Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 122: The Dragon with Tourette

Eugene took over the meeting as soon as he ended the call with the warden. "King, before you go, can you provide my guys with a list of all properties owned by Lettie? Also, include any vacant Heavenly Enterprise locations. I have the manpower to canvas those places. Maybe we will stumble onto where she’s keeping Bea."

King said, "I’ll get you that information as soon as I return to the office."

"No need," I said. "Alec, bring me my laptop. King, focus on Stiff and the fake’s identity."

"I’m on it." King left with the Crazy Code techs.

Finally, there was room to breathe again. Bonus. I didn’t have to see King anymore. Whenever he crossed my vision line, I wanted to attack him again. If he had trusted me in the first place, none of this would happen.

I was finishing the transfer of the properties’ information to a thumb drive when Jake showed up with his special forces buddies. He kissed me on top of the head.

"Where do you need me, boss lady?" Jake said.

"Sorry for cutting your trip short."

"Anything for Bea."

"The boys okay?"

"Um, they are at the church with Betty."

Betty was a receptionist at Crazy Code.

Angie said, "Mom and I will go over and back up Betty. Let me know if we can do anything else."

I handed the USB drive to one of Eugene’s men, but I stopped Eugene before he could leave.

"Eugene, I appreciate all your help, but I cannot condone letting Daniel out of prison, not even for Bea."

He patted my arm. "The warden is only lending me Heavenly, and the police commissioner is doing the same with Anya. They are bait to exchange for Bea. My men will make sure they don’t get away."

Ben said, "Just spoke to Joshua. Anya’s not pregnant. The doctor administered the test this morning."

"What about a timeframe on Bea’s condition?"

Ben shook his head. "Every missed dose can have a critical effect on her health. Teela, do whatever Lettie says. We can always catch them again."

"At the cost of how many more children?" I asked.

Eugene said, "Trust me, Teela. I’ve never had any love for Lettie or anyone who uses children. Set up a meeting. I’ll take care of the rest."

"No," Jake said. "I won’t trust Bea’s safety to a mobster. We’ll head this rescue." Jake nodded his chin at Eugene. "Your people can back us up."

Eugene said, "Teela, do you trust this man?"

"With my life."

"Alright, as long as my men are included. It’s my reputation on the line if I don’t return Daniel and Anya to the authorities."

CK chimed in. "Stiff is at a hotel on the edge of the city. He’s been drinking since he arrived."

"Take Ben, CK. Go get him. He should know what is going on."

"I’m going, too," Father DiMarco said. "Alec, do you have a thermos? Stiff will need coffee."

I left Alec with Father DiMarco. I stepped into my office and closed the door. So far, I was doing good. Almost everyone had a job. But now, I had to speak to Lettie again. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that dealing with Lettie terrified me.

Taking a deep breath, I hit the redial button on Lettie’s number.

"Where can we meet?"

"I knew someone as conniving as you would find a way. I want proof they are free."

"Lettie, I don’t have any proof. They’ll be delivered to me once I have a meeting scheduled."

"By the way, Anya’s pregnancy is fake. We had her tested this morning."

"Lettie said, "Like I would believe you over Anya."

Anya must have been in on Lettie’s faked stroke and stayed in touch with her this entire time.

"That is your choice. I thought you should know."

"Call me when my son and daughter-in-law are free. Don’t waste my time with fairy tales."

Lettie hung up.

I returned to Eugene in the living room.

"No go without proof they’ve been released."

Eugene nodded. "I’d be the same way. Alec, give me an hour, then meet me at the old apartment down by your mom’s place, unless you want Lettie to know your home address here."

Alec said, "No, thanks. After today, I’d say more than enough people know where I live. We’ll be there."

Now, I had an hour to do nothing but worry. Rosie brought me a smoothie and some dry toast.

She said, "Honey, it’s been a long day already, and it’s not even noon. Get something in your stomach while you can. Oh, look at your hair. Where’s your brush?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"I’ll get it," Estelle offered.

Estelle brushed my hair while I forced myself to consume half the toast and smoothie.

"You’ve got beautiful hair," Estelle said. "Very healthy and thick. Mine has thinned over the years. TI used to be as thick as yours."

Estelle was so gentle. This was the first time since I was a kid that someone had brushed my hair for me. It felt good, and that made me feel guilty. I shouldn’t be enjoying myself while Bea was suffering.

I excused myself to go to the bathroom and wash my face. That’s when I saw my panties on the floor. While Bea was being kidnapped, I was busy obsessing over Alec. I picked them up and put them in the hamper along with the rest of the clothes that we left where they landed. From there, I went on to clean the already spotless bathroom. It was something to do that kept me from returning to the other room until it was time to go.

I knew everyone was being kind out of concern for me, but I didn’t feel like I deserved kindness right now. I deserved to be blamed for putting my best friend in danger because of the people I associated with. Because I deferred to a man’s judgment.

If anything happened to Bea, I’d never forgive myself. I’d never forgive King, either. As far as I was concerned, we could go to hell together, but first, Lettie had to pay.

Alec knocked at the door and called out, "Stiff is here."

That was all it took to put me back into business mode. I stormed out of the bathroom and headed to the living room, where Stiff was hanging limply between Ben and Father DiMarco.

He was unkempt like I’d never seen him before, and we’d slept next to each other once. We’d worked overnight many times, but Stiff always looked like he had just stepped out of a TV series and into the real world. But not today. And I could smell him from across the room.

Father DiMarco said, "I’ve gotten as much coffee into him as he would allow, and CK stopped for a hangover remedy. No good. I think we should take him to the hospital."

"I vote we throw him in the shower and let him sober up or drown," Ben said. "I’ve seen a lot of drunks in my line of work. He’ll be fine after a shower."

I led them to the shower located off my office. I left the men to handle the drunk as I stood outside the door and waited. Alec joined me, placing a hand at the small of my back.

"He’ll be fine," Alec said.

"I know. How much time before we leave?"

"Twenty minutes or so."

I nodded. "Can he borrow some clothes? If he gets his act together, Stiff will want to go. He can’t go naked."

"Of course. Wait here."

The water in the shower came on followed closely by Stiff cursing and Ben and Father DiMarco darting from the room and out the office door. Father DiMarco said, "He’s like a coiled snake waiting to strike." The side of his face was red.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"It’s not the first time I was punched. I’ll survive."

"Go see Rosie for an ice pack."

"I’m fine. What do you need me to do?"

I put a hand on his arm. "I need you to take care of yourself. I depend on you to be the calming influence in our motley crew."

"I specialize in calming presence."

Stiff banged around for a few minutes, then went silent. The water was still running. I hoped he didn’t pass out and drown while we were standing around. I didn’t have time for my damsels or princes in distress.

I looked to Ben. "One of us should check on him."

"You know him better."

"But he’s pissed off at me."

"Right now, I’m betting he is pissed off at the world."

Alec returned with the clothes. "I’ll go."

I said, "Oh, he probably likes you even less than me."

Ben said, "Where is Min when we really need him?"

Min joined us. "I just got here. What do you need?"

Ben said, "There’s a dragon in there that needs tamed."

"Dragon, huh?"

More noise from the bathroom assured us Stiff wasn’t dead. The shower stopped, but Stiff’s mouth did not. He continued to spew foul language as he slammed around the bathroom.

Min said, "A talking dragon."

"The Tourette version of a talking dragon," I mumbled.

"What do I get if I go in?" Min asked Ben.

"Don’t look at me," Ben said, "It’s Teela’s BFF."

"But I don’t want anything from Teela."