Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 123: Wet and Ready
Stiff came out with a towel around his waist and dried his hair with a second towel.
Once upon a time, I might have enjoyed the view. Now, he looked plain. I’d grown accustomed to the elevated aesthetic of Alec and his physical artistry topped with masterfully crafted ink. Besides, this wasn’t the time.
I grabbed the clothes from Alec and shoved them at Stiff. "Get dressed. We need to talk."
"I don’t want to talk to you," Stiff said.
"Yes, you do. Now, get dressed. You have ten minutes before we have to go."
I walked off even as Stiff shot back a refusal.
Alec said, "Man, it’s about Bea. Get dressed."
"What about Bea?" A suddenly somber Stiff asked.
I sat at the table and tried to down more smoothie and toast.
Stiff was out in five minutes carrying socks and shoes. He put on the socks. "Tell me."
"Lettie isn’t sick. She probably never was. She’s taken Bea."
"That can’t be. I’ve been keeping an eye on her. She can’t even speak. There’s no way she’s arranged a kidnapping."
"As far as I can tell, the old woman we’ve been watching is a lookalike, but that is for later. I needed you, and you weren’t here. Bea needed you."
"Where were you?" Stiff shot back. "Fucking around with that guy?" He pointed at Alec, who was on high alert.
"Enough! Both of you," CK said. "Bea was with me. She disappeared from my place. If anyone should take the blame, it’s me."
"You didn’t marry into that fucked up Heavenly family," Stiff said.
"That’s enough from all of you," Rosie said with hands on hips. "Blame doesn’t solve anything. Bea needs you to get your act together and rescue her. You can eviscerate each other after she’s safe."
"She’s right," I said.
"Why am I here?" Stiff asked. "To play wingman in the background while you take more and more chances with your life that endanger all of us?"
"I thought you would want to be here."
Stiff let out a bitter laugh. "I never want to be around you and Alec again."
Min smacked Stiff on the back of the head. "Stop being a whiny bitch and get it together. We have to pick up Daniel and Anya."
Stiff’s eyes widened. "After all our work, you’ve broken him out of prison?"
"Temporarily," I said. "He’ll go right back in as soon as Bea is free."
"You can’t guarantee that."
"I can," Jake said. "I can and will stake my life on all three of those Heavenlys going to jail as soon as Bea is safe. And, may it never happen, if Bea isn’t safe, there won’t be enough left of any of them to send to jail.
"Now, let’s go pick up the bait."
Jake tossed a key fob at Sampson. "You drive."
He divvied out travel arrangements, leaving me and Alec to travel alone.
The thought process was that if Lettie was contacting me, then she may also have eyes on me, so we needed to avoid giving her more targets than necessary, so Jake’s team went ahead to scope out the area and any possible obstacles.
Meanwhile, Alec and I had some private time when he drove me to his dad’s apartment.
"Are you alright?" Alec asked me.
"No."
"Anything I can do."
"No."
Why was I giving him the silent treatment? Alec had done nothing wrong. On the other hand, it was hard to be companionable when my friend’s life or death was on my head. Plus, I had Stiff acting like an adolescent. If this operation went sideways, I’d lose him, too.
Eugene’s apartment was in a quiet neighborhood that was probably quite trendy twenty years ago. Now, it was a little worn, a little out of date, but it still looked like an area a couple could retire in relative safety.
The apartment was small, clean, and sparsely furnished as if someone had moved out and forgotten to take all the furniture. However, the nicknacks and personal items were all gone. Eugene was there with a couple of his guys, two prison guards, and of course, our guests of honor, who looked smug, like they knew this was coming.
I wished they had shared with me. I never expected this. I was so damn confident that I had the upper hand with the Heavenly family that I’d brought this on myself. Never underestimate the enemy.
Never underestimate the enemy.
Never underestimate the enemy.
I will never forget again.
I called Lettie. "I have them here with me. What do you want?"
Lettie cackled. "I want you to suffer for the rest of your life, but I’ll start with a video of Daniel and Anya."
I turned on the camera and pointed it at her people. "Daniel, say hello to your mother."
"Mom," Daniel said.
Anya said, "I knew you wouldn’t let me rot in jail. Thank you, Mother." Anya waved with her hands still cuffed together.
I turned off the camera. "Good enough? Now, where do we make the exchange?"
"I’ll send you the location. You have one hour to bring them to me. You know the spiel about coming alone, I presume. I don’t want to see so much as one hair on the head of that pretty boy you’ve been shacked up with. No security people. No mobster thugs. No one. In fact, if I see so much as a squirrel, I might call the deal off. I’d just as soon screw you over one last time as rescue these two morons anyway."
The line went dead.
Yeah, that was what I was afraid of. Lettie was unhinged. For all I knew, Lettie planned on getting us all together for one big life-ending bonfire. I was fine with facing death, as long as Bea was safe and Lettie went down with me, but I highly doubt the people around me would agree to let me throw away my life.
My phone buzzed with the location. If I wasn’t mistaken, Lettie was leading me to the docks and a boat. It surprised me that Lettie set herself up for a water escape. She seemed more like a helicopter or jet type of criminal. But then again, a boat at a dock would pretty much have one way in and one way out. Well, in the movies, there’d be a team using scuba gear to backdoor the bad guys on the boat, but I didn’t see where an hour time limit when the docks were more than a half hour away would allow time for securing scuba gear and sending in a water team.
Maybe I could talk Lettie into bringing Bea onto the dock for the exchange because I was ninety percent sure if I put one foot on that boat, I’d never leave of my own free will and be alive.
Either way, I wasn’t going to discuss the plan in front of Daniel. The first thing he would do upon seeing Lettie was spill everything he knew.
I forwarded the location to Jake and Alec. It would have been easier if I had added Eugene’s number to my phone, but for now, I had to go through Alec.
Alec must have been thinking the same thing because he set up a group chat with his dad included. He’d also pulled in Jake and Stiff. From there, the group chat quickly populated to include all our people and then some.
Jake: I’ve got you covered, Tee. Head to the location.
Eugene: I’ve got a van waiting for you at the door. The driver is one of my best people. I’ll have speed boats and a helicopter nearby, as well as an EMT. Bea may need medical attention.
"I’m going with," Alec said as I signaled to the police to bring the prisoners.
"No, you can’t."
"I can’t let you go alone. If anything happens, I’ll never forgive myself."
"Lettie specifically said you can’t come, Alec. I’ll see you as soon as it’s over. This will be painless. Lettie wants someone she knows to deliver Daniel and Anya. I can do that."
I tried to look confident in what I was saying, but in reality, I knew better. If all she wanted was someone she knew to drop off her family members, she would have chosen King or Ben. No, this was personal. From the person she decided to kidnap to the fact she had already made it clear she wanted me to suffer, this was personal.
"You’re joking, right? A blind man could see this is a vendetta."
Eugene joined us and put an arm around Alec’s shoulders. "Son, you’ve got to let go. If you want Teela and Bea back safe, you have to play by Lettie’s rules, just like me."
"But Dad—"
"I know, it’s not fair. We are warriors. We aren’t made to sit on the sidelines, but sometimes the best way we can protect our women is to stay out of the way." Eugene turned Alec away from me and walked him away.
As soon as his back was turned, I left with the police and the Heavenly trash.
