The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 59 Regret Sebastian I left the pub in a huff not expecting Nicole to be in cahoots with Noah. As I sped towards Bo’s and Dom’s, I saw Noah’s truck speeding towards me on the opposite lane. Where the heck was he going? I slowed down and peered into my rearview mirror after he drove past me, watching which direction he took at the th ree-way fork at the end of the road located just after the pub. He turned left heading towards the general direction of Highland Oaks. I fought the urge to follow him. It would be too obvious if I did. I’ll just have Cristos pull out the CCTV camera footage in that area and see who Noah was visiting at this time of night. I hit my steering wheel in frustration… I really needed to put a tracker on Noah’s truck. I headed to Xavier’s warehouse and waited for him, hoping he had found something of value at the coroner’s home. I was so busy trying to distract Joy earlier at the pub, given there was a possibility Xavier may find something, that I didn’t pay attention to Cristos. I made myself a drink at the minibar and sat down on the couch, feeling angry at myself for thinking I had Nicole wrapped around my little finger. The player got played. This was something I didn’t expect. Well, two can play that game. After dismissing her at the pub, Nicole will either act extra sweet et to gain my affection or she’ll act like I never existed. Maybe she’ll even move on to Xavier. If that happens, Xavier will just brush her off like he’s done so many times before, leaving her to come back to me. I had to hand it to Noah. He was a sneaky ba stard. We have only heard him speak to someone of interest twice maybe thrice at his home, but he never mentioned any details nor did we hear anything significant from him when he spoke. After my second shot of bourbon, I heard the familiar sound of the door opening.

gun peeking around “What are you doing here?” I heard him ask and saw the silencer of his gun pe the corner. Xavier never took chances. “I needed a free drink,” I answered. He quickly holstered his weapon and walked in. 1/5 CHAPTER 59 Regret “Anything else?”

“I found out Nicole went to Fargo with Noah or maybe met up with him there. Point is there’s something going on between Nicole and Noah,” I told him. He didn’t look interested. “What do you mean, Dom? Have they gone out of town before or was this the only time they went together?” Xavier asked while he placed his backpack on his desk. “Because if they’ve been going out of town secretly, why would the both of them slip up now?” I paused. Xavier had a point. Why would Noah slip up and tell Chip’s bartender he was at Fargo? He could have lied and kept everything a secret. “Good question. I’m thinking he wanted all of us to find out,” I replied. “Liam didn’t look too happy at Nicole when he offered to drive her home earlier.” “So she even kept the truth from Liam. Looks like Noah is stabbing Nicole in the back,” Xavier said, his eyes narrowing like he was trying to remember something. “Sam has noticed Nicole has been dropping by Noah’s office at Hillcrest more often.” Sam was Xavier’s capo and his second in command. If Xavier didn’t have time to do the job, Sam would step in. Since we needed more of our men to do surveillance, last Tuesday, Sam arrived as one of the delivery men of Joy’s cargo After placing a camera in the diner, Xavier sent him out to do what he did best… find dirt. “Of course she drops by his office often. They renovate houses together,” I reasoned. Xavier shrugged his shoulders, took out his camera and connected the camera to his laptop via a cable. “Sure they do… after office hours,” Xavier scoffed. “I’d tell you to put a tracker on Nicole’s. car, but I

already had Sam do it.” Xavier suddenly threw a smartphone at me. “I also had him. put a tracker on Noah’s truck. He’s been shadowing them for the past couple of days. I looked at the GPS tracker on the smartphone, completely surprised. I didn’t know Xavier had taken the initiative. “You knew Noah went to Fargo?” “Actually, he didn’t take his truck,” Xavier answered. Joy did mention she saw his truck parked in his driveway. “Noah hitched a ride in one of those ketchup delivery trucks all the way to Bismark. That’s where Nicole picked him up and they drove all the way to Minnesota after making a pit stop at Fargo for some tiles.” “This information would have been nice if you had told us beforehand,” I reprimanded Xavier. 2/5 CHAPTER 59 Regret “Oops, Xavier said, chuckling and handing me a couple of pictures of a six-storey building that had a travel agency, a convenience store and a laundromat on the first floor. “Anyway, they spent the night together at some motel after driving out of that building.” Xavier pointed at the photo in my hand. “Sam said the entrance in the back is heavily guarded. By the way, Dom, Sam also said Nicole and Noah are f ucking. Sam doesn’t have pictures, but he has a recording of Nicole screaming Noah’s name and I can tell you right now, it wasn’t out of anger. “Chip kind of hinted the same at the pub. He must have seen something in the CCTV footage at the cul-de-sac,” I said. I checked the tracker. “It says here he’s at Highland Oaks.” “Liam was at the McDowell’s when I broke into the coroner’s house. It’s possible he’s there f ucking Ms. McDowell.” Xavier smirked trying to keep himself from laughing. “Anyway, let’s wait for Sam’s report.” “Speaking of the coroner’s, what did you find?” I asked. regretful “Everything… even files on you, Virtue Sullivan and Joy Taylor,” Xavier said, a tone in his voice.

