Lake’s Legacy (Demon Dawgs MC: New Orleans #3)

Chapter Thirty Olivia

CHAPTER THIRTY: OLIVIA

We make the drive mostly in silence, except for the occasional heart-breaking whimper from the broken woman lying on the floor of the SUV. Jack pulls up to the Emergency entrance of Tulane Hospital. I rush inside to get help.

“We need a gurney and two wheelchairs,” I order the nurse covering the desk. “We have three victims. One is a possible rape victim. The other two are kidnap victims, and both are pregnant.”

The next few minutes are chaotic as nurses and orderlies rush outside to help the victims.

“I’m going to offer my help. The women may feel more comfortable with me there,” Annette says before following the two pregnant women.

“We need to call the police,” the head nurse tells me.

Rey steps in. “The police will be here shortly.”

The nurse nods and rushes off.

“Have you called your brother then?” I ask, knowing that Hex and the others don’t have much time if he's on his way.

“Not yet. I promised your friends time. I’ll give it to them. But first, I want to know what you know.”

I explain how I worked with Dr. Marcia Carver and Talia Bonaparte at Omega Hospital before they transferred to Tulane and disappeared. Rather than explain how the Demon Dawgs determined the tampering of the cars connected to their disappearances, I fast-forward to my attempted kidnapping. I describe how someone stole my phone and tampered with my car.

“The patient I had told me a story of how her car broke down before two men in a white van tried to grab her. A stranger stepped in and stopped them. When my car broke down, I remembered her story. Getting out of the car, I hid. That was the right move since those guys who grabbed you showed up shortly after. I watched them search for me.”

“Talia Bonaparte? Isn’t that the girl whose body they just found?”

“Yes. I heard they found their cars abandoned on the side of the road. Like mine had been.”

“And mine. I just had my car into service a few days ago. I shouldn’t have had any trouble. You think they tampered with my car?”

“I do. Hex and the others think that’s how they were able to kidnap the women. They found themselves stranded and easy prey to two men dressed like doctors on the way home from the hospital. The scrubs and the masks hid them, but not in a way that made the women consider the men were hiding their identities. Talia and Marcia likely thought someone from work saw them and stopped to help.”

Rey nods. “That’s what I thought. I’d just been at the hospital to get a tour of the facility. A nice nurse showed me around and answered all my questions. I saw several of the staff wearing similar scrubs. Some wore masks. When I saw both men exit the van, I wasn’t concerned. I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late.”

“I know.”

You saw them kidnap me?” Rey asks.

“We did. I’m sorry we didn’t step in sooner. We followed the van and didn’t realize the men targeted you until it was too late.”

“Why were you following them?”

“Annette and I saw one here, and we recognized him. We told Levi and Jack, who followed them.”

“Considering what we found, I’m glad you didn’t interfere. Those women would be in worse shape if you’d stopped them instead of following them. The person in charge, Hex? He stressed that he didn’t trust the cops. Is that just because he’s a biker?”

I shake my head. “No. Those men weren’t just kidnapping women. They were extorting money from businesses. One victim owns a restaurant, Francois. He told us what happened to a woman who refused to pay their fee and reported them to the police. The assholes burned down her bakery. Francois saw them do it, and he saw them kidnap the owner. I think she might be the one we found in the office.” I don’t know if this is true, but unfortunately, it feels right. “When Francois reported what he saw to the cops, the assholes showed up at his restaurant and beat him before raising their fee. They told him to mind his own business.”

“Shit. I hate dirty cops. Okay, I’ll call my brother and tell him what’s going on.” She checks her watch. “It’s been forty-five minutes. Do you think that’s long enough?”

I shrug. “I think so. Doubt it will take Hex and others long to get the information they need.”

