A Special Kind of Perfect

CHAPTER 12

The insistent buzz of his phone woke Ezra up, but he didn't bother to check who it was. Instead, the young Bloom turned to the other side, careful to not disturb Peyton's sleep, and hugged them from behind. It was too early to get out of bed, especially after the last couple of days, that had been hellish in terms of work, not that any of them complained.

Ezra's and Peyton's role in taking down the huge drug dealing network Alexander had created convinced Alastair and Daniel to allow them to get involved in other cases brought to the special team's attention. However, both the former and the current Supreme Dragon insisted the two should be accompanied by at least a guard, which they reluctantly agreed.

Their current investigation's target was an underground fight ring, frequented by rich, bored people in search of extreme sensations. What made it special was that, instead of hunky guys, the ones who fought on life and death for the crowd's amusement were kids, most of them aged twelve to fifteen.

Rayne, Alastair's second-born son and the director of the Van der Meerve Institute for Human Genome Research, thought that the ring was an effective method to test the future fight machines created in the so-called "lab of horrors". That was another of Alexander's side businesses, ran by Conroy Winters, who called himself a genius scientist but was in fact a twisted-minded, sadistic monster.

For a few days, Ezra and Peyton were feverishly searching for the best undercover story until one of the kids of the clan suggested they should simply pose as spoiled rich kids who wanted to try the newest, coolest thing.

The idea was unanimously approved, so the evening before was the first time the two attended a caged fight between kids. Fortunately, the opponents' strength and skills were of about the same level, so both of them lived to see another day.

With the sophisticated devices the members of the tech department created, Peyton was able to capture a lot of images. They even managed to make a short film, but it would have require a lot of work to make the images clearer so the faces of those present in the room to be easily recognizable.

Ezra, on the other hand, found out a lot about the owners of the place and the others behind the operation while pretending that he was engaged in a casual conversation. Both young men spent astronomic sums of money on bets, earning the respect of those around them, the ones running the operation included. One of them offered Peyton an extended invitation as a consolation for all the money he'd lost, a true godsent gift for the investigative journalists.

They planned to go that evening, too. An ambulance and a team of doctors from the Institute, backed by Ardan's men waiting outside, ready to save the life of the kid who would lose the fight if that would still be possible. This was why Ezra fell asleep seconds after the beep of the phone woke him up.

However, about two hours later, the noise, even more insistent this time, interrupted his sleep again, this time for good. Peyton opened his eyes, too. Young Bloom took the phone, checking it, the name on the screen making him mutter a curse under his breath. It was his mother who, after more than two years, finally remembered that she had a son.

Ezra called the woman, telling her in a polite, but very cold tone that he couldn't meet her because of the great volume of work waiting for him to finish. Then the young Bloom closed the phone, not giving Selma the opportunity to answer back. It was about time to give his mother a taste of her own medicine, Ezra bitterly thought.

"Who was it?" Peyton whispered, stretching the hands above their head.

"My mother," their lover answered, his eyes darker than usual. "She wanted to see me or better said ordered me to go see her. Well, surprise-surprise, I'm not that scared boy anymore, the one who bent every time she pushed."