“You sound like you regret finding Joy’s files,” I uttered. “After seeing the photos of her assault, Dom, I regret listening to Joy and not killing them. right away. That’s my only regret,” Xavier said, sighing. “It’s taking all my willpower not to. get into my car and shoot them where they sleep. I’m telling you, Dom, they don’t deserve to live.” “Let me see what you’ve found,” I said, putting my drink down on the coffee table. He clicked on his laptop and gestured at the screen. I quickly scrolled through the photos of the aftermath of Joy’s assault. I didn’t want to see what they did to Joy because I knew I wouldn’t be as forgiving as Xavier if 1 if I saw her brutalized body. What I wanted to see is if the coroner took extra steps a as insurance. And he did. In the file, he documented the whole investigation from the time Abigail Reynolds found her tied up on the bench press. “Abigail was the one who found Joy, Bo,” I told him, utterly shocked. “It says here, Abigail Reynolds found Joy Taylor tied to the vertical bench press right before the Spring Formal was about to end. She was worried when Lisa Brent and Nicole Davis came back to the dance without her when she was absolutely sure she saw the three of them leave together, heading towards the boy’s gym room. When she found Joy, she immediately called Noah Jensen and 3/5 CHAPTER 59 Regret told him to take her home.” “So it was Abigail who found her and not Noah, Xavier said, his voice filled with a newfound respect for Abigail. I’m going to pay off her bills, order some men to guard her and send a specialist to see if they can help her.” “It also says here Cynthia McDowell called Theoflore Cohen who in turn called Sheriff Combs to clean up the mess. According to the four boys, they were offered one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to assault Joy Taylor so her father, George Taylor, would sell prime property located beside the lake. They

left her, tied to the bench press, thinking that she would slowly die from her extensive injuries. According to Jackson Emery, he had only participated to earn a cut from the one hundred and fifty thousand dollars offered by Peter McDowell through. Daniel Williams because his father was diagnosed with cancer.” “Wait a sec… Peter McDowell ordered the hit on joy? For a piece of prime property? Seriously? Xavier asked, his face contorted with rage. “So that fat, geeky, and shy persona is all an act?!” “Yep. He’s hiding in plain sight,” I said, scrolling down, still reading the lengthy document. “It says here, Peter McDowell’s father was a powerful underboss, the nephew of the Boss of the Angels of Darkness. He was shot dead in his backyard during his son’s ‘Quince celebration in Austin, Texas.” I heard Xavier mutter a curse under his breath. r was My eyes left the screen of the laptop, stunned at this revelation. Pete McDowell’s father the underboss we tracked down after abducting the boss of the Angels of Darkness from his VIP room during the Super Bowl. The very same one Xavier killed for killing our men and sequestering our ship. “WE did this to her, Dom! We did this to Joy! If we didn’t kill that so nofabitch, Joy wouldn’t have gotten hurt!” Xavier yelled, punching a wall. “I should just kill myself right now!” I walked to his minibar and made him a drink to calm his nerves. “Bo, then Joy wouldn’t have moved and we wouldn’t have met her,” I said, trying to rationalize the situation. “Yes, Joy didn’t deserve all of that, but she deserves us. Anyway, we had no idea that b astard’s wife and child would move to New Salem.” I watched Xavier closely as he took a sip of his bourbon. His eyes had a sadness in them. Whenever it was about Joy, this ruthless man always melted. 4/5 CHAPTER 59 Regret “Ms. McDowell keeps asking me to go out with her, Xavier said, the sadness in his eyes RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

changing into rage. “It’s time I befriend her and become her new boy toy. Cynthia McDowell is now part of the list.” Chapter Comments Luna Mom I love how Cristo pleases his Queen N VIEW 1 POST 27