Page 24 of Vow of Vengeance (Destruction & Vengeance Duet #2)

twenty-one

Declan

I crush the can in my hand as my thoughts turn to Tony putting his fucking hands on Soren again.

In the seat next to me, she stirs, lifting her head just a little and muttering something that I don't quite catch.

I turn my attention to her to confirm she's sleeping.

It's a toss up on what she will get when she falls asleep.

Sometimes, sleep seems to be the only peace she gets to experience.

.. other than the moments after I've fucked her into complacency.

Other times, her sleep doesn't seem restful at all, as she tosses and turns, clearly agitated by something, though she claims to never remember what it was by the time she wakes.

She needs the sleep, which is why I've taken the stakeout on solo.

I still text Khan from her phone every hour, and he assures me that he's got eyes on the backdoor.

She'll be mad at me when she wakes and realizes I let her sleep for the last three hours, but there really is no need for us both to be watching the same spot. As it is, the night is winding down. And by night, I mean early morning.

The last patron comes out the front door at three thirteen, pisses on the side of the building, and ambles into his truck. A moment later, he's gone.

I texted Khan to let me know when the building is entirely empty, and he's given me updates every time someone else leaves the bar.

Just Tony and Pete left now.

Twenty minutes later, I get a new message.

They're gone. All clear over here.

I put my car in drive, and the sudden sound of the engine turning on wakes Soren, who straightens fast, like she's trying to pretend she hasn't been passed out for the last couple of hours. I chuckle as she blinks rapidly, wiping drool off her cheek.

"The bar is empty?" She asks.

"Everybody is gone." I confirm, easing the car into the parking lot as Khan pulls up alongside us.

The only other car in the parking lot is Soren's from earlier, no longer barricaded in by the fucking assholes she called family.

I don't know what they had planned for her if I hadn't been there... if Khan hadn't been there.

Was it just a show of intimidation? Or were they going to take her somewhere?

Soren darts quickly from the car once I've turned off the engine. She doesn't even give me a chance to enjoy the feeling of standing up and stretching before she bounds up the stairs.

Khan and I follow quickly behind, and I stop her just as she's fitting the key in the lock.

"Is there an alarm?" I ask, wary of alerting anyone that we're here. I can handle cops or a security company, but if there's a patch to alert Tony when someone enters the premises, we need to act fast.

"No." Soren assures me. "Vin didn't trust how easily they could be hacked. It's why we never had one at home, either."

While she's completely correct, I doubt the reason her husband didn't want security cameras was as innocent as that. It's more likely he just didn't want her to see him coming home at odd hours and whatever other shady shit he did.

She barely gets the door unlocked before she flings it open and pushes her way in without even bothering to turn on a light. Khan does that for us, shutting the door behind us when he's the last to enter and flipping the switch that lets the dingey room illuminate.

After hours in the din of my car watching this place from afar, the light seems particularly offensive, but Soren doesn't pay it any mind as she stalks decisively toward the wall where the supply rack is pushed against a wall, mostly barren.

She's already trying to push it herself by the time I catch up to her and move her quietly out of my way. Soren frowns but lets me relocate her a few steps away so I can pull the rack away from the wall.

I see it just before she rushes toward the wall, running her hand down it like she's looking for something.

"I don't understand." Soren's frown deepens, panic rising in her voice as she searches frantically for the entrance she swore was there. "It was there. I swear, Declan, there was a door." When she turns to me, bewildered and distraught, I see her anxiety rising. "I don't understand."

Soren takes a step back to appraise the wall, blinks, and then turns back to me. "Dec..."

"I believe you." I assure her. "It looks like they plastered over it. Look at your hands."

She does as I told her to and is surprised to find them sticky with paint in places where it hadn't yet dried.

"No." I watch her throat bob as she swallows, desperation making her frustration visceral.

They're sure as fuck hiding something here, and we're going to find out what. Inching closer, I look for the spot where the new drywall joins with the existing wall. I'll put my damn fist through it if I have to.

But I don't have to because I notice Soren turning away from me.

"I've got this." I assure her. "Just give me a minute to find the right spot."