Rey takes out her phone and makes the call. “Max. It’s Rey. I need your help.” Rey gives him a quick summary of the evening’s events. I smirked as the voice on the other end rose in volume as she spoke. “I’m at the Tulane Hospital with the victims and four of the people who rescued us. You’ll find the men who kidnapped me tied up inside an abandoned garage. Look, there is a strong possibility that these guys own a few cops. You need to make sure you trust whoever you send.” Rey gives him the address before ending the call.

“Max is sending patrol officers to the garage. He promised only to send those he knows he can trust, along with our brother, who is also a detective. These guys won’t get away with it.”

I don’t respond. Hex is giving the cops a chance to clean up this mess, and I know he’ll take care of the kidnappers if they fail.

While we wait for her brother, we watch two men rush into the hospital. They’re frantic as they ask about their pregnant wives.

I move toward them. “You’re married to Letitia and Jasmine?”

“Yes,” both men respond together.

“They are both with a doctor now. They took them up to obstetrics to check on the babies. You can head up there. There is a nurse on staff, Sylvia. Let her know that Olivia sent you up. The cops are on their way and will need to speak to them.”

The two men rush to the elevator while I return to Rey. We barely have time to take seats before another man rushes in. He has Rey’s bronze-colored hair and green eyes. However, he’s also a foot taller with broad shoulders—the material of his suit strains against his arm muscles. Rey disappears in his embrace.

“Thank god you’re okay,” he mutters.

“Thanks to Olivia and her friends,” Rey responds before pulling away. “Olivia, this is my brother Maxwell. Max. Max, this is Olivia.”

He motions for me to take a seat across from him. Rey sits next to me while he takes out his notebook. “Okay, hit me.”

I give him my story, leaving out the Demon Dawgs. If Rey wants to rat them out, then she can, but I’m not volunteering any information. He raises an eyebrow but says nothing when I mention Talia going missing and how I thought her disappearance connected to Dr. Carver’s.

“You know we found Ms. Bonaparte’s body in the river?”

I nod before continuing with my story. The detective stops me when I mention my car breaking down and losing my phone.

“You were here at the hospital when you lost your phone?”

“I didn’t lose it. I think someone took it and dumped it in the hamper since I never went near it. I never use it. Someone came in while I was taking a shower and took my phone. I think it was the same person who took my keys and sabotaged my car.”

“You’re certain it was sabotage?”

“Yes. My boyfriend had someone check it out, and I saw the feed showing a man doing something under the hood of my car.”

His head snaps up. “You saw him? Did you get a good look at him?”

“No, because he wore a skull cap and a surgical mask. He was also wearing scrubs. Just like the men who later pulled up behind my broken-down car and who kidnapped Rey.”

“So, you don’t know who sabotaged your car and who kidnapped Rey?”

“No. I know. Now. I recognized the mannerisms of the man who tried to kidnap me. After he realized I wasn’t in the car, he punched his right hand into his left. He did the same thing when I saw him at Francois’ and earlier today when I saw him here in the hospital.”

“Wait, what?”

I continue with my story and tell him everything about running into the men at the restaurant, the extortion they’re running, and how we came to be following them when they kidnapped Rey. Detective Montague doesn’t interrupt me again. “You might want to talk to the nurse he was meeting here. Her name is Joyce Eloise. I told her about almost being kidnapped and asked her to warn the staff. She didn’t.”

“Okay, how did you overpower the three men we found at the garage?”

“Oh, well, that wasn’t me. My brother and his friend were with us. We called in my boyfriend and his friends to help since we didn’t know how many men were inside the garage.”

“You didn’t think to call the cops for help?”

I look at him until we make eye contact. “No. Because I know these men have cops in their pockets.” He gives me a disbelieving look until I tell him about the extortion and how the cops didn’t believe or chose not to help the victims.

Before he can ask me further questions, my phone rings. Lake’s name shows on the display.

“Olivia? Are you still with Rey?”

“Yes. I’m talking to her brother right now.”

“The detective? Good. We need him to come right away. We found the rest of the missing women.”