Page 27 of Scythe (Devil Daddies MC #2)
He ate one on his way up the stairs. The house plan registered with the city showed the master bedroom on the second floor in the east corner.
Scythe detected loud snores immediately at the top of the stairs.
A wife couldn’t sleep through that cacophony.
The man of the house had to be alone. After setting the other cookie on the hallway table, he squeezed fast-drying industrial glue into the locks of the other closed bedroom doors.
Scythe walked through the noisy bedroom’s door.
Quietly keeping an eye on the snoring jerk in the bed, he eased open the bedside table and removed the Glock stored inside.
After emptying the bullets out of the slide and the chamber, he replaced the gun and slid the drawer shut.
Thank goodness for well-constructed furniture that didn’t squeak.
Scythe shook his head at the man who’d snored through all that. He really shouldn’t have messed with a Devil Daddies’ Little girl. Finally, he moved a nearby chair close to the bedside and made himself comfortable before switching on the light.
The man stared at him in confusion before panicking and yanking the entire drawer from the nightstand. The contents tumbled to the ground.
“No worries. The gun doesn’t work without bullets anyway,” Scythe told him, holding up one in his left hand as he aimed his own gun at the disheveled man still half under the covers.
“Ellen! Call the police!” the man yelled.
“Unfortunately, all the signals inside and out are not functioning. Nice of you to endanger your wife’s life, however,” Scythe observed. “She could have slept blissfully through this without ever realizing she’d had a visitor. Not the protective type, I see. That suits my purposes.”
Scythe tilted his head toward the door without taking his eyes off the man in bed as a cacophony of pounding and yells came from down the hall. Thank goodness for the extra noise-cancelling insulation built into these homes. The neighbors wouldn’t hear a thing.
Adam didn’t answer his wife’s calls or seem to care she was frantic. He glared at Scythe. “Your purposes? What do you want?”
“You’re going to leave your position as the superintendent of schools. Your daughter will resign simultaneously from her role as the principal of East Elementary.”
“Why would I do that?” Adam Young’s eyes narrowed, and Scythe watched the fear in his gaze ebb.
Scythe pulled back the hammer on his revolver with a satisfying click that restored the fright on Adam’s face.
“Wait! You can’t expect me to throw my career away because a stranger demands it.”
“A stranger with a gun,” Scythe reminded him.
“Why are you doing this?” Adam asked.
“You don’t need to know the reason. Before you choose not to follow my instructions, let me tell you what will happen in approximately five hours.
The information on this flash drive will be delivered to every news station in the city, as well as each member of the board and the other administrators in your district.
The newsies will jump at the juicy story of a criminal who changes her name for a fresh start, only to choose another scandalous path by creating a degree for herself with the help of her superintendent father. ”
Adam stared at him for several long seconds before arguing, “You can’t have proof of anything.”
“Oh, but I do. Here, you can see for yourself.” He tossed the flash drive to the other man, who bumbled it and dropped it onto the floor.
“Wow. Maybe I should investigate if your degree is actually valid. Didn’t you have a baseball scholarship as a catcher for your undergrad studies?”
Adam’s pale face lost more color. Oh, that struck a chord. Scythe mentally thanked Pirate for expanding his investigation to include the father.
The man straightened his slumped shoulders and went on the offensive. “You’re not going to do any of this.”
Scythe smiled. “Of course I am.”
“You have to be the biker my daughter scoffed about, who visited that worthless second-grade teacher. Her job will be gone tomorrow. The school resource officer ran your license. I can file a police report against you,” Adam Young assured him, assuming his superintendent poise.
“Even if your guess is correct, that’s not going to happen.”
“Why?” Adam seemed confused by Scythe’s confidence.
“No one messes with my MC and survives. Now, would you rather I shoot you or knock you out?”
“What! I don’t want either of….”
Scythe approved of the superintendent’s choice as his fist landed squarely. Adam’s eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped sideways on the bed, a lump already rising through his thinning hair.
Scythe shook the sting from his hand. Messing with a man who grew up intimidating two-thousand-pound bulls wasn’t smart.
Adam hadn’t required more than a tap to send him to sleep.
Standing, he kicked the flash drive a bit farther under the bed.
He’d enjoy the mental picture of Adam struggling to fish it out.
He walked down the hall and slammed the side of his fist against the door Ellen Young still pounded on. She screamed and scurried away from the barrier.
“Convince your husband to do the right thing. You don’t want to see what comes next,” Scythe growled through the wood.
He turned and picked up the abandoned cookie. No need to leave it. Strolling down the stairs, he munched on the treat as he left through the back door.