"I'm sorry sweetheart, you know I would have taken you with me if I could have, but you know how work can be sometimes." Isabella worried at her nails, her heel bouncing an uneven rhythm against the carpet of the SUV as it raced along the interstate towards the heart of Boston.
"It's okay momma," Cassidy said, sounding very much unconcerned, "I don't like going to Boston anyways. It's smelly there."
Isabella chuckled, "I guess it can be, yes." The car began to slow, as they approached the parking garage. The gate attendant took one look at the car, nodded his head, and the gate opened. The SUV jerked forward, and Isabella sighed.
"All right baby, I gotta go to work. Erika is going to be picking you up after school to take you to and from gymnastics, and Mrs. Collins is going to come over to help you with dinner, okay? You be nice and polite to both of them please!"
Her daughter sighed dramatically on the other end of the line. "I still don't understand why I couldn't stay with Mr. Percy!"
Isabella's stomach clenched painfully as the car down the ramp and through an enchanted veil, passing through into the otherwise unknown recesses of the basement of the parking garage. She had done her best to be polite and cordial with Percy in the last couple of weeks, but ever since Packard's revelations about his connections to the DSI, as well as her own investigation, spending time around the man had become increasingly…straining.
"Mr. Jackson is very busy right now," she fibbed, "His work takes a lot of time and-"
"But mom! Horsies!"
To have the ease and comfort that a youthful mind possessed. It wasn't like she could simply say to her daughter, "Well kiddo, Percy might be working for the government institution who's single greatest ambition in life is the systemic eradication of our very way of life, and would love nothing more than mommy's head on a pike."
The car parked at the bottom of the ram and one of her attendants opened the door. "And those horses will be there for your lesson with Mr. Jackson on-"
"Why don't you use his name any more?"
Isabella paused halfway through getting out of the car. She stared incredulously at her phone for a moment, and tried not to audibly groan. Why the hell was her kid so damn perceptive?
"It's nothing hon-"
"Are you two fighting?"
Isabella wanted to scream.
"Why would you think we're fighting?"
"Well, you don't call him Percy anymore and you don't talk to him during lessons and you won't let us go over to visit."
Part of her wanted to take pride in her daughter's ability to think critically and problem solve. The other part wanted nothing more than to be done with this conversation.
"We're not fighting, Cassidy," she said, using the tone she liked to use when she wanted to make it clear that the conversation was over. "Sorry baby, but I got to go, I'll check in in a couple of hours and make sure to text me when you get picked up and get to all of your places, okay? I love you!"
"Love you,"
Isabella could hear the eye roll. The line clicked, and the call ended. She swore under her breath, but took a calming breath and tried to compose herself. This was why she hated coming to Boston on short notice. Normally she would have snagged Cassidy on her way and would have taken her along, but given the…nature of Isabella's visit, she didn't want to bring her daughter along. It threatened to expose far too much far too quickly to her daughter.
And Isabella would do everything, to protect Cassidy.
Her attendant marched in front of her and opened the door ahead of her, and into the stairwell of the old office complex attached to the garage. They climbed down several flights of stairs, into a basement that, if anyone deigned to look at the plat for the building, definitely should not have existed, before being led through yet another door.
This door, led to a small, cramped room. More of a closet than anything. Made even smaller by the five men crammed inside. Four of the men, her men, were positioned in each corner of the small room, surrounding the fifth. Rail thin, bald, and skin as dark as the evening sky, the poor soul was bound and tied to the small wooden chair in the middle of the room. The enchanted bindings around his hands and feet so tight, that the circulation of his blood had been cut off long ago, and his wrists and ankles bled from the sharp metal.
"This is him?" Isabella asked, as she stepped into the room. "This is the sorry son of a bitch that killed one of my boys?"
"Yes ma'am," said one her attendants. "Not much of a talker though,"
Isabella nodded, handing her purse off to the men directly behind her. She took a step forward, cramming herself into the already claustrophobically tight space, and place a single hand on the poor man's jaw. Casually, daintily even, she raised his chin to meet her gaze. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and blood trickled down a single nostril from his bent and mangled nose. He began to shake as he laid eyes on her.
"Hello," she whispered gently, stroking the side of his cheek with her nails. "You hurt one of my boys…and now, we're going to sit here…and you're going to tell me everything that I want to know…aren't you sweetheart?"
