“Are you sure Mancini did it?” Sloan sounded surprised, and a little bit impressed, and Ardan felt a tic begin in his jaw. “For money? Like I’ve said to you before, Mancini didn’t take my money when I offered him a job. If the man cared that much for it that he’d betray the mobster who kept him on retainer, why wouldn’t he take mine?”
“Because he knows betraying you would mean death.” Ardan inhaled and stepped closer to the desk. “Boss, I’m asking you to give me another month.”
“Why should I?” Sloan drained his whiskey and slammed the empty glass down. He glanced at the Coke that Ardan hadn’t taken a sip of, but had set on the other side of the desk. “I didn’t poison you.”
Ardan shot a look of surprise at the drink. “I never thought you did, Boss.” To make a point, he grabbed the glass and took a large gulp, grimacing. He hated Coke, and all the other types of fizzy drinks too, but they helped control the urge to reach for something stronger, which would get him into trouble. Sloan knew all about his past. “I can catch Mancini. I just need more time.”
Sloan tsked. “You’ve had six months. I have more important jobs for you.”
“Manciniisimportant, Boss. This won’t be the last we see of him. If he took on a job for Toscani, who else would he get paid from to destroy our business?” Ardan kept his tone even, unthreatening. The stupidest thing he could do was raise his voice to Sloan.
“Why do you have a hard-on for him, Ardan?” Sloan stood, strolling around his desk with leisured steps. His suit moved perfectly with his strong body and wide shoulders. Sloan stopped right in front of him, fingers dancing over the surface of the desk in a wandering gesture that made Ardan nervous. “What’s he done to you?”
“Nothing.” He swallowed. “He’s the epitome of disloyalty. You know how much I hate cowards and rats, Boss.”
Sloan stood close enough to Ardan’s side that he could feel his warmth, his height making him tower over Ardan. “Is taking him out really that important to you?”
“Yes, Boss,” Ardan answered immediately. “I’d die happy knowing Mancini wasn’t on this earth.”
Sloan laughed and slapped Ardan on the shoulder. “If that’s how you feel, fine. You have my blessing to continue hunting him, but you only have a month, then I want you back here.”
Ardan bowed his head. “Yes, Boss.”
“Ardan, don’t disappoint me. You know I hate being made to look like a fool.”
“I understand. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” Sloan gestured to the door. “We have business to attend to before you leave. Come with me.”
Sloan led him through the door into the corridor. They walked the narrow hallways to the very end, where Ardan knew from experience there was a door hiding a set of stairs behind it. When you opened the door, it looked like a small cupboard for cleaning supplies, but behind a hanging mop was a hidden console, and the press of a few buttons resulted in the back wall sliding open to reveal the stairs.
Ardan followed Sloan down the steps and into a basement-style room. Four guards and Daire already waited for them. Hanging by rope from a wooden beam was another man, wearing nothing but his underwear. His chest had lash marks that welled with blood, and a large gash sliced the skin just below his belly button. He hung his head, stringy hair falling in front of his face so Ardan couldn’t see who he was.
The ropes tied his wrists together above his head and his groans were the only noise in the room. As soon as they entered, the guards stepped back, heads bowed in respect to Sloan.
“What do we have here?” Sloan’s voice held an edge of warning, and a sliver of fear slid down Ardan’s spine. He knew that tone anywhere, he’d heard Sloan use it more than once before he tortured someone. “Daniel Hansfield.”
The name rang familiar in Ardan’s mind and it took a minute for him to piece together where he knew it from. Hansfield and his brother ran drugs in New York City like the Killough Company, but unlike most of the other cartels, the Hansfields had Sloan’s permission, as long as they paid twenty percent to the Killough Company for letting them sell on their turf. They sold stronger shit, a hallucinogenic that the company wouldn’t touch, but Sloan still wanted his share of the profits.
Sloan turned a cruel smile on Ardan, his gaze calm yet dangerous. “You remember Daniel, don’t you?”
Ardan nodded. “I do, sir.”
“Daniel and his brother decided to expand without telling me.” Sloan nodded at one of the guards and he spun on his heel, heading for a cabinet against the wall.
The room’s walls were soundproof, made of a heavy brick that didn’t let much escape. The torture house, as it was called playfully by soldiers, was dug into the ground below the mansion, away from prying eyes. It needed to be with what happened in there. Plans were also put into place in case Sloan was ever raided by the police or feds—a failsafe that would cause the room to cave in, destroying the stairs and any evidence of it existing.
Ardan rolled his shoulders, aware of what was about to happen. “More drug supplies?”
Sloan shook his head and patted Daniel on the forehead, making the man groan and raise his head. He looked like the walking dead, his cheeks sallow and drawn, and eyes nearly falling inside his skull. He’d probably been here for weeks, maybe longer. “No. That might have been forgivable, if they’d paid back what they owed me. The boys decided to expand into trafficking underage sex slaves.”
Ardan sucked in a deep breath.Fuck. The Killough Company did a lot of unsavory business. They didn’t care who they killed with drugs, or whose families they ruined with whores. But underage girls and boys? That was a line they didn’t cross. The company, and Sloan, expected the same of all business partners too.
“Yes, they did.” Sloan held out his hand to the guard, who’d returned and passed him a set of pliers. “And now this little snake won’t tell me where to find his brother, who went into hiding like the rat he is. Any other time, I might have been impressed with how long he’s held out to the torture while not telling us a thing, but right now, I’m anything but.”
Ardan stepped closer, a stirring excitement settling low in his gut to see what Sloan was about to do. Heat filled his body and his lips twitched as he forced back a smirk when Sloan turned to Daniel, flashing the pliers to him.
“Tell me where your brother is and we’ll make your death pain free.”
