Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 135

Ria

I am just sitting here at the desk the guys set up for me next to Constantine, so I could stop stealing his seat, and work beside him. I was actually glad with the amount of shit we were having to wade through. It really wasn’t fair for me to shovel it off onto him, and I knew he needed my help. So, this setup made that easier.

Honestly, right now I don’t think I could have moved out of the seat if I had to, so it was good I had my own. I’m staring at what’s in front of me across several screens, different information that all ties together to form one big picture. It’s a picture that my brain is refusing to grasp onto.

So, I’m sitting here, trying not to completely lose my shit and just breathe as my brain goes nuts. There are so many things spiraling out from what I am seeing. There are horrific what-if scenarios, there are memories from the past, there are questions, there’s so much sorrow and grief that it is suffocating. Fear is a very palpable thing as well, even as I try to convince myself that I don’t need to be afraid, learned behavior is hard to break, even after all of this time. 

I hear several sets of footprints enter the room, but I legit can not turn my head to see who it is. I am stuck, just laser-focused on what’s in front of me. I hear footsteps approaching me, and normally I know the guys’ footsteps so I would know who was approaching, but right now my brain can’t take the time out to figure anything of that sort out. 

I see a figure squatting down beside my chair, and I feel my hand being picked up and held, “Ria, what’s going on?”

After a moment I am finally able to turn and look, and I see David’s concerned face before me, and I point to the screens, “It was them, all along it was them. They found out about them, and they are the ones responsible, it wasn’t an accident.”

He reaches up a hand and wipes away tears I had no idea were running down my face, “Honey, I don’t quite understand what you are talking about or what you are saying.”

“They killed my family, they did it all, it wasn’t anyone else or an accident, they killed my family.” His eyes get huge, and he stands up beside me. He looks over my shoulder and starts looking through all of the things I have up all over the different screens. As he starts to see what I saw his eyes get huge, and he looks down at me with an open-mouth stare.

“Holy fucking shit.” That was all he said, but immediately the guys came to stand by me to find out what was going on.

I hear a soft, “Ria?” from Drago, and I know he’s asking what’s going on or what the fuck is up with us.

“It was Braun, he killed my family. Cin wasn’t taken out by the drug guy, he was paid to take the wrap, but he’s already out on a technicality, the fire at the boys mom’s house, it was arson, that fire was set to kill them, and Beth, she didn’t have a heart attack, they found traces of ketamine in her bloodstream, but the investigation was closed anyway.” They all just stare at me.

“Why the absolute fuck would he do that Ria?” Cinder asks, shaking his head, like he’s trying to make it make sense.

“He told me, he’d take everyone I ever loved away from me. He knew I loved them. He knew they were my family. He knew hurting them would gut me so much worse than him just hurting me. They had spent time with me when he didn’t, they had my love when he didn’t, he couldn’t let them have what he didn’t, so he did what he always does, he destroyed everything.” I could feel my chest tightening more. 

“Okay, baby, why don’t you come away from the computer screens for a few minutes, and just breathe, then we can dissect all of this, and then we can figure out where he is and how we can kill this mother fucker.” Drago was looking at me with compassion and a side of murder and mayhem, which I could completely get on board with. 

I nodded and got up, went to the conference table, and sat down heavily in a chair. I watched as Cole placed a mug of coffee in front of me, and I could see it wasn’t black coffee, so he’d already fixed it up for me. I just stared at that for a minute. One of them had figured out how I liked my coffee? Wow, okay, that was a very long learning curve, but right this second I would take it, so I smiled as much as I could, and I thanked him.

I took the time to just sit there, drink coffee, and remind my lungs that yes, we still required oxygen, so they still had to work. I watched as the guys all sat at different locations around the table. Then David came and sat beside me. I took a huge breath and let it out, and then rubbed my hands up and down my face. 

“Okay, so I guess one of the main points is that this answers a question we had. Are the rogues that have been arrested in some kind of facility? The answer is no. I didn’t find any bad guy hangout or anything like that, it seems like they just simply slid right back into the population, as absolutely nothing had happened. They wouldn’t be on the news or if they did end up on the news, as Braun did, it’s been long enough that no one would really remember his face if they saw it on the street.” I saw the guys nod in understanding. 

Then David turned to me, “Okay, so, the next thing we should do is hunt him down, find out where he and his brother are. Then, we sanction our own hunting operations. This time it will be a kill order, so, now, you help us find him, so we can go and kill him for you hon.” He was smiling, and I found myself smiling back. 

Fuck yeah, it was time to put these mother fuckers down for good.