Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 95

She seemed shocked that I knew him. I'm not sure what Ben had told her over the years, but I knew it couldn't be the truth. I pulled up his profile and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and her hand trembled as she took the phone from me. "I'll have Warhammer bring him to Midnight."

"But surely Ben is keeping an eye on him?" She said, almost breathlessly. "It can't be that easy."

I took my phone back. I didn't know what to tell her about how her son had been treated. I'd met Raphael when I was much younger, when Joel was still alive. He was trailing behind one of the men on the Council. I'd seen him bounced around the Council for years until he was sent to Rapture, a smaller brothel in the southern part of Warhammer territory.

I dialed the number, "Not... nearly as close of an eye as you'd think. He just had to keep him away from you. Ben's got too many hostages in too many places to keep track of all of them."

Her eyes grew hard, "Where is my son?"

"Rapture."

She paled and said nothing as the security force answered the phone.

"Yes, Mr. Wallber."

"How is Oliver?"

"Better. He's certainly more convinced that he's not going to be sold again."

"Good, have him packed up and sent to Midnight. Tell him that Raphael deserves to go home."

"Matt." I looked at Uriel. "Could I... Could I talk to him?"

"Is he awake?"

"He's usually awake. Should I give him the phone?"

"Yes. Tell him it's a call for Raphael."

I passed the phone to Uriel and poured myself a glass of whiskey. She cupped the phone to her ear and stood, crossing the pool to sit on a lounger. I heard the moment he got on the phone in the hitch of her breath and drank. "Well, you have an all for life," Mordecai said, "It's good. Everything will start land sliding from here."

"I already submitted my will to the Inter-Pack Authorities," I said. "And I plan to make sure that everyone Ben could list as a beneficiary is dead by the end of this."

Uriel cried softly as Stephen brought out dinner. I tore into my steak, furious and wishing that it was Ben I was attacking.

How many people's lives had he ruined? How many people had loved ones somewhere still looking for them all this time? How many of them had I met one way or another?

This had to stop.

"You look like a man on a warpath."

"I am."

If it would be the last thing I did, I'd dismantle Ben's hold on the continent and find every victim of his schemes. It was the least I could do.

Uriel returned to the table and returned my phone, but she wasn't in a place to engage in anything but furious plotting. I couldn't guess what she and her son had talked about, but I was glad that he had enough mental faculties to remember her. Warhammer Guard would have him in Midnight by midnight and at Mordecai's house shortly after. I left the dinner table knowing that Uriel and Mordecai had been trying to dismantle Shadowrunner, Grave Mouth, and Phantom Paw's human trafficking ring for years. They'd had smaller busts over the years, but it was only most recently that they'd made any real headway in the form of larger busts and reclaiming people from as far as South America.

They had theorized that Fireashe and Luftmensch were huge participators in the enterprise which meant Ben was implicated in it all. It meant the televised bust earlier was putting a fire under him, but we had no idea of knowing which way he would move. The hammer would fall on him and his Council soon enough and take Wade, Sonia, and everyone else who might know something down with him if we played it right.

I was happy to know that my revenge on Ben would be complete about the same time Glenda and everyone else's justice would be gained, but my thoughts turned from Ben's downfall back to Mordecai.

There were so many missing and confusing pieces of all this that wouldn't settle in the back of my mind. I didn't lie when I said I was terrible at puzzles, but a mystery involving human motivations usually came easily. Mordecai was hiding something. I could see it twinkling in Uriel's eyes that she knew what it was. There were details not aligning with everything that had happened and what I knew to be true.

I went to my bedroom and called Club Heaven to start with Owen.

"This is Club Heaven. My name is Owen, how can I help you?"

My lips twitched, "Glad to see you've upgraded to host, Owen."

"Mr. Wallber?"

"Do you have a moment?" I checked my watch. "You're not needed on the floor, are you?"

"No. I'm just covering the phone for a bit. I'm off soon. What can I help you with?"

"You said that you were with Mordecai for a while. How long?"

"Until I turned eighteen."

That was a long time.

"What do you remember?" I asked. "I know Mordecai's reputation, but I want to hear it from you if you can tell me."

"He was... terrifying. S-Sometimes he'd drag women and men out by their hair, and we'd never see them again. His eyes would glow sometimes."

"What did he do to you?"

"Me? Nothing."

I froze, "Nothing. No one touched you?"

"Not while I was with Mordecai."

Owen shared a nicer room that he shared with a few others. He didn't remember all the details, but he remembered being moved out of the dungeon soon after he was brought. He helped the staff sometimes and delivered drinks and towels, but he was always quick and quiet about it.

When I hung up, I was even more confused. It sounded like Owen was all but protected while he was with Mordecai.

I called Emoni next.

"Yes, our fearless alpha?" she asked, her voice light and pleased.

"I have questions."

"Oh, no. What happened? We saw the coverage. Good job by the way." "Thanks. What do you remember about your... night with Mordecai?" "... why?"

He sighed, "Because I can't reconcile Mordecai with his reputation."

"He was... scary." She said quietly. I heard a door opening and closing. "Intense. There was... pain, but it was controlled. I guess. He pushed me a lot."

"Pushed?"

She sighed, "Moon, Matt, he tied me up and f****d me senseless for hours. He spanked me until I cried and kept going, called me everything under the moon, embarrassed me, and enjoyed it. He called me some other name. I can't remember, but it was intense. It was a lot and I was scared to death the entire time because I'd heard that he had the tendency to kill prostitutes."

"I see. Thank you, Emoni. I'm sorry if I was insensitive."

"Is everything okay?"

I looked up, "It will be. We'll call back with an update."

I hung up and headed out head towards the room Glenda was in and found Stephen. He smiled at me.

"Mr. Matt, can I get you anything?"

"Stephen," I said, "About... Mordecai."

He looked down before giving me a small smile, "I am sorry, Mr. Matt. I cannot answer your questions. I can only advise that you be patient. Alpha Asra has assured you that all of your questions will be answered when the time is right." I sighed, "I had a feeling you were going to say that."

Glenda rounded the corner and smiled at me. I reached out to her and threaded our hands together as Mordecai came down the hallway.

"Hallway party, hm?" Mordecai chuckled, "Fun. We've got an... opportunity, I think."

"What's that?"

"Ben just called me," Mordecai grinned. "He wants to meet on neutral territory to talk about Fireashe and Luftmensch." "Neutral?"

He flashed a grin, "He offered up a place in Uriel's territory. Said he's bringing Sonia; said I should bring a date."

It was a trap. He was likely going to try and kill us and blame it on Uriel, sweeping the board clean, but he had no idea that Uriel would like nothing more than to tear him to pieces.

"An opportunity indeed. Does Uriel know?"

Mordecai grinned, "She was there when the call came in. She's on the phone with Ben now pretending to take orders."

I grinned, "Well, we should be sure to act as surprised as possible."