The man whimpered, and began to convulse more.
Isabella simpered down at him, and the door to the room shut.
BREAK
Percy had thought he was used to rain. He had spent most of his life in Northwest, and many a hunting trip had taken place in the middle of a monsoon. But he hadn't seen quite as many early summer rain showers as he had here. He absently slapped the panel on the side of the dash, and the speed of his wipers increased. Not that it did much of anything to help. He sighed; this was what he deserved for waiting until the last minute to run his errands in town.
He slowed as he came up to the next corner, it was bad enough during clear weather, never mind in the middle of this mess. But as he came around the next corner, Percy blinked. There was something walking along the side of the road. A small, pink blob, bopping up and down as it walked down the road. Blinking again, he squinted, then swore. Percy pulled up beside the pink mess, reached into his passenger seat and snagged the umbrella sitting there.
He kicked the door open and darted out into the rain, opening the umbrella as he did so.
"Cassidy!" He called out, grabbing the small girl's attention. She was frowning, glowering really, her tiny hands stuffed in the pocket of her pink rain jacket. But as soon as she saw him, her eyes lit up and ran towards him.
"Mr. Percy!"
As she came up to him, Percy tugged her under the cover of the umbrella and hauled her up into his arms.
"What on earth are you doing out here, kiddo?"
"Erika was supposed to pick me up from gymnastics, but never showed up." Cassidy grumbled, "And everyone else was already gone by the time I got out and nobody could give me a ride."
"Where's your mom?"
"Boston,"
Percy's mouth snapped shut. Well, that couldn't be good. Isabella had taken Cassidy to Boston for work before, which meant that something had happened. Likely something that she didn't want her daughter being exposed to. He was likely overthinking things, but it seemed overly convenient that Cassidy's mother was out of town without her daughter, and Cassidy's babysitter had somehow, coincidentally, forgotten to pick up the little girl. Could it truly have been something inconsequential? Absolutely. Did Percy believe in taking unnecessary chances where the lives of children were involved? Absolutely not.
He knew he'd likely catch hell from Isabella for this later, but decided that he didn't really care.
"All right kiddo, let's get you someplace warm, yeah?" He felt as she nodded against him, wrapping her small arms around his neck and leaning into him. She shivered against him as they walked back to the car, and Percy slowly began drawing the moisture out of her skin and clothes. Working slowly and carefully so as not to be too obvious about what was going on. Cassidy was a smart girl, and while Isabella was starting to catch on that he was more than he appeared, there was no reason to expose himself unnecessarily.
Still, the poor girl was soaked to the bone and he would be damned if he was comfortable with the idea of letting little Cassidy shiver and freeze because of someone else's screw up. When they were back at the truck, Percy placed the shivering girl in the passenger seat, before reaching over her to crank up the heat coming from the air vents, as well as turn on her heated seat. Then, after buckling her in, Percy closed the door and retreated to the back of the truck. Opening the rear, passenger side door, Percy reached down into the footwell and grabbed the small bag of provisions that he kept under the bench. Inside were the types of tools and equipment that were meant to keep him out of bad situations, should he find himself stranded somewhere without help.
Grabbing the large, rolled up towel that was inside, he closed the door and walked back to Cassidy, and began drying her off with the towel. With each dab and swipe of the fabric, Percy commanded more and more of the water to dissipate from her. Soon enough, Cassidy was dry and Percy was clambering back into the driver's seat.
"All right Cass," Percy said, turning to look at her as he put the truck back into gear, "I'm not sure I'm super comfortable with you going back to that big house of yours when your mom isn't there, and you've already had one babysitter bail on you…Are you okay with that?" Cassidy, still shaking slightly from the cold, simply nodded her head.
Rubbing the trembling girl around the back of the ears, he smiled reassuringly at her before he turned his attention back to the road. It was a quiet, though not uncomfortable. Cassidy had spent enough time on the Ranch that she began to relax almost as soon as they were driving through the front gate.
"Can we see Agnis?" Cassidy asked, swiveling in her seat to look pleadingly at him. Percy chuckled.
"Tell you what, help me take in these groceries, and make some dinner, and then you can help me feed the girls. How's that sound?" Cassidy was positively vibrating in her seat, nodding her head so rapidly that, if she hadn't been strapped to the seat, Percy would have been worried about her bouncing herself out of the truck.
