Redemption (The Protectors 8)

“The car,” – Ronan pointed at the single car on the screen – “is registered to Curtis Deming, Levi Deming’s father.”

I didn’t respond since the man clearly wasn’t done.

“That house,” – he jabbed his finger at the house behind the car – “used to belong to Seth’s parents.”

Tension crept into my bones as I started to suspect where the conversation was headed.

“I’ve been having Daisy monitor Levi Deming’s movements for the past year. When he used his debit card to buy gas at a gas station on Mercer Island where the house is located, she hacked into the security system of the house across the street from Seth’s old house and found this.” He motioned to the image on the screen.

“You sold that house, right?”

He nodded. “Last fall before we got married.”

“That’s the house his parents were killed in, wasn’t it?” I asked. “And Seth was attacked.”

“Stabbed,” Ronan said, the fury in his voice barely leashed. “His mother was raped and stabbed to death in an upstairs bedroom while Seth and his father were being held downstairs. Seth was…” Ronan’s voice dropped off and I watched him swallow hard. “Seth was tortured to get his father to talk – to reveal the location of a safe that didn’t exist. When the men didn’t get what they wanted, they slit his father’s throat and stabbed Seth and left him for dead.” Ronan paused long enough to get ahold of his emotions. I’d seen the man deal with the most brutal of killers and never once had he lost his cool. But now, he barely seemed to be holding it together.

“Three men,” he bit out. “One was the stepson of Seth’s father’s business partner.”

“And the other two?” I asked.

“Ricky Deming,” Ronan said quietly, though with no less danger in his voice. His finger dropped to the picture on the desk in front of me. “And his younger brother, Levi.”

I felt my insides drop out as my eyes fell back to the picture. The guy looked like nothing more than a scared kid who’d gotten in over his head. He was scrawny and pale and slight enough that a stiff wind would likely blow him over, so the idea of him wielding a knife and torturing innocent people before brutally murdering them seemed too far-fetched to believe.

“The stepson is gone – he helped his stepfather kidnap Seth last summer.”

I nodded. I’d heard about that. One of Ronan’s first recruits into the group, Mace Calhoun and one of Mace’s lovers, had helped Ronan find Seth. Both abductors had been killed in the process.

“And the other two?” Clearly Levi was still alive or I wouldn’t be sitting in Ronan’s office watching the man trying to keep himself from imploding with rage.

“I had Ricky terminated. He murdered his ex-girlfriend, but got off with a sweetheart plea deal. Served less than three years. Before that, he’d been charged in two different rape cases but prosecutors couldn’t make the charges stick.”

I nodded. “You think he’s the one who killed Seth’s mother.”

Ronan jerked his head in a brief nod.

“And Levi?”

“Served three and a half years for drug possession. Had been keeping his nose clean.” Ronan’s gaze returned to the computer screen. “Until now,” he said ominously.

I had to admit, it didn’t look good. It was unlikely the guy knew Seth and Ronan had sold the house. Which meant there was only one reason he was returning to the scene of the crime.

He wanted a second bite at the apple.

Since he’d already know his way around the place, it would make it that much easier for him to make a second attempt to get what he and his brother had missed out on the first time around.

“So, no charges were ever brought against any of them for what happened to Seth and his parents?”

Ronan shook his head. “We decided to give Levi a chance to clean up his act.”

I nodded. The fact that the guy had been caught with heroin on him was a clear sign of a possible motive for why he’d go after Seth again. Addicts did stupid things to get their next fix. In the man’s muddled mind, Seth would be an easy target, even though he was no longer a child. Not to mention that Seth was an extremely wealthy young man – something that was public knowledge.

I almost felt sorry for the guy. A second chance from someone like Ronan, especially after such a brutal attack on the man who was his entire world, was like winning the fucking lottery. The kid had squandered that…big time.

“I want you to monitor him,” Ronan said. “And if he so much as even jaywalks, I want you to terminate him.”

Ronan’s ruthlessness didn’t surprise me, but his level of certainty at how this would all play out unnerved me just a little bit. Not to mention the stakes. If I fucked this up and Levi got another chance at Seth…