Page 52 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)

Elliot

A few nights pass before my next job. Since I almost got caught sneaking into Oliver’s room, I haven’t visited him again. Ludo has left him alone, which is surprising after his comment.

It makes me even more nervous for what’s to come.

Just about every evening, I’m able to see Rhett in the backyard with Benny. It makes me wonder if Ludo put us in these rooms intentionally, so we can see him without being able to have any form of communication. Holloway’s men would put a stop to it immediately, so we haven’t even tried.

Part of me is grateful for the chance to see Rhett—to make sure he’s still unharmed. But the rest of me is angry. So, so angry. At myself for letting this happen. At Ludo for forcing us apart. At everything.

When Axel comes to collect me again, my steps are heavy with dread. The past few days have been plagued with thoughts of the woman I killed. How much she looked like Wren—acted like Wren. It feels like I shot her instead of some stranger.

Axel seems to notice my deteriorated mood. He doesn’t make a comment on it, just stares at me for a second longer than he needs to.

Downstairs, Ludo is waiting for us again. When he sees my slumped shoulders and empty gaze, he smiles.

“Same deal as last time, Axel. Bring him straight back when he’s done.”

“Will do.”

Axel pushes me toward the front door.

“This one might take a little longer.”

“Just do whatever it takes and call me when the kill is confirmed.”

Axel nods silently, and we leave. The same SUV is parked out front, and once I’m inside, I look into the backseat for a folder. There isn’t one. As Axel starts the car and pulls through the gate, I look around, thinking maybe it’s in the front seat.

“Who am I killing tonight?”

I ask when I come up empty handed.

“No one.”

“But Ludo said—”

“I hired out the job. Cost me a pretty penny, too. High-profile target, tight deadline—there aren’t many hitmen out there who could pull this one off.”

“Which is why Ludo wanted me to do it,”

I say slowly, unsure of what Axel’s plan is. Sure, I’m happy I don’t have to kill someone, but what the fuck is going on?

“I need tonight to do other things. This job is the perfect alibi.”

“I’m not following.”

“You don’t need to,”

Axel says smoothly.

“You just need to stay close and keep quiet.”

My mind scrambles to catch up. The other night, Axel gave those two men a duffel bag that I’m assuming was filled with cash. At first, I thought he was running an errand for Holloway, but we were supposed to go straight back to the mansion.

Now, I’m even more sure that Axel has more up his sleeve than he’s letting on. My heart leaps at the realization that he might not be as loyal to Ludo as I previously thought. Could he help us? Would he?

For the time being, I do as he ordered and shut up. Surprise fills me when we pull into a familiar parking garage. We’re only a block or two away from the Garden Grille.

“You’ll want to keep your head down,”

Axel tells me.

“Wearing a mask will be too conspicuous.”

I follow his lead when he exits the vehicle. At first, I think it’s just a coincidence that we’re so close to the Grille, but then I remember the logo on the van the other night—Philadelphia Commercial Hood & Fire Systems.

What the hell is Axel planning?

As we approach the Garden Grille, two men join us, and I quickly recognize them as the ones Axel paid the other night. They each have a tool bag with them.

“Everything’s ready?”

one of them asks in a hushed tone.

“The security system has been dealt with, and the cameras aren’t a problem,”

Axel replies quietly.

“Williams and Ludo never updated them, so the footage is stored locally instead of in the cloud.”

Is he robbing the restaurant? No, he wouldn’t need these two guys for that.

Philadelphia Commercial Hood & Fire Systems.

Fire systems.

Oh, shit.

We enter the restaurant from the back. Axel has a key, which feels too easy, but it sounds like he’s been planning this for a while. When he opens the door, we’re met with complete silence.

“What did you do to the alarm system?”

one of the guys asks.

With a smirk, Axel shuts the door behind us.

“Made sure the closing manager conveniently ‘forgot’ to turn it off. Don’t worry, she’ll keep her mouth shut. I made sure of it.”

The two men exchange a nervous glance with each other.

“Remember,”

Axel says, “don’t make it look like it’s been sabotaged. Best case scenario is that it appears as if the system was installed improperly or there was a malfunction.”

They nod before disappearing into the back.

I’d ask what they’re doing, but I’ve already put it together. They must be fire suppression system techs. Hell, maybe they even installed the system in this building. It makes them the perfect people to have along on this job. They know exactly what equipment they’re working with.

“And what about us?” I ask.

“You’re not doing anything,”

Axel replies.

“Just stay close.”

As we move through the dining room, memories flood my mind. Hours before we killed Edgar Williams, we watched Wren run right into him in this very building. Then we watched her have a rather uncomfortable dinner with Adam and their parents.

God, seeing the way she looked at Thomas had alarm bells going off in all of our heads. She held her own well, though. Even when Adam followed her out of the restaurant and grabbed her in that alley, she managed to defend herself until Oliver came to help her.

