Page 232 of The Monster and the Masochist

I shifted the reverend, who was only getting heavier by the minute, before making my way past the group and heading back out to my car.

“Don’t worry! Ember can drive you to the shelter!” Ronan beamed, only to let out another annoyed ow as his sister smacked him with her cane.

“I’m blind, you idiot. I can’t drive them.”

“I’ll drive you guys,” Dakota said easily, and soon, the five of them were following me out of the church and into the parking lot.

Once we were outside, I popped the trunk to my Aston Martin and dumped the reverend in next to my murder kit… Well, it was more of a torture kit now.

I couldn’t help but grin at the flash of red patent leather that peeked out of the bag as I slammed the trunk shut on the bound and gagged unconscious man.

Cassandra was creative. I would give her that.

“You all good here?” Dakota asked as Ember helped the girls climb into Ronan’s truck. I gave him a sharp nod, and Dakota smiled, and his freckly cheeks looked like they were dusted with glitter in the silver light of the moon.

“Great. You know how to reach us if you need anything else.”

I nodded, noting how much Dakota’s stutter had improved since I’d first met him. I wondered idly if he had a speech therapist or something as I made my way back into the church. If he did, they seemed to know what they were doing. Not that I wanted a speech therapist or anything like that. It was just good to know.

Back in the church, Ronan was already getting to work on the bodies. He had all three of them lined up in the hall now, and Logan was scolding him for not moving them onto a plastic tarp first.

“You’re getting blood everywhere, Shorty! We’re gonna be here all fucking night.”

Ronan just laughed and maniacally yanked the cord on the chainsaw. The motor roared to life, and I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I approached Cassandra.

“You have things under control here?” she asked, and I gave her a flat look, jerking my chin toward Logan and Ronan, who were now wrestling over the active chainsaw.

Does it look like I have shit under control? Jesus fucking Christ.

Why was every job I did with these people a fucking circus?

Cassandra glanced over her shoulder and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“I see your point.” She rolled her eyes with a huff before turning back to me. “Well, at least Ronan seems… enthusiastic. I’ll see what I can do to help his friend out so I can return the favor. I think Nolan has a minor in property law. I’ll ask him if he knows anything about setting up a zoo or whatever harebrained scheme they’re trying to pull off.”

I shrugged, not really giving a fuck about Micah’s zoo.

I still had a lot of work to do.

While Logan and Ronan took care of the bodies, I needed to wipe all the security footage and send a couple of emails from the reverend’s account to ensure none of his ‘friends’ came looking for him when he suddenly disappeared.

I also wanted to take advantage of the fact that I had access to his laptop and servers, so I could do some digging into what exactly it was he’d been doing here.

Apex was gone, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that Damian had been at the top of that fucked up pyramid.

There was a new player in the game, and I needed to figure out who it was so I could make sure none of this shit came anywhere near Naomi.

“Thanks,” Cass said, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced at her to find her looking at me with a dark look in her eyes I was all too familiar with.

You didn’t get that look living a gold-touched life. It was a look only people who’d lived through horrible shit seemed to get, and I knew that, because I often caught myself with the same darkness in my eyes whenever I caught sight of my reflection.

Nodding, I reached into my pocket and handed her the keys to my car.

She took them, but she paused before turning to leave.

“One more thing.”

I raised an eyebrow, cocking my head to the side.