Chuckling softly, Percy pulled the truck back onto the road and began making the slow drive back to his property. He only hoped that Isabella didn't act too…rashly, when he called her.
BREAK
The door shut with a heavy slam behind her, as one of her subordinates handed her a small, damp towel. She took the preferred towel absently, and began wiping at her stained hands. She'd have to take some time when she got back to her room and clean under her nails.
Dried blood was always hardest to pull from under the finger nails.
"This is going to get ugly," She said to Andrew as he fell into step beside her.
"You gleaned anything from that?" Andrew asked, glancing over his shoulder quizzically at the closed door. "Seemed like mostly panic and speculation to me."
"It was," Isabella agreed. The hitman who had killed one of her boys knew nothing of note. He had been given instructions through a dead-drop, the money had been wired through multiple proxy accounts, and he'd never so much as actually spoken to his benefactors. But Isabella had expected as much. She hadn't been hoping for the man to be able to tell her who had hired him directly. But she had gleaned much from the discussion nevertheless.
"But he told us much without saying anything of substance."
"Jesus Christ Boss," sighed Andrew, "Can we please not do the cryptic double-talking bullshit today?"
Isabella shot the man a look and handed him the towel.
"How many of the families do you know of that would go through this much trouble to cover their tracks?"
Andrew took towel without question and pondered the question.
"Not many," he admitted, "Most of the families wouldn't bother with the trouble."
"None of the smaller families at any rate," said Isabella, "They're not bound by the terms of the agreement. No reason for all the cloak and dagger shit."
It was an often…misunderstood aspect of most shifter cultures. Some chalked it up to their inner beast, demanding others to follow the strict societal hierarchy, and others believed it was simply a matter of personal pride. Whatever the reason, shifters were far from subtle, especially when it came to resolving disputes. When they killed, they wanted it known who did the killing, and why.
"Do you think it's non-shifter then?"
"I think someone wants us to think that,"
"What do you mean?"
Isabella stopped, and Andrew stopped beside her. It was time to broach a topic that had been on her mind for some time.
"When was the last time anyone heard from Alex Packard?"
Andrew started at the sudden change of topic. "From the O'Sullivan's?"
Isabella nodded, and Andrew grew thoughtful.
"Been a minute," he admitted, "I know that he's been giving orders if nothing else."
"Yet he hasn't been to a single council meeting in over a year," said Isabella. "He's been…acting…through his son. Haven't seen him, or been contacted by him directly since last April."
Andrew shot her a furtive glance and began to sway slightly on his feet, shifting his wight back and forth.
"That's…ma'am that's a hell of an accusation," he said carefully. It was the most reticent that Isabella had seen the large man in a while.
"But not one without a basis," she said. "His son has been…aggressively pursuing me lately."
"Nothing new there but the date Boss,"
Isabella gave the man a withering look. "It's different this time. For the last six months he's been trying to sell me on some bullshit about shifter pride. About how we have to stick together in the face of the others, because they're trying to force us out."
She sighed, running a hand through her hair. She needed a shower.
"Start asking around," she ordered, "Quietly. I want to know if anyone has seen Alex directly or received orders from his specifically in the last twelve months."
Andrew's face grew hard, and he nodded. Without another word, he turned on his heel and disappeared through a nearby doorway. One of her other subordinates took up his place and escorted Isabella from the basement of the building. As she got back in the car, and was on her way out of the enchanted parking garage, she opened her purse and pulled her phone free. She had turned the device off during her interrogation, she hadn't wanted any interruptions, even if it meant being away from her daughter for a little while.
But as the phone turned on, her heart sank as a flurry of messages popped up on her lock screen. She had several voicemails. Two from Erika, and a number of very panicked, and apologetic texts. Apparently, the girl had gotten into a car accident on her way to pick up Cassidy and had been desperately trying to get in touch with Isabella. Her heart hammering, and on the verge of a panic attack at the thought of her daughter sitting isolated and alone at the damn school, when she saw the most recent text.
Next to Percy's name was a simple message: "Found Cassidy walking home earlier tonight. Watching movies and eating pizza. Call when you get this." Following the message was a painfully adorable picture of Cassidy and Percy. They were lounging on the couch in his living room. Cassidy was holding the phone as she and Percy made a silly face at the camera. It was a deeply heartwarming, while equally deeply concerning picture. On the one hand, she felt immeasurably grateful that he had helped gather her stranded daughter and kept her safe and happy. But she was still deeply troubled by this sudden turn of events.