“Move, Elliot,”

Axel snaps.

“We don’t have much time.”

I didn’t realize I’d stopped right outside the swinging doors. Tearing my eyes from the table Wren sat at all those weeks ago, I duck inside.

Axel wastes no time heading to the fryers. With gloved hands, he pulls some tools out of his jacket pocket and gets to work. I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing—I’m a hitman, not an electrician—but I can guess that the thing won’t work right anymore.

There’s no denying that this is a blatant act against Ludo. And, I realize, there’s no way it’s Axel’s first.

“You’re the rat,”

I say, “aren’t you? You’re Ludo’s rat.”

When Finn told us that Owen Harris was Sparrow’s man on the inside, it just left me with more questions. Someone told Huxley where Aubrey would be while her and Ludo were in Florida, and there’s no way Sparrow would endanger her.

My thought process went two ways—first, Owen Harris wasn’t as loyal as Sparrow thought. Or second, Ludo has more than one rat.

Looking back, it makes perfect sense that it’s Axel. All along, he was trying to convince Holloway that we were the ones selling him out. He was trying to make sure the heat stayed off his own back.

He almost got Wren and Rhett killed, I realize, but my anger is short-lived. This is the best chance at freedom we’re going to get. I can’t sacrifice it because Axel has his own motivations.

“This isn’t the time to talk about that,”

he snaps.

“Just let me work.”

I figure the less time we spend in here, the better, so I do as he says and keep my mouth shut. There are only two fryers, and Axel repeats the same process with the second as he did with the first.

After he finishes closing the fryers back up, his eyes sweep the area before landing on his target. A few steps away from the kitchen is a storage area. Several jugs of oil sit on one of the bottom shelves. One appears to be open and partially used, although it’s still mostly full. Axel carries it into the kitchen and sets it on the counter right next to the fryers.

“Breakers,”

he mutters to himself, moving out of the kitchen. But then he stops abruptly.

“You two done?”

he calls to the techs.

“Just finished,”

one of them calls back.

With a sharp nod, Axel resumes heading to the back of the building. I follow without a sound, although I’m not sure he’s paying enough attention to me to notice. I could probably run out the door—shit, I could probably kill him—by the time he realized what I was doing, but I can’t. Not with everyone still trapped.

Axel opens up one of the electrical boxes in the back, running his finger along the edge before frowning. Again, I’m not an electrician, but I know that all those are set to on.

Grumbling, Axel slams the door shut and moves on to the next box. In this one, some of the switches are off. He reads the labels before flipping them on and shutting the door.

The two techs come into view, their tool bags in their hands. “Ready?”

one of them asks.

“I just have to turn on the fryers.”

Axel pulls something that looks like a manual out of his jacket as we move toward the kitchen again. When he turns on the fryers, they both beep loudly and continuously.

“Oh, shut up.”

Peering over his shoulder, I watch as Axel follows the instructions on a page in the manual that’s already earmarked. He hits a few buttons, and I briefly see the word “OVERRIDE?”

flash across the small screen.

Finally, the beeping stops, and Axel nods.

“We’re good to go.”

“What did you do?” I ask.

“Fucked with the temperature sensors and told it to stop being so sensitive. The heating elements won’t turn off, so they’ll run hotter and hotter until the oil catches fire.”

Axel gestures to the jug on the counter.

“Then that lights up, and ideally, the whole place burns down.”

“And it’ll look like an accident?”

“No,”

Axel says as he brushes past me.

“It’ll look like a bad close and a catastrophic coincidence. Let’s move.”

I rush to keep up with him and the techs as they move into the dining room. The kitchen floor is slick, and I slip, barely catching myself. When I straighten, Axel is watching me with a judgmental stare.

“You’ve never worked in food service before? You’ve gotta be careful if you’re not wearing the right shoes.”

He doesn’t wait for a response, stalking through the restaurant and out the door.

I don’t realize how hot I am until the cool night air washes over my skin. It seems like this job was thought through, but I was still worried about getting caught.

Axel locks up and hands one of the guys a piece of paper.

“You’ll find the rest of your payment at this address.”

After that, we don’t stick around. Only once we’re closed in the SUV do I speak again.

“How long will it take to burn down?”

Axel shrugs.

“Long enough for us to get out of here and then some. Now ask what you really want to.”

I swallow.

“You’re the one who told Huxley where Ludo and Aubrey would be in Florida.”

“Correct.”

“You could’ve gotten her killed,”

I grit out, my fists clenching in my lap.

“Huxley wasn’t planning on hurting her,”

Axel says, and he sounds almost bored.

“Doesn’t have it in him. He just needed leverage against Holloway, and keeping Ludo from expanding his business happens to also serve my plans.”

I wait, assuming Axel is about to make some type of threat. If he’s going up against Ludo in any capacity, the fewer people who know about it, the better. I’m a liability he can’t afford.

