CHAPTER 31 — DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

LENNOX’S POV

South Barton Groove was a small city that valued their quiet mundane lives and repetitive everyday activities. With the serene and comfort the city possessed, King was adamant that we meet outside the city limits.

He picked an abandoned warehouse with an equally abandoned underground facility as our meeting spot. The police would never have advised me to go through with this plan. And maybe I wasn't thinking with my head. Maybe I was being reckless. But I needed to have Verity by my side again, safe and protected. I couldn’t bear to lose yet another important woman in my life. It would break me. Ruin the man I am.

We arrived first. Myself, a member of my board and a lawyer Cole had secured for me, a respectable middle aged property lawyer well known in these parts. Mr. Hart.

I held a briefcase containing the contract and other necessary documents that were needed for the smooth transfer of ownership over to King, and Wesley, an esteemed member of the board was present with us to bear witness to the agreement.

My hand was stuffed in my pocket. Externally, I was the perfect example of a cool, calm, and collected young businessman, but internally, I was screaming and panting and biting my knuckles. I was a nervous anxious wreck, my palms were sweaty, shaking as I clenched my fingers around the briefcase.

I could hear Verity's scream ringing in my head. I remembered her face twisting in pain. She must be scared. She must be petrified. And this was all my fault...

All my fault.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, that was the glaring truth. The only reason all these unpleasant circumstances had occurred the way they did was because she had managed to get mixed up with me. I never let people get too close to me. Not after Andrea. But I had fallen like a lovesick fool for Verity, in a few short weeks, even though it took me a long time to admit it. And King had known and capitalized on it. Marked her as my weakness, and now, she was caught up in this deadly game... All because of me.

Feeling impatient, I groaned in frustration and removed my hand from my pocket to check the time. Fifteen minutes past six in the evening.

The bastard was late.

Or he wasn't coming.

I swallowed a nervous lump and stared straight ahead. Water dripped from the ceiling unto the ground, thanks to the jammed pipe system and I found myself frowning in irritation at the drip, drip, drip of the water drops unto the floor until I heard the revving of a car outside and above us.

Few minutes later, the sound of heavy footsteps filled the entire room. My throat tightened when I saw Verity, bruised and bloodied but standing on her own two feet, without any missing limbs or appendages as far as I could tell. Besides her bruised cheek, ugly dash on her forehead and stab wound in her thigh, there seemed to be no further serious injuries on her as far as I could see.

My finger twitched. I was going to kill him. That bastard was going to pay for this. But for now, I needed to dance to his tunes, just this once. This one last time.

She met my eyes, those gray eyes of hers, hopeful and resilient, but I schooled my features into icy nonchalance and dug my free hand into my pocket. I couldn't let him see how much I cared. I couldn't let him know just how much Verity was worth to me. But something told me he already knew damn well.

"Son!" His sickening voice bellowed as he walked into the crypt, shiny leather shoes, clicking on the ground. His grin was wicked as ever, a manic twinkle in his eyes. "Good to see you are on time. I'll be honest, I thought you were going to be a pussy and not show up. Leave your dirty slut to suffer for your insufferable stubbornness." His eyes brightened as he turned to Verity. My stomach lurched when he raised a finger to stroke her cheek. "She's a beautiful little thing, isn't she? Would be a shame to let all that beauty go to waist, hmm?"

I closed my eyes, clenched my jaw and inhaled sharply through my clenched teeth. "Let's just get over this, King."

"Ah, straight down to business, I see?" He chuckled, finally letting Verity go and floating over to me. "Must be itching to have her back in your bed, no? Is she that good? I may have to find out mys–"

"Do you want the DAMN company or not?!" I snapped, losing composure.

This made him smile. He made a show of whipping out his signature ballpoint pen. "It's about fucking time," he muttered, his eyes gleaming. "I'm ready when you are, son. Let me see the contract."

