Fury (New Adult Romance) - #1.5 Fierce Series (39 page)

And I’m okay with it.

I don’t know if this is normal, or what I’m supposed to be feeling,
but I don’t feel any different. Nothing’s changed. Only the fact that I’m the
survivor and that this will soon be over.

I’m still lying on the ground, panting, my body broken and drained
of all energy. But I made it. I fucking made it.

Now I only need to get out of this cage.

Fortunately, someone throws the keys right in front of me. It’s
Jaret, and he signals me to come out quickly while he runs off to a back
entrance. He managed to sneak between the guards and snatch away the key while
they were busy with Wes’ death. The crowd is going crazy, booing and throwing
garbage at the gang.

I run to the exit as fast as I can, meeting up with Jaret. There are
a couple of guards tailing us, but not the entire gang. Most of them are still
gaping at Wes’ body, probably baffled that he’s dead. I’m not. I hope he rots
in hell.

Jaret helps me out the door and slams it shut behind us, barricading
it with a chair.

“Thanks …” I mutter, still catching my breath.

“I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry,” he says, taking off his mask.
“They forced me to tell them, and I didn’t want to end up in the cage. I didn’t
mean to rat you out. Brody made me give the tickets to Autumn.”

I frown, not knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry, dude! I didn’t want to get in trouble with the gang.
They’re all I have, you know that,” he says. “But I came back for you. I knew I
couldn’t leave you there. I put on one of my old Halloween masks so they
wouldn’t recognize me and I could come in unseen through the back door.”

Whoa … what an elaborate plan.

“It’s my fault they put you in there, and I’m sorry,” he adds.

I sigh, leaning against the wall, wiping the blood from my face. I
can’t believe he fucking betrayed me like that. Then again, I probably would’ve
done the same. I can tell he feels guilty, and I know that feeling. Doing
something you think is right always hurts others. But he came back for me,
that’s what matters most. He helped me get out of there.

“Thanks,” I say. “For getting me out of there.”

Jaret nods, taking a deep breath. “It’s the least I could do after
that fiasco.” He rummages in his pocket and takes out a set of keys and his
phone. “Here, take my car and call the cops. Take him down.” His face is
darkened. We look at each other for a second, having a conversation without
words. I know he wants me to succeed.

“I’ll hold them off,” he says.

I take his keys and jog up the stairs and out the warehouse.

Sniffing fresh air has never been more satisfying.

♥♥♥

Driving about a hundred miles per hour, I race to get to campus in
time. My heart is pounding in my chest because I’m afraid Leafy might get hurt.
She’s probably gone after that shitbag of a leader, and he’s not going to like
it when she tells him the truth. I don’t want her to end up like Scarlet. But
I’ve been held up way too long in the club, and this car won’t go any faster.
Fuck!

I already called Agent Williams to tell him that I caught the one in
charge. No time for small talk. As I arrive at the parking lot, I don’t even
take the time to properly park the car before jumping out and rushing inside. I
need to get to her, now.

Running through the dorm, I can already hear a struggle going on
inside a room down the hall. It’s his room, and I know she’s in there.

When I open the door I’m shocked and horrified. Leafy’s getting
choked to death, the sounds she’s making alerting all my senses. My body
immediately responds to her call. I storm at them and pull the fucker away from
her throat. She wheezes, buckling over, while I drag him away from her.

“Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her, you motherfucker!” How dare he
fucking touch her. He tries to jab me with the pen, but I grab his wrist and
twist it until I hear it snap. He squeals in my grasp, releasing the pen.

“I fucking knew it,” I say. “You were behind it all along.” Fucking
piece of shit. He calls himself her friend, but he betrayed her anyway. I
should’ve realized sooner he was behind it all. This motherfucker is going to
pay for everything he did to me, to her, and to my brother.

“Damn right I was,” Brody muses. He spits, but misses my face by
bare inches.

I’m not letting one more word of nonsense spew from his mouth. I
ball my fist, pull back, and punch him in the face so hard he flies against the
wall. With a thwack he lands on the floor, groaning and spitting up a couple of
teeth. Good. He should bleed.

I take one quick look at my girl to see if she’s okay. I’m glad to
see she seems to be free of puncture wounds, but I can clearly see the bruises
around her neck. I hate that he hurt her.

She’s shaking uncontrollably, and I know this must be tough for her
to witness. Her friend just turned out to be a monster.

Walking toward him, it takes every ounce of my self-control not to
viciously attack him, but I know Agent Williams wants to take him in. If I want
to get my brother out, I need to deliver this guy in one piece.

So I pick him up from the floor and put him on his chair.

“Hand me those ties,” I say, looking at Leafy while pointing at a
couple of ties hanging from a drawer.

She grabs them and tries to hand them to me, but I’m too busy
keeping this fucker down in the chair. “Tie them together.”

She’s still shivering, but manages to tie the knots and gives me the
line. I wrap it around him, tying him to the chair, making sure he’s not
getting out easily.

When I’m done, I turn toward my girl. “Are you okay?”

She takes in a sharp, ragged breath. “Yeah.” She smiles at me
briefly, which tells me she’s at least physically okay.

She turns her attention toward the little shit sitting in the chair.
“Why …” she stammers, still shaken from what happened.

He doesn’t respond, so she asks another question. “Why did you do
all of this?”

He tries to laugh, but instead blood pours from his mouth. “Growing
up in poverty isn’t easy. You should know that. I grabbed a chance at fortune.”

She scowls. “Money? Is that it?”

I can imagine her surprise, but this is nothing new to me. I know
what people will do for a shot at a better life. I’ve been there myself.