But the threat doesn’t come. Instead, a humorless smile forms on Axel’s features as he pulls out of the parking garage.

“You look worried, Hayes.”

“Are you not about to tell me that if I reveal this to Ludo, you’ll beat me to a bloody pulp?”

“Don’t need to.”

“Oh?”

Irritation rises in me, but also curiosity. What does he know that he’s not letting on?

“You could tell Holloway,”

Axel says, his voice infused with lazy confidence.

“But that’d give him a leg up on me, and I don’t think you want that. Whatever is going on between you, it’s more than just making some quick cash.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Axel snorts.

“It’s obvious. If this was just about money, you would’ve helped Aubrey, gotten your cut, and bolted. Sticking around wasn’t worth the risk of getting caught—unless you wanted something else.”

“Maybe,”

I say slowly, “but you burning down the Grille doesn’t help me. It’ll piss Ludo off, sure, but it doesn’t get us to safety or anywhere near close to it.”

“Not yet,”

Axel corrects.

“But this is just one step of many. Eventually, the only thing left of Ludo’s empire will be smoldering ashes, and I’m the last person he’ll suspect lit the match.”

In theory, that sounds good, but I doubt Ludo will keep us alive for much longer. I’m serving a purpose for now, but how long will that last?

“Unless you’re planning on doing it fairly quickly, we’ll be dead before that happens.”

I cross my arms.

“I’ll say it again—that doesn’t help me at all.”

The smile on Axel’s face vanishes, and he pulls off onto a dark side street and cuts the headlights. When he turns to me, I can’t see most of his face, but his tone is threatening enough.

“You can gather all the bargaining chips in the world, and it still won’t be enough for Ludo to let you go. This doesn’t change anything.”

“But you don’t know that for sure,” I say.

“Don’t make me regret hiring someone to do your job tonight,”

he growls.

“I won’t,”

I say quickly.

“As long as you let me help you.”

Silence fills the SUV for a few seconds before Axel responds, “In exchange for what?”

“You get us out of that damn mansion before he kills us. Andrew and Benny, too.”

“That’s asking for a lot, Elliot.”

I give myself a few seconds to think. To convince Axel to help us, I’ll have to play my cards right. Problem is, I don’t have many.

“There’s a reason you haven’t killed Holloway yet,”

I say.

“Something’s holding you back.”

“I don’t want him dead,”

Axel replies.

“I want out. Completely and totally out. I’ll have to kill him to do it, and I have no reservations about doing so. I just… can’t yet.”

“Why?”

I ask, hoping I’m not pushing him into clamming up. I need to understand his motivations.

Thankfully, Axel seems willing to take a chance on me.

“If Ludo dies, I’m stuck. His men will look to me for leadership. His partners will come to me when their invoices go unpaid. When I leave, I won’t be looking back—and I need to make sure no one comes looking for me, either.”

“I take it just quitting isn’t an option,”

I say dryly.

A shadow crosses over Axel’s face.

“Let’s just say that Ludo has me right where he wants me.”

“For now,” I add.

Slowly, Axel nods.

“The process has been slow-going, but I’ve made progress. I have to be careful. Every move I make, I have to double- and triple-check. There’s no room for error. If I get caught, I’m dead.”

I know that’s true. To cross Ludo, you need vicious precision—even more so if you have to actively deceive him with your every move. Axel is playing a risky game here, but it’s my best shot at freedom.

“We can take him down faster together,”

I say.

“We’ve been working at this for ten years. We already have a plan in place.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m worried that this is another trap. That Ludo and Axel set up this elaborate, multiple-night scheme to trick me into giving Axel information. But would Ludo really go as far as burning down the Grille just to get me to let my guard down?

I need more answers.

Just as Axel is about to speak, I cut him off.

“Why the Grille? Ludo has so many properties. Why are you targeting this one?”

“He hasn’t earned back his investment on the restaurant yet,”

Axel says.

“He’s barely owned it for a month. Gotta hit him where it hurts.”

Slowly, I nod.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

Rolling his eyes, Axel leans back in his seat.

“You’re the one who’s offering to help me, not the other way around.”

I sigh. Of course Axel can trust me. He knows he’s my only option out of this mess. But me trusting him? He already tried to frame us once.

“I suppose,”

Axel says slowly, “that Florida should be proof enough.”

We sit in silence as I sort through my thoughts.

There’s no way that when we were in Florida, Ludo and Axel were working together to set this trap. Back then, Ludo tested us, and we passed with flying colors. We earned his trust, and he had no reason to suspect we’d betray him yet.

Is that enough? Is it worth the risk?

Is it worth not taking the risk? my mind counters.

If I don’t place my trust in Axel, we’re dead—there’s no other option. If I decide to join Axel, we at least have a chance of making it out of that mansion alive.

I have to try. I have to.

“All right,”

I say, turning to face Axel.

“I’m in—but we’re gonna need some help.”