One of his henchmen moved forward to grab the briefcase for him but I shot him a look that had him hesitating. "Not so fast!" I growled, my eyes on King. "Let her go first."

I saw King contemplate the whole thing, thinking hard as he looked from Verity to me, then to Verity again. "What's my business if my son is pussy whipped?" He snapped his fingers at the man holding Verity by her arm. “Give the boy his plaything. And for your own good, son." His dark blue eyes shot to me. "This better not be a trick. It's eight against three and you're clearly outnumbered. If this is a trick, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through your girlfriend's heart and shooting you in the head, after she's done bleeding out before your eyes."

I swallowed and nodded.

The man let Verity go and she stumbled into my arms weak and depleted, crying softly into my chest and clutching at my shirt.

My heart broke at the sight of her. I could see every cut, every broken skin and bruised surface that had been dealt on her... And I suddenly didn't feel bad for what I was about to do now.

I caught Hart's eyes and he nodded discreetly at me.

I tossed the briefcase into the air, and he caught it immediately, his eyes gleaming greedily.

"Lennox." Verity cried into my chest, clutching me tight, taking fistfuls of my shirt and holding on to me like I was her lifeline.

"V," I whispered, hugging her close, sighing in satisfaction, exhaling my first breath of relief.

King struggled to open the briefcase. There was a scary, manic, almost crazy glint in his eyes as he read through the contract, skimming through it. He handed it over to the man beside him in a charcoal gray suit and bespectacled glasses who read through the air tight contract and nodded encouragingly at him.

King let out a happy, triumphant howl into the air, laughing maniacally to himself and he quickly placed the paper on his knee, signing quickly on the spaces that required his signature.

I waited until he was preoccupied with the third or fourth page and immediately put my thumb and index finger to my mouth, letting out a sharp whistle. Almost immediately, police men in the gray and black uniform of South Barton Groove police department marched into the crypt and crawled out of their hiding places.

King looked up, his face turning chalky white with fear.

I grinned at him.

Checkmate.

You see, South Barton Groove was a very small city with very little hiding places. Thanks to King's stupidity and my adept wisdom, his video call from the other night had proven resourceful. While he wasn't stupid enough to let his cell be tracked to his hiding place, we were able to recognize the saddle bags and bags of sand that had been stacked behind Verity and deduce where he had been hiding her. We had also been able to make rough estimates of the places King would have wanted us to meet, and thanks to the city being so small and predictable, for once, it's mundane nature had worked in our favor.

The police had spread out to all the various places he could have chosen to meet with me. The abandoned crypt was everybody's last choice and only a handful of police were stationed here, but it was better than walking in here blind and unguarded.

King had had a trail of police men in his wake all morning and he didn't even know. They could have captured him on my command, but I didn't want to risk Verity's safety, so I had acted like I was playing into his hands to get the location from him and have him deliver Verity to me before getting him arrested.

"You!" He boomed, pointing an accusing finger at me. "You can't do this! You can't do any of this! I've already signed the papers! Wilder Industries belong to me!" He screeched like a banshee.

"It would." I agreed, tucking Verity to my side and trying my best not to appear too smug. "If I had counter signed the agreement, which I haven't. It's null and void until the two parties sign, or do I have to explain to you the niceties of a contract agreement all over again, daddy dearest?"

He was turning an unhealthy shade of red now. I would be worried if I gave two fucks about him.

"Mr. King, I'm afraid you're under arrest for abduction, aggravated assault and obstruction of justice!" A policeman was saying, approaching him slowly, his pistol drawn. "You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court–"

King released a wild, angry scream, his eyes red and furious. He whipped out a gun and aimed it a little to my left at Verity who was now being taken away by a female police.

My eyes widened. My muscles kicked into action, adrenaline pumping into my bloodstream. I jumped in front of her, shielding her from him as two shots rang in the air.

I felt the impact on my back. Searing hot metal pierced into my back, splitting my skin and crushing my bones and the last thing I saw before I fell into the black was my father being shot in the heart.