It was a migraine she didn't need.
Percy, for all intents and purposes, was still being investigated. He was still an unknown. Still had strange connections with the DSI, though with each passing day Isabella became more and more certain that he didn't actually work for them like Packard had been implying. But that didn't mean he wasn't a threat that could just casually be dismissed. Like it or not, he was almost certainly responsible for the deaths of half a dozen wolves. Not an easy feat, even for some of the other creatures in the town.
Which just led her back to the all-important question. Just what the hell was Percy Jackson? Her contacts within the DSI hadn't been able to find anything on the man. What wasn't redacted outright was unhelpful or simply didn't exist. None of the after-action reports she'd managed to get her hands on had been helpful either. Most of the information was outright redacted, with only the simple tag that Percy had successfully managed to accomplish the job.
With a sigh, she gestured for the driver to raise the divider between herself and the two men in the front seat. The divider rose and she dialed Percy's personal number. He answered after only a handful of rings.
"Hey," he said, his voice soft. She heard something rustle in the background, like he was shifting around.
"Hey," she said, suddenly feeling a lot more uncomfortable. They hadn't spoken much over the last couple of weeks. Her doing, not his, and that fact seemed to hang over her head like the executioner's axe. It was uncomfortable.
"You coming back?"
She nodded, "heading to the airport right now." She bit her lip, frowning. "Thank you…for picking her up." There was a slight tremble in her voice. Unable to truly convey the feeling of gratitude in her chest. Her panic hadn't lasted long, but just the idea of her daughter…alone…waiting for someone to come pick her up…alone and vulnerable. She shuddered involuntarily.
"Happy to do it," Cassidy could all but hear the smile on his face. "Had a fun night. We made a pizza - New York style, of course"
"Of course," she giggled. Some of the tightness in her chest disappearing.
"And then we put on the greatest movie of all time."
"And what movie is that?"
"Jaws, of course."
"What!" She squawked, but she calmed when Percy's muted laughter echoed around her.
"Got you," he chuckled, sounding entirely too pleased with himself.
"Percy Jackson," she said with heat, though the effect was lost a little as she was smiling. "You…are an unbelievable asshole, you know that?"
"That's an odd way of saying hilarious and handsome, but thank you all the same."
She felt her cheeks flush slightly. He chuckled, and the sound was like a warm blanket on her weary body.
"Relax, Red, we watched some cartoon horse movie or something. I don't know, I was only half paying attention. Anyways, she passed out about forty-five minutes ago and has been sleeping soundly. What time you expecting to come in?"
She glanced at her watch and sighed. "Late,"
Percy hummed contemplatively. "Well, I'll put a pot on and I'll see you later tonight then."
"Thank you again, Percy." She said sincerely, "It, erm, it means a lot that you did what you did. I appreciate it a lot."
"Of course," he said, "You didn't really think I was just going to leave her to stand out in rain, did you?"
"Of course not," she said quickly, "I know what kind of man you are, Percy."
"Do you?" He asked, and Isabella felt her blood freeze a little.
"What do you mean?" She asked, hesitantly.
"Come on Isabella, you're better than this," he admonished. "Don't pretend like you haven't been avoiding me for weeks. Look," he sighed, and she could hear him run his hands through his hair.
"I'm sorry about whatever it is I said that upset you. I want to apologize but I don't even know what I need to be apologizing for."
She sighed, and felt herself collapse back into the leather of the car.
"It's…It's not you Percy, I promise," she began, her mouth suddenly and suspiciously dry.
"I just-" whatever else she was about to say was cut off as something exploded on Percy's end of the line. There was a sound of shattering glass, the unmistakable whoosh of an inferno.
"Percy!" Isabella screamed, but there was no response on the other end of the line. Not even completely aware of what she was doing, her fist smashed through the dividing glass, and screamed at her very startled drivers.
"Get me the fuck back to Paradise, NOW!"
AN: Shoutout to Double for helping me with this idea and for being the best beta on the planet. Check out the link in my channel for the discord server I'm in. My upload schedule is there and you can come hang out with me a bunch of other really awesome and talented authors. Thanks for all the love, and hope you're enjoying the ride thus far.
Love,
LilDB