and settled for a stiff smile, “Yes, we do Father.” “Good,” The vehicle sets in reverse and slowly pulls out of the driveway then it accelerates as the driver moves down the road and silence settles in the vehicle. Jeremy uses the quiet to finalize his plans by sending out a few texts and receiving a confirmed reply. “Tell me boy, how did your talk with the redhead go?” “That's none of your business.” “Humor me.” Jeremy locks his phone and focuses on his father, “Why do you care?” “Because yo
JOJO'S POV The truth hurts, doesn't it? Jeremy steps into the room right after his father slips out and goes into a full-on wrath when he sees me in chains and I want to slap him. I want to punch him so hard in his nutsack that he feels something's wrong down there each time he takes a step. Motherfucker, I want to stump on his ugly heart and crack it into a thousand tiny pieces. Pieces so tiny, they'd be impossible to place back. I want to break him. So badly it hurts to sit there quietly and do nothing. Which is what I’m doing when the chains are finally gone from my wrists, instead I ask, “What happened when you were eight years old?” He stiffens and his eyes turn into a void. “Jeremy?” I call but it's like he can't hear me. “Jeremy?!!” I call louder, shaking him a little. “Uh, Josephine?” “I asked you a question.” I probe, not letting up. His eyes harden to black stones, “It's none of your business.” “Of course it is, I want to know how you came to grow up in Ameri
Maxim Vongov Maxim's teeth grounded to his jaw as he realized how much time, his son had taken. It was time to make the trade and Jeremy was nothing if not time conscious. The kid was getting sloppy. He watched from the monitors as Jeremy kissed his girlfriend goodbye and left the room. Maxim turned to Yuri, “Make sure he's detained properly.” “Another safe house?” “No, he'll come with me but I want him restrained, twice as much as before.” “I'll get it done, boss.” “I want an audience with the girl.” “I'll arrange it, boss.” “Good and make sure my son doesn't know about the little visit.” Yuri nods his acquiescence just as Jeremy bounds into the room and Yuri subtly leaves. “To what do I owe this pleasure, father.” Unsurprisingly, his bastard of an heir didn't look very happy to see his father after locking him up in a house for more than twenty-four hours. “Did you tell the girl?” He bares his teeth at his father, “That has nothing to do with you.” “The fucking ingrat
JoJo's POV I wake up in his arms, feeling the warmth of his body heat fanning against my skin. His breath is shallow but when I crane my neck to see, his eyes are shut. He's asleep. I need to pee, so I try to untangle myself from his arms but they only tighten around me. “Whereareyougoing?” His deep voice is a gruffy rasp and I feel its feathery weight on my skin as he rolls us to the other side of the bed. “I need to pee!” I whisper-yell, squeezing my sore thighs in impatience. “Okay, okay.” He begrudgingly lets go of me and I slap his chest before I scurry over to the bathroom. In my birthday suit. At this point, I can't be embarrassed about rushing off to the bathroom barebacked with him in the room. Not after he’s fucked me ten ways to Sunday. I bend over to pee and I realize Jeremy cleaned me up earlier and that single thought has me holding onto my chest and hyperventilating in the kitchen sink. What does this mean? Why did he clean me up? Does this mean we're togeth