"Fuck that." She says, her voice breathy. It takes me off guard just enough to turn and see what she's doing only to find her strutting back toward me with a fucking sledgehammer hefted over her shoulder. "Move."

"Where the hell did you get that?" I puzzle, looking around for where they're keeping random construction equipment in this now-seedy bar.

"This is insurance." She says, as if that makes any sense at all. "Now get out of the way so I don't hit you."

"I'm more worried about you hurting you." I scoff.

I love her, but she's not lifted anything heavier than the plates she smashed against the floor in all the time I've known her, and the sledgehammer looks like it weighs half of what she does. The last thing we need is her faltering on the swing and dropping that thing on her toes.

"I'm fine. And if you don't get out of my fucking way, Declan, then this is going right where your hand is."

I can't suppress a smirk at that, and when I catch Khan's gaze, he's wide-eyed and as doubtful as me.

"Go ahead, little bird. Show me what you got."

Soren licks her lips as I step aside, her eyes fixed in determination. I watch her fingers flex on the handle, and then she swings.

The drywall splinters easily under the power of her strike, and I find the smirk slipping off my face as it's replaced by awe. Her lean arms flex as she hefts it back again, readying for the next strike.

It's somehow more powerful than the first as the hammer hits something hard behind the drywall.

The door she knew was there.

Her third strike lets some of the wood show through, dark brown and weathered but stark against the drywall crumbling around it.

Soren heaves as she prepares to lift the sledgehammer again, but I stop her with a hand out and she relents easily this time.

Instead, she leans against it, watching as I kick the rest of the drywall down, letting it crumble around our feet.

They used a thin sheet of it to blend better with the existing facade, which makes it easy to pull away what remains until we're faced with the door.

"Fuck." Khan sighs. "It's really there?"

I decide not to give him hell about not believing her, and Soren doesn't seem to hear him anyway.

The sledgehammer teeters a little as she pushes off of it, but I cut her off before she can get ahead of me.

"We don't know what's in there." I remind her. "You stay behind me."

"But Marissa-"

"She could be in there." I confirm. It's actually what I'm worried about.

You don't plaster over a place where you're keeping a captive.

But you would plaster over the place where you keep bodies.

And if there is, in fact, a body down there, I don't want her to have to witness that.

"But so could any number of things. This is the deal, Ren.

You stay behind me, or I'll handcuff you to the goddamn supply rack. .. and I didn't bring the keys."

She blinks at me as a mixture of betrayal and outrage plays out on her delicate face. "You brought the fucking handcuffs?"

"I never know when I'm going to need them with you." I tell her honestly.

I'm tempted to make good use of them now, just to show her that I'm not bluffing, but Khan is standing behind us awkwardly, being completely fucking useless.

"Fine." She huffs. "Go."

I roll my eyes at her irritation, not the least bit bothered by her intensity as I find the latch to pop the door open. Soren is right on my ass when I do, trying to crane her neck to peer into the darkness before me.

I step into the space cautiously and slide my phone from my pocket to pull up the flashlight app. When I do, it illuminates the small space.

There's nothing but walls on every side, and the room is barely big enough for the both of us to fit side-by-side because of fucking course she doesn't listen to me and stay at my back.

I grit my teeth, resolving to punish her for that later, and spin around, letting the light glance off of the plain brick from what I assume is the exterior wall.

"There's nothing." Khan says, sounding disappointed, as if our anticlimactic find is an inconvenience to him.

"You don't drywall over a room for nothing." I shake my head, running my hand over the brick, looking for anything that might serve as a handle or latch.

"The floor!" Soren gasps, swinging her own flashlight down to shine over our shoes. When I move my feet back to look for anything there, Soren shoves me. "Out!"

I don't budge, staying rooted to the spot as she tries to strong arm me out of the closet.

"Declan!" She groans. "We're standing on a door. I'm sure of it."

"Are you sure of it?" I ask, still refusing to give her an inch as she puts all her strength into trying to shove me out of her way. Despite the way she hefted that sledgehammer, her strength seems to be missing now.

"Declan!" She growls, making me chuckle. "Fucking move!"