Page 8 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. One (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #1)

Oliver

“Got it,” Elliot says from his desk. He’s been staring at his computer for the better part of an hour.

“That was faster than I thought it’d be,” Rhett says.

“Small business,” Elliot mumbles. “Minimal security.”

I slide from my perch on the arm of the leather couch and stride over to Elliot. He’s already looking up the address of the guy who harassed Wren earlier today. Thankfully, he used his credit card to pay for his coffee, so we were able to get his name and some information that way.

And once you’ve got a name? Well, finding a person’s address is so simple a toddler could do it.

“He’s not far from here.” Elliot stretches, his gaze roaming around his office until he finds Rhett. “Remember those brothers we offed last year?”

“Pretty sure we’ve only killed one set of brothers,” he replies.

Elliot nods to his computer. “This guy’s house is in the same neighborhood.”

The corner of Rhett’s mouth tips up, and a dark fire lights in his eyes. “Familiar territory.”

At that, I perk up. “Does that mean we could do it tonight?”

“Not sure.” Leaning back in his chair, Elliot rubs his thumb across his bottom lip. “We still want to be careful. Get a good look at his security system and all that.”

“We have time. It’s only a little after five. We could definitely burn down—” I glance at Elliot’s screen. “This Roger guy’s house.”

Elliot sighs. “Ol…”

A thousand protests are at the tip of my tongue, but I bite my lip before any slip out. We’ve jumped into action before without proper planning, and I almost got killed because of it.

With an apologetic look, Elliot runs a hand over his hair. “Figuring out his security system from afar is beyond my capabilities.”

“I know,” I mumble.

“So we need to case the place in person and make decisions from there. That means at least two nights. We also need to discuss if we’re burning his house down when he’s not home, or with him in it.”

Rhett shrugs. “I don’t mind burning him alive.”

“Fucker deserves it,” I say lowly. “No one hurts her like that and gets away with it.”

“Careful,” Elliot warns. The look in his eyes tells me he didn’t miss the hint of possessiveness in my voice.

I rub the back of my neck. “Sorry.”

“Just don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He reaches out and squeezes my arm before glancing at Rhett. “What’re you doing?”

Rhett doesn’t even look up from his phone, which he’s typing away on furiously. “Finn.”

The realization that flits across Elliot’s face has hope flaring in my chest all over again. Finn is one of our closest friends, and he can hack into this guy’s security system from afar.

“He said he’ll do it,” Rhett says after a moment.

I grin. “We’re so on for tonight.”

***

Aside from the streetlights, Roger’s neighborhood is completely dark. Rhett and I creep through his backyard undetected, and a feeling of hyper-awareness settles over me. I’ve gotten used to it over the years—happens every time we’re on a job—and I’ve come to accept it. It makes my anxiety worse, but it also keeps me from missing things.

Finn was able to hack into Roger’s security system and disable it remotely. That’s the thing about being able to access everything from your phone. It leaves you more vulnerable than security companies would like you to know.

Finn was also able to get us some other information, including the fact that Roger, unfortunately, left for a long weekend trip this evening. Rhett was quite disappointed, but I’m looking on the bright side. With the way we’re staging the fire, it’ll look like an amateur tried to make it look like an accident.

In other words, this bitch isn’t getting a single penny of insurance money. He might even end up in prison for arson and insurance fraud.

I hope, anyway.

Rhett picks the lock to the back door without issue, and then we’re in. The house is large and well-decorated for a single man. Probably hired an interior designer.

Our plan is simple. We already took a storage unit out in Roger’s name with the credit card he used at the coffee shop. We’ll take anything that looks important—expensive watches, personal items, records, and paperwork—and stash it in the unit. Whoever investigates the fire will be sure to find it, and it’ll look like a classic case of insurance fraud gone wrong.

We don’t turn on any lights. Opening the garage is a big enough risk, but we unscrew the lightbulb first so that it stays dark. Elliot pulls in with a van that can’t be traced back to us, and we close the garage door again.

“Find anything yet?” he asks as he climbs out of the vehicle.

“First floor office,” I say. “We start there?”

Elliot nods.

Our gloves are already on, so we begin searching the office and then Roger’s bedroom. Once we have the van loaded, Elliot pulls out a can of gasoline.

Ah, yes. The final nail in Roger’s coffin: using an accelerant. There’s no way he’ll be able to escape the fraud charges.

“Get in the van,” Elliot says as he starts dumping the gasoline on the living room carpet.

Rhett and I are already halfway to the door. I open up the garage door again, just as planned, and Rhett gets into the driver’s seat and starts the van. We already locked the back door after ourselves, so it won’t look like there was any type of forced entry. And if any doorbell cameras pick us up, all they’ll see is an untraceable van.

It’ll look like Roger hired it out.

As Rhett pulls out of the garage, I open the side door so Elliot can jump in. I can’t help my smile. Wren will never know what we did, but that’s not the point. What matters is that she has people looking out for her. She has us.

Elliot comes running out of the house, hitting the button to close the garage door. He jumps over the sensor and leaps into the van. The second Elliot is safe inside, I close up the van, and Rhett takes off.

“Good?” I ask.

Elliot nods, tearing off his mask and glancing out the back. An orange glow is already visible through the house’s windows. “No issues.”

“Perfect.”

Rhett takes us to a hill that overlooks Roger’s neighborhood. It’s far enough that we can’t make out many details in the dark, but by the time Rhett is putting the van in park, the fire is blazing. We all pile out of the vehicle, taking in the view.

“That’ll show him,” I say as we watch the flames dance. “No one talks to our girl like that.”

“Not our girl,” Rhett reminds me, his voice rough.

But even that reminder isn’t enough to douse the hope lit in me. Some would say I’m delusional—that the thought of Wren with all of us is a pipe dream. A stupid fantasy. But I feel something every time she looks at me—something that feels too deep to ignore.

We just need time. Well, that, and for her to want all of us as much as we want her. Elliot and Rhett may still be in denial about it, but I know them. She’s taking up space in all our minds.

And one day, she’ll be ours. I know it.

Elliot slips an arm around my shoulders and tugs me closer. His lips feather across my forehead, the softest touch. “The storage unit was a good idea.”

I lean into him, warmth spreading through me. “Got the idea from a movie.”

He lets out an amused breath as Rhett comes to stand on the other side of me. Even though he doesn’t touch me, he stays close, blocking out some of the chill from the wind.

We all watch together as the fire trucks finally show up. The fire is raging at this point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the house is a near-total loss.

Good, I think to myself. With the way he treated Wren, Roger deserves this.

My only wish is that she could see what we’ve done for her.