A/N: I have the edits for this chapter on paper but  I am very tired after the long week I've had so I'm just going to post this unedited because that's what I promised y'all I was going to do. I have to rewrite the ending for the Agency (because we are extremely close to the end) so might take another hiatus in a couple of weeks if I don't finish it in time for the last couple of chapters are supposed to be posted. I hope y'all enjoy. Just know the edited version will be better.

TW: Homophobic slur

"Have you checked on his location yet?" Ethan asked for about the hundredth time as he sped down I-95 N.

They were all crammed into a minivan with the A/C blasting but Virginie was still sweating. She was so nervous. She had a terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"How many times does she have to tell you? We're going the right way," Jabari answered, rolling his eyes. "She's been here before; haven't you, gorgeous?" He sent a wink her way that made her blush.

Virginie nodded, trying to get out of her own dark thoughts. "Yeah, we're going the right way. It was dark when he took me but I still remember how to get there."

"Can you stop flirting with other people's girlfriends?" Corey called from the backseat, causing Colette to giggle.

Jabari gave him an earnest look. "I can understand why you're concerned for your relationship's well being. They don't call me Mr. Steal-Your-Girl for nothing."

Virginie smacked Jabari upside the head. "Shut up, Trey Songz." She turned back to Corey with a stony expression. "I am no one's girlfriend. I don't belong to anyone."

Corey rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Virginie checked her phone again out of habit and scrunched her face up when she saw the screen. Colette noticed her troubled expression. "What's going on?"

"Someone's messing with Alex's tracker again. It's reading like he's at work." Virginie bit her lip and began tapping her foot.

Colette's eyes widened. "You don't think..."

Virginie nodded. "I do think." She turned to Ethan. "Step on it, Ethan. We have a pimp to catch."

✕

As they pulled up to Robert's mansion, Ethan pushed the button for the buzzer. She hoped that the men who had been here the last time she came to this cursed house were working.

"Who's there?" a gruff voice came from the speaker.

Virginie cleared her throat and leaned over before speaking. "It's Virginie. Virginie Methót. I'm here to see Robert Chavez."

The man coughed. "Yes, yes, Ms. Methót! I have been told that you are always welcome here. Please come in."

The gates opened with a buzz and a lurch and the team made their way up the long driveway.

Once they pulled up to the door, Brian, the butler from the last time, was there to greet them. He beamed at Virginie, barely noticing the four other people behind her.

"Miss, it's so good to see you again! You look beautiful!" Brian gushed, bowing.

Virginie giggled as she heard Colette snort quietly behind her. "Brian, stop it! I thought I told you not to do any of that fancy foolishness with me."

"I can't help it, ma'am," Brian admitted. "You look like you should be treated like royalty so I often forget your kind words." He blushed. "Not in a bad way, of course, ma'am, I―" He looked grateful for the distraction from his awful mess of an introduction. "Who are your friends?"

"What's up, bro?" Corey waved, giving him a head nod.

"Well, Robert told me that he wanted to meet my friends one day so I decided to surprise him! I know how he loves to entertain." Virginie gushed. "Do you happen to know where I could find him?"

Brian suddenly looked nervous. Virginie didn't blame him. If she was a normal person, having her walk into a brothel in her boyfriend's basement would be traumatic.

"He is in his basement, ma'am," Brian relented with a resigned sigh.

"Could you lead me there, please?" Virginie asked.

Brian shook his head. "Ma'am, I don't know if you understand. That is a place of horrors. There are so many bad things that happen down there. It is no place for a lady like you."

Virginie fought the urge to roll her eyes. Men always think that they know where a woman is supposed to be but only a woman knows where she can and cannot go. That is not up to any man. "I can make that decision for myself, don't you think? Besides, if my boyfriend is up to something evil, wouldn't you want me to see it so I know who he really is?"

A flash of greed passed through Brian's eyes and Virginie knew that she had him. Brian had been bullied, ignored, and abused by this man for years and everyone thought that he was a good person. The thought of Robert being revealed as an evil man was more appealing than his sense of chivalry.

Brian nodded and motioned for them to follow. "Well then, come along, won't you?" He opened the double door that led into the mansion. "I could give you a tour while we wa―" Brian stopped and coughed like something was in his throat.

Virginie peered around him to see what had gotten him so shaken up. There she saw Robert looking crazed out of his mind and coated in blood and guts with the body of a pale yet handsome middle-aged man dressed in a classy suit in his arms.

I mean, he must've been handsome...at some point. It was hard to tell with the gaping wounds in his head. The body had multiple bullet wounds to the chest that seemed to have come from a close range. She knew that Robert had anger issues but she didn't realize that it would result in something like this. Who is this poor man? Why did Robert think that he deserved to die like this? How many other people had Robert killed? Is Alex okay?

"Brian! What are you doing in here? I told you not to let anyone in the house until I told you that everything was okay!" Robert hissed as if he didn't have a dead body in his arms.

Brian was shaking, still trying to collect himself. He opened his mouth numerous times but no sound came out. Virginie understood his shock and confusion. The first time seeing a dead body, especially one as violently murdered as this one, was mind-boggling, to say the least. Dead bodies weren't as lifelike as they were on television. They were waxier like porcelain dolls with cloudy, empty eyes.

Robert walked closer with a sneer on his face, mocking Brian's fear. "What do you have to say, boy! Spit it out!"

"You killed...that man..." Ethan choked out, at a loss for words. "You killed your own father!"

"Who else is there?" Robert looked up from Brian to see Virginie staring at him, her expression empty. He dropped the body out of surprise. The only sound in the house was the echoing of the cadaver slamming to the ground.