Sirens are audible, and then I know Agent Williams has arrived. It’s
about time. “Finally.”

“What? Are those the cops?” she asks.

I nod and walk toward the window. Peering outside, I see the cars
stop in front of the dorm. “Fuck. I’m glad I came here in time. Lucky I could
get ahold of those damned keys to open the cage myself and slip out.”

Tentatively, she comes to my side. The moment she puts her hand on
my arm I turn to liquid. Her touch makes me realize what we both just went
through. That it’s all fucking disturbing, but we made it, and we’re alive. I
still have her.

“Thank you,” she mutters.

I guess she means she’s happy I came to her rescue, but I’m just
happy she’s still alive. If I didn’t get here in time, I would never have
forgiven myself. It’s my fault she got involved. She shouldn’t be thanking me.
Especially not when I’ve still kept a secret from her.

“Don’t thank me yet,” I say.

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

I look into her beautiful eyes, already feeling guilty for not
telling her everything. Now that this is all over, I’ll tell her. All of it.
I’ll come clean and tell her everything that’s been going on and what’s on my
mind, hoping she’ll stay with me and stick through it all.

From the corner of my eye I see a couple of cops entering the door.
Their gazes shift back and forth between me, her, and the bag of shit sitting
on the chair.

Leafy turns around once she notices they’re here. Williams comes up
to her. “Agent Williams.” The chief cop holds up his badge. “Is this him?”

“Yep,” I say. “Like I promised.”

“Where are the goods? I need proof,” Agent Williams says, and he
starts untying Brody.

“I’d be careful with that motherfucker if I were you. He just tried
to stab us with a pen,” I say.

“Thanks, my partners here will make sure he doesn’t move,” Agent
William says as he puts the cuffs on him.

“You have nothing on me,” the little shit yells.

“Oh no?” I’m almost tempted to grab him by the hair, pull him to the
desk and ram his head inside just so he can take a look himself, but then they
probably wouldn’t release my brother. Instead, I tell Agent Williams where to
look. “Check the bottom of the drawer. Especially the screws.”

Leafy looks completely flabbergasted. “How did the cops get here so
fast?”

“I already alerted them back at the arena, once I got hold of a cell
phone.”

I wonder when I should tell Agent Williams about the arena. I really
don’t feel like being questioned right now, so I’ll do it after I get my
brother back. I want to put an end to this gang, though.

“You were right,” Agent Williams says, holding up a piece of wood. “There’s
a double bottom.” Then he carefully takes out packets of powder, pills, and
needles.

He tells the other cops to take the leader away, while some of them
search the room for evidence. Williams comes up to me, and says, “Well, since
you upheld your agreement, I’ll make sure we do the same.”

My lips curl into a smile. The twisted feeling I had in my stomach
unfurls after a sigh of relief. A huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. My
brother is finally getting released. He’ll be out of that hellhole in no time,
and everything will return to normal. Well, as normal as it can get. There’s
still a lot that needs to be done to roll up this gang and make this campus a
safe place again. And my brother will still be out of a job, we still won’t
have any money, and there’ll be no way to pay for all the expenses. But at
least I’ll have my brother back, and I have Leafy here, in my arms, alive and
well. That’s all I can ask for.

“Thanks,” I say.

“What agreement?” Leafy asks, clinging to my arm like she’s afraid they’re
going to take her away too.

I wrap her in my arms and squeeze tight, glad that this is all over.
“The one where they reduce Jessie’s sentence to a week.”

“What?” She turns around in my arms, gaping at me.

“I’ll fill in the paperwork tomorrow. You can come pick him up
then,” Agent Williams says. “Now, we have to clear the room, so please, if you
will.”

I grab Leafy’s arms and push her outside. We’ll have to continue
this conversation in my room. And there’s a lot I need to explain.

Chapter
30

Coming Clean

“It’s true,” I say as we walk to my room.

Now’s finally the time I can tell her why I’ve been doing all of
this. The silence between us is deafening, and with each step I take I feel my
body aching. I got a few nasty punches to the face and stomach, and it’s
hurting quite a bit. She sits down on my bed while I grab a bottle of water
from the fridge and hold it to my face, trying to reduce the swelling. Now that
my rage has settled down a bit, I can focus on explaining everything to her.
She’s mad at me for a whole lot of things, and I don’t blame her, but now that
this is all over I want to come clean. Respect means telling someone the truth,
and now that the mission is no longer in danger, I can finally tell her
everything she wants to know.

“My brother got himself involved in this crappy frat house so he
could pay my college funds,” I say.

“Yeah.”

“Well, the Feds wanted to catch the damn bastard behind it all. I
made a deal with them. I’d lead them to the boss of the entire operation, if
they’d reduce Jessie’s sentence so I could bail him out and take him home.”

Her mouth drops wide open, and her eyes are big while she stares at
me in complete and utter shock.

I place the bottle of water on the table and get closer to her,
hoping she won’t be too mad at me. “This is the reason I couldn’t tell you
anything. I was afraid it would blow the entire operation.”

“So you were basically … undercover?” she stammers.

“No … not really. Sort of, maybe,” I say, laughing. “I’m not a cop,
if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Oh …” she says, staring at her hands like she doesn’t know what to
do with the information.

I know she’s having a hard time looking at me right now, but I need
her to know all of it. “I’m just a poor student, enrolled thanks to his big
brother. I was just there at the right moment at the right time. They needed to
roll up the gang, I had an easy way in. One plus one equals two.”

“So they got you to do their dirty job?” she asks, her brows
furrowed.

“Yeah, well, it was that or let my brother rot in jail. And that
wasn’t really an option.” I sit down beside her, wrapping my arm around her
waist, pulling her closer.