Page 101 of Judas (The Lito Duet #2)

Chapter forty-nine

Babalon

B y god, it’s been a busy fucking day but that don’t matter.

I’ll gladly drive myself into the ground to get the hell out of here.

We’ve all been in this damn town, the now too-small apartment, for far too long.

And while I don’t truly know everyone that well, I know exhaustion and frustration when I see it.

You tend to pick up these things as an occupational hazard, if you want to call being a prisoner a job.

Each and every one of us are ready to leave, go back to what we know, or start something completely new.

Whatever that may be, we wouldn’t be the family we are if we didn’t leave with a bang.

“We have everything?” I ask, reaching for the trunk door of the car then drag it down with a harsh thud— locking it into place.

Kace steps up to my left, hands me my phone and a road flare. Babel has a whole box of them in the SUV, err… Kace does. They were in the crate of torture devices he was using on Lucien. Not that it would fit, but I am glad that the box is in the SUV and will not be leaving with us.

Babel has been tasked with disposing of everything.

How and where he will be doing that, I don’t know and truly don’t care.

The further away the evidence is the better.

Speaking of evidence, that’s what we are going to take care of now.

Erase things from existence that may still be lingering up in the apartment and severing our ties to this place.

All of us are dressed head to toe in black.

Babel’s leaning off to the side of his truck, arms crossed over his broad chest, where he waits for us three to do what we need.

Kace is holding onto a container of gasoline off to my left and Sadie is to my right with two pillow cases we stole from the apartment.

I don’t think they will be missed in the anarchy we are about to leave behind.

“Yeah, everything is out. It’s clean too, you sure you want to do this?” Kace asks.

“Of course she’s sure, why wouldn’t she be?” Sadie asks, rolling her eyes. Kace grunts at her, and I smirk. These two are entertaining to watch, I can’t wait to see their relationship grow. That’s if she doesn’t drive him into the grave first.

“Yes, I am sure. You block the cameras?”

“There aren’t any.”

“Of course there are, why wouldn’t there be any?”

“Ask your boyfriend.”

“Jesus Christ, he’s not my boyfriend!”

“Mom has a boyfriend?”

“NO!”

Rubbing my forehead, I groan at both of them. Kace laughs and grabs my hip, pulling me in to kiss my temple. Fucker is going to tease me about Ra for a long ass time, and as funny as it may be, it irks me sometimes. Which is fine, I’ll get his ass back later.

“My guess is, he made sure you had access to a place where you could do all kinds of depraved shit and not get caught. Good thinking on his part, better for us anyway. Let’s get this shit done and over with. We have a plane to catch, no time to delay or fuck with asinine shit.”

“Why are we doing this again?” Sadie asks, swinging the pillow cases around like she’s trying to spin fire.

I think kids call it poi spinning? She has her moments but she’s much more settled and less unpredictable now.

I’m happy seeing her this way, more confident in herself and with us.

We will need to make sure she’s with a reputable psychiatrist once we get back to the states; don’t want her to have to fight herself again.

If she does, well, she will have better help.

“Cover our tracks.” Kace answers.

“Why the whole building though, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on the apartment itself?”

“Nope, you take out the whole building. It will already look like arson, want to focus the fire Marshall away from the area you’re intending to destroy.

Then, as the heat rises the trace evidence cooks more.

We start the fire inside, near the center, it won’t be noticed as quickly. Allowing it to burn longer, hotter—“

“Kace, you can stop now.” I say, walking away from the two even though he doesn’t stop.

“She needs to learn.”

“We won’t be teaching her how to commit crimes, asshole.”

“Don’t call my dad that.”

“Yes ma’am,” I answer, keeping my smile to myself. Faintly picking up Babel’s chuckle from where he’s perched and is fucking off for the time being. One thing is for sure, she protects both of us, just as we will protect her.

Crossing the pavement, Sadie picks up the brick the coffee shop uses to hold the door open when it’s nice outside—hoping to draw customers in.

She steps up beside me and turns to face the front of the building.

