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Valentina’s face pales as she clicks through the photographs. “Oh. Oh. Um. How do I delete these?” She bites her lip and looks to me for help.
My heart soars at the small gesture.
I show her the delete button as the gathering crowd starts to spread news of what’s transpired. Angry murmurs rise around us, and I let the chaos fuel me.
“What’s your name?” I step closer to the photographer, allowing Valentina’s arm to fall from mine for the first time all night.
“T-Travis,” the man stutters.
“Travis Jacobs,” the mayor finishes, red-faced with either embarrassment or tipsy anger. “I gave you this job as a favor to your mother. I paid you?—”
“That’s all right, Mayor. I’ll handle this.” I clamp my hand on Travis’s shoulder and steer him toward the elevator. “We’ll be right back, everyone.”
Valentina is still absorbed in the photographs, but when she notices me walking away, her eyes widen with panic. She doesn’t want to be left alone with the other guests. Handing the camera to the woman closest to her, she patters behind me just in time to enter the elevator before the doors close. We start to descend, and Valentina stands back, nervously shifting from foot to foot.
She doesn’t know what I’m going to do, but she came, anyway. Part of me celebrates the fact that she didn’t run away the first chance she got.
But I can’t celebrate for long. I tighten my grip on Travis, and he whimpers. Once we’re out of earshot from the rest of the party, I slam the man’s face into the metal wall.
Blood starts to trickle from his nose, and I hope it’s broken.
“Travis Jacobs. This is the last time you’ll ever hold a camera.” I dig into his pocket and pull out his cell phone, throw it to the ground, and smash it under my heel. The screen cracks with a satisfying crunch. “I have eyes everywhere in this city. They will be watching you. Do not test my patience.”
He whimpers and the sour scent of ammonia hits the air as he pisses himself. Pathetic.
“When this elevator hits the ground floor, you will walk out of here and throw out every single camera you own. I don’t care how expensive they are. You will also delete any photos you’ve taken without consent of the parties within. I’ll have someone come by to check your progress within an hour.”
The elevator dings as we descend another floor. Only a few more to go until we reach the bottom.
“You will never accept another job within five miles of this location, and if you live within that vicinity, you will move immediately.”
“That’s bullshit?—”
I pull his head back and slam it into the metal again. This time, I hear the crack of cartilage as his nose breaks, and he wails in pain.
“What’s bullshit is that you still haven’t apologized to my wife,” I snarl, rubbing his broken nose into the wall. Snot and blood bubble out, and he starts sobbing.
I don’t give a flying fuck. He still needs to apologize.
Releasing him, I let him fall to his knees. The elevator comes to a stop and the doors pull open behind us.
Someone gasps outside, but I don’t care.
“Apologize.” Travis slowly tries to stand, but I set my foot across his back to keep him in place. “On your knees.”
Once I remove my foot from his spine, he drags his body around, smearing his own piss into his clothes. Sniveling and pathetic, he tries to lift his head to look at Valentina.
I grab the top of his skull and force his head down. “Apologize now, kneeled at her feet, like the fucking trash you are.”
Travis apologizes profusely, keeping his eyes locked on my wife’s sandaled feet, and I let him go. He scurries away as fast as he can, taking the majority of the piss-and-blood stench with him.
Valentina steps out of the elevator, and I follow her, wiping off any remaining grime on my hands onto a handkerchief. I toss the scrap of cloth into a trash can we pass.
She rushes toward the restrooms, and I follow close behind. When she reaches the alcove, she whirls on me, her face flushed and a fire burning bright in her eyes. “What the fuck was that?”
I tilt my head and admire her beauty. “He deserved much worse.”
“You broke his nose!”
