Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 70: School Visit

"I need to go."

"What’s wrong?" King asked.

"Jake and Stiff need us."

"I’m going, too."

"Me too," Ben said as he picked up his phone and sent a text. "Security will escort Bea to the alley door. We can pick her up there."

Stiff had called to let me know the raid of the school building where we suspected Drake and Davon were held had gone off without a hitch. I had twenty minutes to get there if I wanted to see for myself what they had found.

Part of me was glad Ben and King wanted to go. Nothing would drive home the evil that their family had propagated more than seeing it for themselves.

However, I was worried that the real reason I wanted them to go was because they ran to Lettie’s side earlier and that sense of betrayal I experienced had me wanting to hurt them as bad as they had hurt me.

"I’m not sure you going is a good idea."

Ben and King exchanged a look.

King said, "If you are going, so are we."

Thanks to the NASCAR driving skills of our driver, we arrived at the school seventeen minutes later.

Sampson unlocked the chain link gate and let us in. The school was surrounded by a ten-foot fence. A double strand of barbed wire topped the fence, and every twenty feet or so, a sign proclaimed the property as private. Trespassers should stay out.

Once inside the fence, Sampson directed us where to park.

I was totally overdressed for the occasion. We all were. Because the weather had cooled, I left my sheer jacket in the car and borrowed an extra jacket the driver had folded in the passenger seat.

It was huge on me, but it was warm and protected my clothes from whatever we found inside.

Sampson led us through the main entrance. A dozen men were sitting on the floor with their wrists and ankles bound. Each had a bag over his head. Based on how quiet they were, I assumed under the bags they were gagged.

Jake marched toward us. "Avoid using names. They can’t identify you by sight. I took care of that, but if you share names, they can pass that on to their bosses.

"Follow me."

None of us said a word.

What used to be classrooms had been converted into dorms. Through the open doorways, we saw scared children sitting up on cots.

Some rooms were full to capacity. Others only housed two or three children. Almost all appeared to be boys.

Jake said, "Most of the girls are housed in a different wing." He pointed to the ceiling. "Upstairs is the maternity ward and nursery. All told, two hundred and seventeen victims in this location alone."

Stiff fell into step beside me. "From the surveillance, it appears they are consolidating their inventory here. Easier to defend."

Jake pointed to three closed doors. "Reflection rooms."

"Hang on," King said.

King opened the first door and then the second. His scowl deepened as he looked around.

The rooms were almost identical to the one in the Heavenly household.

King said, "Give me a minute." He looked around until he found a straight-backed metal chair. He dragged it behind him to the first room. He picked up the chair by the back and swung it with all his might at the mirrored wall.

The glass shattered beneath the attack as King shattered each of the four walls while ignoring the shards flying back and covering his clothes and slashing his face.

Up and down the hall, children cried. Bean and Stiff left to soothe them as I stood frozen in place.

How many times had I dreamed of doing the same thing King was doing now? I understood how important it was for King to have this moment—for both of us to experience this moment—but never had I considered how it would affect these already traumatized children.

When King stopped to catch his breath, I stepped forward. The mirrored shards crunched under my feet.

"King, I get it, but you’re scaring the children."

King nodded, his breathing still heavy. He reached out a hand to me, and I took it. He pulled me in for a hug.

"You have no idea how good that felt," King said.

"I can imagine."

"I have to go home and destroy that room, Teela. I have to."

"I know."

I stroked his back until he calmed down and let me go.

"Are you good now?" Jake asked.

King nodded. "What’s next?"

"Shake off as much glass as you can and follow me."

The next room was a makeshift office with a surveillance set up and dozens of removable hard drives lined up on shelves.

"Stiff has seen this?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jake said. "He’s confiscated the last two years of drives. We’re leaving the rest for the cops."

Ben said, "The cops need the current stuff too, don’t they? To identify these kids and prosecute the bad guys?"

Jake said, "They’ll get everything they need. Stiff has some people who can scour those disks in no time, then they’ll send the info to the cops, anonymously, of course."

I was one of those people. As soon as we were done here, Bea and I would meet Stiff at Crazy Code. It was time to pull CK in too. Bea would get her wish. She’d meet Cometkazee.

Jake said, "We’re not done."

He led us to another room filled with child-sized costumes. I saw sailor suits, suits with bowties, police costumes, footy pajamas, Lolita dresses, cowboy boots and hats. Anything I could think of for a child to wear for a photoshoot was there.

The next room was partitioned off into part dark room and part editing station.

The pictures on the wall were heart-wrenching. This operation just got sicker and sicker by the minute.

Jake said, "Stiff has copied this hard drive as well."

King said, "Daniel would never do this."

Jake pulled up a file on the computer. It was of a bearded man laying in bed with two boys. The man’s face was obscured by a black box over his eyes, but in every other aspect, it was easy to see Daniel in the picture.

Jake said, "Still think Daniel is innocent?"

Ben said, "I think I’m going to be sick."

"Not in here you’re not," Jake said.

He grabbed Ben by the back of his jacket and jerked him out the door.

"Wait here," Jake called back.

I turned to King. "Are you alright?"

King looked at me like I was crazy. "No, Teela. Would you be if you just saw proof positive the brother you grew up with is a sick fuck?"

"No, I guess not."

King asked, "How long have you known about all of this?"

"Not long. After I moved out. And even then, I didn’t know about all of this." I swept an arm out to indicate the whole room.

"Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you found out?"

"You wouldn’t have believed me."

"You don’t know that. You didn’t even give me a chance."

I didn’t want to fight with King, not after everything King had already been through tonight, and not here. This was so a case of the wrong place at the wrong time.

On the other hand, how many things had I told King, like the fact I was a master hacker, that King refused to believe? I had every right to feel the way I did. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I kept my cool.

"Can we talk about this at home?"

"I’m not going home. I’m taking Ben to a hotel. I don’t think I can cope with you anymore right now."

"So, this is my fault?"

"No, but when I look at you, all I can think about is all the drama that you’ve brought into my life. I spent years carving out a safe zone. You’ve destroyed that."

"I see. So, ignorance is bliss. Got it. Fine. You don’t have to go to a hotel. I’ll return to the church. You take all the time you need."

I walked out of the room before I remembered Jake told me to stay put. In my experience, following Jake’s lead was the wisest decision. So, I stood in the hall with my arms crossed over my chest.

Why was dealing with King like some warped ballroom dance where we took one step forward only to fall two steps back before everything went sideways?

King wasn’t the only one thrown out of a comfort zone lately. As long as I played ball with the Heavenly clan, at least I knew what my days would be like. Now, though, every day was an adventure, and usually it wasn’t a fun one.

Sometimes, like now, taking a bus to anywhere but here sounded like a real good idea. I had the skills to reinvent myself. If it weren’t for my friends, I totally would do that.

A tug at my sleeve drew my attention down.