Her hair is pulled back in a long platinum pony tail that’s hanging down to the center of her back.

The lingering wounds she has sustained over the past weeks are on the verge of completely disappearing where you can see the young girl underneath.

And just a little bit of color in her cheeks and nose—the cold temperatures biting at her soft skin.

Handing me the brick, I look down at the weight of it as it settles in my hand.

It’s just a random brick, nothing special.

The corners and sides are chipped down some, missing a lot of its original red hue from when it was first manufactured.

The grain is rough against my palm, heavy, and jogs my memory a bit.

“Show me what you’ve got, diabolica. Make me proud.”

Tossing the brick up and catching it, I feel Kace and Sadie flank me on both sides as I think of him .

Took me a long ass time to get things right, but now that I have, I hope he’s truly proud with who and what I’ve become.

Some people get lucky in life and get things right the first time.

While that was neither of us, true luck a foreign concept, I finally see the good fortune standing next to me—my family.

Putting my left foot forward, I rear my right arm back then hurl the brick at the large glass window to the right of the door.

It connects and shatters the pane instantly.

Glass rains down in millions of shards, clanking and skidding across the ground before they encounter enough friction to stop.

Kace is on the move before things settle, jumping through the broken window and waving Sadie over.

She runs to him where he helps her over the three foot ledge ensuring she doesn’t get hurt on any of the wreckage.

I’m next, on her heels. Pushing my right boot onto the ledge, I hoist myself up and over—both boots crunching glass on the inside of the shop when I land effortlessly.

Doesn’t take too much longer for my eyes to adjust to the darkness within either—quiet and still in here, like we knew it would be.

“Here.” Sadie hands me a pillow case as we both stalk to the glass door at the back of the open space.

Yesterday we came down and counted exactly how many kittens the bookstore had, a total of ten, before making any final decisions on how we were going to go about this heist. Poor things are likely hiding scared or sleeping right about now.

The sound of shattering glass was likely enough to set them on the fritz.

Doesn’t matter though, they’re all coming with us, thus the bags.

Less of a hassle to toss them into the cases instead of wrestling with a carrier and dealing with the bulk of it.

Thankfully, the owners don’t lock the door that separates the two businesses at night.

Which makes it easier for us to enter and close away the fumes of the gasoline Kace is pouring all over the place.

The scent of books and old furniture upholstery hits me in the senses as soon as we step inside. A better option to petrol by far.

Honestly wish we would have spent some time in here getting lost in a story that isn’t our own, snuggling rescues and relaxing. Nonetheless, I hate that we are going to leave it in ruins when we are done.

It’s a small space, only about twenty feet wide and a good sixty feet long.

Shelves of books lining every wall and surface you can see.

Side tables, counter tops, even some of the seating has stacks and stacks of novels piled high.

Makes me think of an old professor's house or office.

One of them types that have spent their lives traveling and experiencing everything the world has to offer before finally retiring and sitting around with all the keepsakes to remember their best times. Drowning themselves in nostalgia.

Sadie is spinning around to my left right now, looking at everything in awe.

Her head tilts up and down as she tries to read some of the titles that are a bit out of her reach.

Swallowed up by the darkness of the store she begins to venture further in, consumed by the variety of books she is finding.

Randomly calling out titles I have never heard of, nor have seen in Bluitt’s library.

Mew.

We both turn towards the small meow, and see a black and white kitten kneading the multi-colored rug it’s standing on.

Tail swishing side to side before hooking into a questionable shape.

Cute little thing, has no idea what is about to transpire nor what kind of life it’s headed to.

Just there, curiously checking us out as time ticks by.

“Psst psst psst,” Sadie calls out and creeps close.

Crouching to get the fur ball to trust her enough to approach.

When it does, she gives the baby a hesitant pet then picks it up and stands.

It’s so cute, I always wanted a kitten when I was growing up.

One as sweet as this one seems to be while it rubs its head into Sadie’s chin and she continues to stroke its back. Awarding her a loud purr.

“Well, that was easy,” she says, cooing at it.