AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But I promised I wouldn’t try to leave again.
I swore I would stay.
And I won’t break my promise to him, even if it would be for the best.
Ace pulls his phone from his pocket and curses before taking it a few steps away and answering the call as he glares at the blank wall in front of him.
One of the younger kids, a boy around twelve, runs to Rayne and starts talking animatedly with him like he’s not the enforcer of a ruthless Mafia family, his eyes lit up with excitement as he tells him about his basketball carnival over the weekend.
Emerson steps toward me, her eyes watching the sweet display with a soft smile. “Rayne comes in a couple of times a week to play basketball with the kids, and they love him.”
“Their parents aren’t concerned?” I ask cautiously.
“Some were to begin with. Obviously, there’s rumors about the family, but a lot of the people around here have worked in the underbelly of the city, so they know those rumors have some truth to them. But a lot of the kids that come here have been for a long time, and they know my father and I, they know we wouldn’t let anyone hurt them.” She looks around the space with a bright smile. “Plus, a lot of them saw how the whole family pitched in after the fire. Especially Wynter, she refused to have the doors shut for more than a weekend to make sure the kids had somewhere to go.”
I open my mouth to respond but pause as Ace rejoins us with a frown. “I have to go.”
“Oh, of course, we can get going whenever you want.” I smile, trying not to let the disappointment show.
“You stay here with Rayne. I’ll get him to drop you back at the apartment once you’re done here.”
I open my mouth to argue, but before I can, he’s gone, only stopping to quickly talk to Rayne before disappearing the way we came.
What on earth was that about?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ACE
The last thing I expected when we got ready for the wedding earlier was that Elijah would be delivering two of the five men who hurt Mia in that cabin. Who used her when she was meant to be healing from the treatment she’d received from her last owner.
I have special plans for Cyrus when I can finally get my hands on him, but the fucker is a ghost. We haven’t been able to get a lock on his country, never less his fucking location, and the idea of him continuing to walk this earth after the hell he put my woman through makes my skin crawl.
He needs to be wiped from existence. But only after I’ve tortured him extensively.
I navigate the tunnels beneath the city from muscle memory alone. Tommy and I lived down here for a time when we first escaped, when we thought our foster father might come for us, and Tommy has been thriving down here ever since, using the abandoned offshoots as his very own torture chambers.
I step into what I can only assume is his favorite cell, considering the table of knives laid out on the far wall and the chairs drilled into the rotting bricks. Two men are chained to the chairs, their eyes frantic as they watch me enter.
Elijah’s men picked these two assholes up a few hours ago and left them to stew while we enjoyed the wedding, but as soon as I found out they were here, all I could think about was killing them. Hurting them like they hurt Mia.
Their wide eyes meet mine, confusion washing over them because they have no fucking idea who I am.
All the more fun.
Without a word, I tear the tape from their lips, giving no consideration for the skin I’m tearing from their bodies.
“Who the fuck are you?” David Walls demands. His balding head and rounded cheeks a dark shade of red with anger as his deep-brown eyes glare at me.
“Would it be cliché of me to say your worst nightmare?” I muse before nodding to myself. “It would be. So, let’s just say I’m the guy who’s going to make you repent for your sins.”
I’m far from a priest, but fuck it sounds good.
The other man remains silent. He’s a little younger than the others, in his midthirties, but there’s a darkness behind his gaze that is all too familiar. There’s no soul in the depths, just pitch-black nothingness. He’s the kind of fucker you want to work for you, because he has no conscience, there’s no line he won’t cross. But he’ll be wiped from existence long before he earns another paycheck.
There wasn’t much to find on Luke Burch. He’s been off the radar since he was seventeen. Not a trace of him unless you know where to look, which lucky for us, we did. After a while living among the scum of the earth, you get very fucking good at predicting their next move.
Everett has been tracking every visitor to the listings Kyle adds to noticeboards. These fuckers were fired after what they did to Mia, that much we were able to work out, but men like this wouldn’t blame their boss. They blame the woman they brutalized.
