Chapter 184: Bait... again?

Elias’s POV

“Grrhh!” Damien turns his rage on the man at his feet. My older brother bashes the butt of the rifle into his back again, and again, and again. Red blood splatters all over the floor, but Damien doesn’t stop.

He never gets satisfied in this state.

“That’s enough, Damien” I snap and he glares at me. Those golden eyes of his are flashing with ill intentions.

“Put the gun down and step away” I order. He growls at me instead of obeying my order. I lift my chin and harden my gaze.

“Do as I say right now, Damien” I say and he throws the gun to the floor. The stained gun skids across the floor and I follow his movements with my eyes. He gives me one last look before storming out of the room.

My brother is in the place again. The place where he loses control and gives in to impulse. The place Julian taught him to find survival in like a rabid animal.

I slowly turn around to survey everyone in the room. My eyes skim each person’s face. Some faces are tear-soaked, some have accepted the fact that they can’t escape death, and others are panicking.

“Who has something to say to me?” I ask calmly and the room stays quiet. The only noise comes from one who had been at the brunt of Damien’s rage. He is gasping for air and sobbing.

“No one?” I ask, slowly folding the sleeves of my shirt and pulling out my loaded gun. It’s still wet with the driver’s saliva.

“Everyone in this room has sixty seconds to give me something to work with or else…” I say, slowly bringing out my pocket watch and staring blankly at the thin hands of the clock.

“Ross used to be close with that one” Aria points at a female beta, and the woman starts to shake her head.

“No…no…no! Please, we were only sex partners nothing more” the woman screams, trying to run away from my attention. She looks like she would self-explode if she could. But I won’t let her.

No one dies unless I take their lives.

“Sex partners?” I repeat her words and she nods frantically.

“I didn’t know he was involved in something like this, I swear to the moon goddess. I’m innocent” she cries, covering her face as her body shakes. I keep staring as she keeps begging.

“Then what do you know about him?”

“I only know he spends a lot of time on his computer” she says and Aria scoffs.

“Find the computer” I say over my shoulder and Kai moves first, but I stop him. “Not you, you’re injured” I say and my little brother rolls his eyes.

Lucas leaves to go search for the computer and I squat in front of all the people arranged in the room.

“Do you think you’ve all escaped?” my question hangs in the air, and I lean forward.

“If I find out any one of you is linked to this mess, I won’t hesitate to kill. Do you understand?” I ask and they all nod, avoiding eye contact, and breathing hard.

Killing all of them will cost us nothing. My father still has his group of branded criminals; they’re still eager to have a life and eager to serve just to live. We would simply be swapping out one group of criminals for another.

I walk over to Kai and ask someone to get a first-aid kit. I wait by his side as the gun wound gets cleaned, worked on, and finally gauzed. Kai doesn’t make a single noise through it all.

I’ll find the bastard who did this.

I will find them, and I will teach them a lesson. That lesson will become the story their generation will never forget to tell their children as they go to sleep every night.

“I found it” Lucas announces as he comes back with an open laptop.

He shows us the screen and the software that has been launched. It seems to be a specially created messenger. It looks simple and easy to miss, but it’s clear that its design is sophisticated.

“R.E.M.P.T.N” Aria reads the strange name of the app.

“Redemption. That’s the name of the signature they left behind” Silas says and I move to take a closer look. It has a message displayed and it is a line of dots and dashes.

“They talk in morse codes” I say.

“These sneaky bastards” Kai hisses.

V.R:

You found this already, haven’t you Deus?

Don’t panic. You’ll never find me, but I will always find you.

Are you scared of me yet? You should be.

But don’t worry. I won’t launch my attack till I’m ready.

I might wait five years, three years, or even one…you’ll never know.

Just watch out. And oh. Your workers are hard to recruit. This one was just a pussy.

FYI you have no other mole, but I will always find my way.

Xoxo

Redemption.

My jaw ticks and I slowly hand the laptop back to Lucas.

“What does the code say?” he asks and Kai looks up with interest. I’m too out of loop to relay the message. All I want is to get this over with.

“Track the app to its creation. Free Roman, make him get us something useful, and find me Goldsmith’s current location” I say and Lucas nods.

“Hold on…did you just say free Roman?” he asks.

“Yes, free him and go with him to his city. He could be the one who did this” I say and he nods slowly before leaving the room. He seems a little too eager to be the one to free Roman.

“What about Noah? Why isn’t he part of your suspects?” Aria says and I turn my body towards her.

“What did you just say?”

“Those people broke in and all they did was to take prisoners out. Isn’t it suspicious that one of the prisoners they took turned out to be Zane” she asks and I put my hands behind my back.

It’s easy to understand her argument, but I’ve gone past doubting Noah. Making him a suspect is not part of the things I will ever do. Never again.

“I would get rid of that thought if I were you, Aria” I say quietly and Aria stubbornly gets in my face. “You know what I’m saying adds up. We have never had anyone infiltrate but since he came in–“

I grab her throat and roughly shake her body.

“Don’t…piss me off” I growl in her face, and she starts to breathe hard and fast. “I thought you were the logical one in this clan” she says despite struggling for air.

“Aria, fucking drop it. Elias, let her go” Silas snaps at the both of us and the omega presses her lips together rebelliously. The hate she has for Noah is skin prickling, but I take my hand off her neck.

“Get back to work, all of you” I snarl at my mother’s employees, and they all scramble out of my sight.

I run my fingers through my hair in tiredness. I’ve been up and down all day, and I’m on edge. The cynical part of me whispers one question.

‘What if Noah is a bait…again?’

Again??

^_^

Thank you for reading, loveys <3