EXodus investigation unearths suspicious familial ties within the company and its parent EX Tradings.
February temperature hits record low, surpassing the -23° F recorded in 2006 by seven degrees.
Darius rubbed his arms, his suit jacket not providing much insulation from the bitter cold, but he was doing better than Marlowe, whose lips were starting to turn blue. "We need to get inside," he whispered. "We'll freeze out here."
"Why add the will?" Marlowe muttered, his fingers steady despite the cold as he rewired the bunker's security lock. "We're already freezing. No need to save that for the future."
Noah silently took off his coat and wrapped it around Marlowe's shoulders, even holding it in place so it would not slip to the ground. "You're next," he said to Darius.
Marlowe glanced back at Noah, but he hid his suspicion from the med student by quickly returning to his task. Within a minute, the door popped open and Marlowe made a grand gesture toward it with a satisfied grin. "Our adventure awaits."
Noah rolled his eyes, taking his coat back and shoving it at Darius as they pulled the door all the way open and stepped inside. "Put it on for a couple minutes," he instructed. "If you're going to beat up Tyler like I suspect you will, you need warm muscles or you'll pull something."
Darius put the coat on. "Whatever you say, doctor."
Noah groaned and pulled the door shut behind Marlowe. "Alright, hackie, where're we going?" Marlowe had not stopped calling Noah "darling" so Noah was retaliating with the nickname "hackie" and now both of them were, unsurprisingly, very annoyed with each other. It did seem to be mellowing into a sort of friendship, or at least that was what Darius hoped.
Marlowe took a look around, getting oriented. "Straight down the stairs, darling, then take the first left."
"How do you know?" Darius interjected. He needed to both find Rowan and smack the shit out of Tyler. Preferably as soon as humanly possible.
"Tyler might be cruel, but he's not stupid," Marlowe replied, his face stiff. "He would know to keep his son who's over eight months pregnant in the medical ward of this place."
Fuck. Darius had forgotten how close to term Rowan was. "Do you think–?"
Noah cut him off. "I hope not, but stress and anxiety often induce labor, and I would certainly call this a stressful situation."
Now Darius was only moments away from losing his mind. He started down the stairs, not waiting for the other two to follow him. He followed Marlowe's directions and found himself in a bright white hall with three doors in it. He opened the first door and looked inside. When it turned out to be a storage room, he shut the door, dashed across the hall, and yanked open the door there. His heart froze.
There was a figure on the bed, held in place by leather restraints. Black hair fanned across a face that was relaxed but streaked with tears.
"Rowan," Darius whispered.
Dark eyes opened in shark slits and then shot wide when he saw who it was. "Darius." His voice broke halfway through Darius' name. He stretched out a hand as far as the restraints would allow him.
Darius was over by his side in an instant, breaking the buckles open and freeing his reddened wrists from the restraints. He grabbed Rowan in a fierce hug, and he felt like he could breathe again when Rowan's fingers dug into his back in an equally desperate embrace. "Rowan," he whispered into the sweet-smelling hair. He pulled him closer, but drew back quickly when he did not feel the baby bump press into him. "Rowan, what happened to the baby?"
Rowan's lips trembled, and tears built up in his eyes. "My father took him away." He dropped his head as his tears started to fall. "I'm such a useless parent."
Darius pulled him off the bed, holding him tighter than ever. "No, baby. You're perfect. We'll get him back, don't worry." He looked over his shoulder at Noah, who nodded and turned to converse quickly with Marlowe before both of them hurried off. He tipped Rowan's chin up and gently kissed his forehead. "I was so scared for you."
Rowan was still crying. "I'm scared all the time," he admitted. "I have to be scared for you and for the baby and for myself, and I'm so sick of being scared."
Darius kissed his forehead over and over, holding him as tightly as he possibly could. "I'm here now. You don't have to be scared anymore."
"Is that so?"
Darius whirled to find Tyler standing in the doorway. "You've got two options, Tyler," Darius snarled. "You can run now and I'll hunt you down later at my leisure, or I will beat the hell out of you right now."
Tyler smirked. "Oh, you will, will you?" He mock shuddered. "I'm so scared."
Darius carefully put Rowan behind himself and shed Noah's coat. Without any further words, he yanked Tyler by his tie into the room and delivered a punch that sent the other alpha staggering against the wall. He followed it up with a right hook that clicked Tyler's teeth so hard Darius could feel it up into his elbow. After that, his blows lost sense and order. Only the necessary result stayed in his mind: make this son of a bitch pay for all the hurt he caused to Rowan. Once Tyler's face was nearly unrecognizable through the swelling and blood, Darius wrapped a hand around Tyler's neck and squeezed until he felt cartilage give way and bones break. He threw the body to the floor, pulling out Tyler's gun and shooting him in the head just for good measure.