No one moved or even breathed as Robert stared at Virginie, realizing he had revealed more of himself than he had ever planned to.

"Querida," He breathed shakily, giving her an uneasy smile. "It's so good to see you! How have you been?"

"Shut up," Virginie responded, malice dripping from her tone.

"You don't want to test me, my darling," Robert warned. "I just killed someone so I'm not in the mood to play your games."

"I'm not in the mood to listen to your bullshit."

Robert crossed the area with his hand raised. "I thought I've told you that you can't talk to me like that. Time for your lesson."

As he reached for her face, Virginie grabbed his wrist and twisted it, eliciting a cry of pain from Robert's mouth and a satisfying cracking noise from his bones breaking in two. She then slammed him by his limp wrist to the floor and crouched down to talk to him. He stared at her, dumbfounded by her inhuman strength.

"I-I thought you were afraid of me...when did you get that strong?" He whimpered.

Virginie straightened herself up and used her heel to step on Robert's injured wrist, causing him to cry out like a wounded baby animal. She didn't look at him as she spoke. "I was never afraid of you, you insignificant worm. Men like you are easy to play. Weak and eager to please. You only hit me because you were sad that I didn't think that you were man enough for me. And guess what? You were right. I've been playing you from the moment we met."

"You mean...you never liked me?"

She snorted. "Don't make me laugh. I've dreamed of slitting your throat for such a long time, Mr. Chavez. You are no more important to me than a blade of grass." She paused, rethinking her statement. "Wait, I take that back. A blade of grass brings more to the ecosystem that you could in your entire pathetic life." She kicked him so he laid on his back. She stepped on his leg and leaned down again. "Now, I know you have Alex Stroud. Where is he?"

Robert spat in her face. "Go to hell, you frigid bitch."

Virginie opened her mouth to respond when Jabari lunged and grabbed Robert by the neck, slamming him into the ground once again with a ferocious look on his face. "Listen, asshole, I don't have much patience for men like you. That breathtaking, brilliant, amazing woman right there deserves your goddamn respect. I'm going to ask you one time before I castrate you. Where. Is. Alex."

"Why should I tell you, faggot?" Jabari stared at him, full of confusion as Robert laughed. "I looked you up. You're a bisexual cop, huh? Why don't you just come out, dumb fag...pick a damn side."

Virginie stomped on his balls so hard that Jabari swore that he heard something burst. Robert couldn't even cry out because he was in so much agony. "Jabari doesn't have to pick anything. He's fine just the way that he is. However, his sexuality is irrelevant." Virginie winked at Jabari. "He's just mad that I would sleep with you a thousand times before I would ever think about looking at him."

Jabari gave her a warm smile. "Thanks, Virginie. That means more than you know."

Virginie bent down to look at Robert again. "Back to you. Where is he?"

"Virginie...I'm right here," Alex mumbled, limping into the entryway.

Virginie turned to see Alex, his hair slick with water, clothes tattered and covered in blood, but alive. Alex was alive and that was all that mattered. She felt the relief that Atlas could have felt if he had gotten the Earth off his shoulders. She ran to him, hugging him tightly.

"I'm so glad that you're okay," she whispered, cradling his head. "I thought your dumbass died on me and I was going to be so pissed. I was going to revive your miserable dead body to kill you again for making me so worried."

Alex chuckled and she could feel his warm smile against her shoulder. "I could never leave you."

"Isn't that touching? Doesn't that warm your heart?" David drawled, standing in the doorway with a handgun. He was drunk and smelled like whiskey, dressed only in his underwear and wifebeater. He was a man of average height and build. He had a five o'clock shadow on his face and his brown mop-like hair looked sloppy as if he had been just laying in bed. His watery eyes were dull and void of emotion and life.
"Don't you even think about touching him!" Virginie shouted, standing in front of Alex, her body in a protective stance.

Ethan raised his gun as well. "Put the gun down, sir. I am a police officer and I am asking you to put the gun away."

David waved his gun dismissively in Ethan's direction. "I know who you are, commissioner. And I know that's your little brother. But that doesn't stop what I have to do." He aimed at Alex's head but he was so drunk he fired at the chest. The bullet would tear through both of them. She had to act fast.

Virginie kicked Alex in the stomach, sending him flying backward while the bullet hit her lung. She clutched her chest, staring at her bloodied hands. The pain hadn't kicked in yet but she was already beginning to feel light headed. She dropped to the floor, no longer able to hold her body up.

I have to stop getting shot for this dumbass.

Jabari, Ethan, Corey, and Colette all lunged for David at the same time as he tried to cross into the entryway of the house. They dogpiled him, screaming profanities and threats on his life.

David had the same stunned expression as his head was slammed repeatedly into the floor. "My little flower..." He croaked. "I didn't mean to...please forgive me."

"Shut the hell up! You don't get to talk to her, ever again!" Colette screamed, elbowing him in the eye.

Alex ripped what was left of his shirt and pants off and pressed them on the wound, trying to slow the flow of blood. "You're so fucking stupid! I didn't ask you to save me! I never asked for you to save me." He cried. His eyes were red with anger, frustration, and sadness. "You said you wouldn't leave me! How are you going to keep that promise now?"

She wanted to respond but she was afraid of her lungs filling with blood. She was trying to focus on her breathing for as long as possible. The feeling of her blood leaving her at such a rapid rate made her feel like a balloon losing its air.

Her eyelids were so heavy, almost like they wanted her to close them. She began to give in but then Alex slapped her face. "No, no, please don't close your eyes. You can't fucking leave me!"

God, don't let me go yet. I still haven't told him that I love him. She smiled to herself. I'm so selfish. I can't even allow him to take a bullet for me.