Chapter 168 Everyone Turns into Minced Meat
Chapter 168 Everyone Turns into Minced Meat
Even pinned under Dennis's boot, Miles was still a man. Still Jared's father.
That crazy woman Irene had gone after his son.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself up off the ground.
The wound on his knee tore open again. He didn't feel it.
He stumbled toward the wrecked, unlicensed van nearby. The front end was caved in, but the engine still turned over.
Miles twisted the key with one hand. The engine screamed to life. He floored it, tearing toward the abandoned chemical plant on the west side.
West side. Abandoned chemical plant.
Irene stood in the middle of the empty factory floor. Her coat was filthy, her hair a tangled mess, her face drawn and pale. The pain in her lower body hadn't let up.
But she was buzzing.
Not far away, Jared was tied to a concrete pillar with rough rope. Two hollow-eyed junkies stood beside him, gripping rusted iron bars.
"Please let me go..." Jared had cried himself hoarse. "I want my mom..."
"Shut up!" Irene stormed over and glared at him. "Cry one more time and I'll throw you out that window myself!"
Jared clamped his mouth shut, but his small body wouldn't stop shaking, shoulders heaving with silent sobs.
Irene turned and looked around the space.
At the base of several load-bearing pillars sat black plastic drums — homemade explosives she'd paid a premium for on the black market. Red and blue wires ran between them, all feeding back to the black remote in her hand.
She had no intention of walking out of here.
She was waiting for Stella. Waiting for Miles.
Everyone who had ruined her life was going to burn with her.
Bang.
The factory's rusted iron gate exploded inward.
A beat-up van came barreling through, tires shrieking against the concrete, and skidded to a stop in the middle of the floor.
Irene's eyes narrowed.
The two junkies tightened their grip on their bars.
The van door flew open with a kick.
Miles stepped out.
He looked like hell. Suit torn to rags, face covered in blood, one arm hanging limp at his side, a brutal gash across his scalp.
But his eyes were feral.
He had once been president of The Hudson Group. That bone-deep need for control, that ruthlessness — it hadn't gone anywhere.
"Miles?" Irene stared at him, then burst out laughing. "You actually came! Look at the state of you. Pathetic."
Miles didn't even glance at her. His eyes went straight past Irene to Jared, tied to the pillar.
When he saw the tears on his son's face, something in his chest was seized and twisted.
"Let him go." Miles looked back at Irene, his gaze locked on her.
Irene scoffed. "Who are you to give me orders? Miles, do you still think you're Mr. Hudson up on his throne? You're less than a dog right now."
"I'll say it one more time. Let my son go." Miles took a step forward.
"Don't move!" Irene raised the remote and shouted. "One more step and I press this. The whole place is rigged. I press it, we all die."
Miles stopped.
He scanned the black drums around the room. His expression shifted.
He knew Irene had gone further off the edge than he had.
"Irene. I'm the one you hate. I'm the one who didn't save your baby." He kept his eyes on her. "You want revenge, come at me. Let the kid go. I'll stay. Do whatever you want with me."
"Come at you? Ha!" Irene laughed until tears ran down her face.
She pointed at him, her voice breaking into something raw and shrill. "That night, I was on my hands and knees in the mud begging you for help. My baby was bleeding out inside me. And what did you do? You watched. You wouldn't even call an ambulance."
Her chest heaved. "My baby is gone. I can never have another one. You did that."
"You had it coming. You were carrying Atticus's bastard and trying to pin it on me. You played me for a fool and still expected me to save you?"
"Shut your mouth!" Irene screamed.
"Let me be clear, Irene." Miles stared her down. "If you touch one hair on Jared's head, I will make you regret ever being born. You think explosives scare me? I've got nothing left to lose. I'm not afraid to die."
He didn't back up. He stepped forward again.
That reckless, nothing-to-lose energy rattled something loose in Irene.
Then, from outside, the sound of an engine.
A black SUV pulled up at the gate.
Stella pushed the door open, a heavy black duffel bag in her hand, and walked into the factory.
Her eyes found Jared immediately.
"Jared!" The word came out sharp and raw, her eyes going red.
"Mom!" Jared broke down the moment he saw her, thrashing against the ropes.
Stella moved toward him, then stopped.
Miles was standing in the middle of the floor.
She went still.
What was he doing here? And he looked like he'd clawed his way out of a grave — soaked in blood.
"Stella..." Miles turned and looked at her. Something complicated moved across his face.
"Well. Everyone's here." Irene looked at Stella, her smile twisting into something ugly. "Stella. Brave enough to come alone, I see."
Stella ignored Miles.
She dropped the black duffel on the ground. The zipper burst open from the impact, fanning out stacks of crisp bills.
"Ten million. All there. Count it." Stella kept her eyes on Irene. "You want money, take it. Let my son go."
Irene glanced at the cash, then kicked the bag away.
Bills scattered across the floor.
"You think I care about money?" She bared her teeth at Stella. "I want to watch you suffer. You took Allen. You destroyed my reputation. You let the whole city laugh at me. After everything you put me through — you think ten million buys your son back?"
Stella's fingers curled into fists at her sides.
She told herself to stay calm.
She knew Dennis's people were outside. She just needed to buy time. Red and the others would find their opening.
"What do you want, Irene?" Stella asked.
"What do I want?" Irene lifted the remote. "I've packed this whole place with explosives. I press this button — boom. All of us. Your precious son included. Every last piece of us, gone."
Stella's breath caught.
Explosives?
She looked toward the pillars. The plastic drums with wires running out of them were right there.