When he turned back around, Rowan was standing like a statue of shock, his hands gripping Noah's coat like a shield.
Darius walked over to the sink and washed his hands of Tyler's blood. Then he approached Rowan again. He freed Noah's coat from Rowan's hands and helped Rowan put it on. "It's very cold outside." He rummaged through the various drawers until he found hospital socks. He put two pairs, one over the other, on Rowan's bare feet and, bending down, gently lifted Rowan into his arms.
"I don't need to be carried," Rowan protested faintly.
"You just had a baby and it's cold outside," Darius countered calmly. "I'm carrying you."
Rowan did not protest again, but his eyes hovered on Tyler's misshapen body.
Darius gently but firmly turned his head away. "No. Don't feel bad for him. He deserved it."
Rowan nodded and then buried his face in Darius' shoulder. "Go. Please."
Darius dropped another kiss into Rowan's hair and left the room, heading back the way he had come in and kicking the door open. He took Rowan back to the car and crawled into the backseat with him.
It was only five minutes before Noah and Marlowe came back, Marlowe looking pleased with himself and Noah looking a little shellshocked. Marlowe slid into the driver's seat, stowing a pistol in the cup holder and throwing the car into drive as soon as Noah got in and shut the passenger door.
Noah twisted around and offered the blanket bundle he carried to Rowan. "Here you go," he said quietly, and Darius could see how happy he was to return Rowan's baby to him.
Rowan's hands shook as he carefully received his baby, likely for the first time based on Tyler's past cruelty. He immediately cradled the baby against his chest, his arms wrapping around it so protectively that Darius did not even dare to reach out and touch the baby through the blanket. Tears dripped down his cheeks again, and he dropped the gentlest of kisses onto the baby's nose. "Hello, love," he whispered. "Everything's okay now. I've got you."
"And no one's going to take you away again," Darius added, his heart fluttering when Rowan looked up at him with tearful love and gratitude. He waited until Rowan was absorbed in talking to his baby again before asking Noah, "What happened? Was it difficult to get to him?"
Noah frowned. "Yeah, it was difficult. Tyler had a bunch of people guarding that hall and room, but we got him out."
Marlowe cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me, I think you're forgetting the part where I saved your ass, darling."
"You mean where you shot like twenty people without telling me to duck once?" Noah countered, his face going red. "You're a fucking psychopath!"
"Thanks, but I got tested," Marlowe replied easily. "I don't have any psychopathic tendencies. I'm normal in every sense of the word."
Noah rolled his eyes so hard that Darius was surprised he could not hear it. "I hate you."
"Then I'll vanish from your life." Marlowe took one hand off the wheel and made a sparkly motion with his fingers. "You'll never have to see me again, darling."
Noah snorted. "Good." He crossed his arms and glared out the window as they entered the city.
Rowan glanced up at Darius as he leaned closer. "Are they flirting?" he asked in a whisper.
Darius smiled. "I don't think so. Marlowe's this annoying on a daily basis." He didn't add that Marlowe never flirted with anyone. Offending the driver seemed like a bad way to go, especially since Marlowe had helped him so much.
Rowan gave a small nod and tucked his head under Darius' chin, shifting the baby with enough caution to be handling dynamite. "Isn't he cute?"
Darius wrapped his arms around Rowan. "Downright adorable, just like you."
A flush crept up Rowan's neck. He laughed a little bit. "Don't do that."
Darius bent and kissed the top of Rowan's ear. "What? Call you adorable?"
"It makes me shy."
"Good. I like you shy. It's attractive."
Rowan tipped his head up. "Stop it. Focus on the baby, not me."
"As you wish," Darius conceded. "Do you have a name for him yet?"
"I was going to let you pick."
Darius shook his head. "No, it's your baby. You name him."
Rowan frowned, but he did not argue. "Aiden?" he suggested with a small sparkle in his eyes that betrayed how much he wanted that name.
Darius nodded. "Absolutely. Middle name?"
"Darius." The reply was immediate, and Rowan quickly ducked his head.
"Aiden Darius," Darius repeated, appreciating the way the names strung together. "I like it." He pulled Rowan closer and kissed that beautiful smile. "Love you, baby."
Rowan kissed him back with a smile still curving his lips. "Love you, Dare." The words were murmured like a vow that set Darius' soul at ease, and the baby in between them tied them together tighter than any earthly binding.