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He was going to ruin me––I could feel it.
Chapter Twelve
“So you have nothing?”
A swallow filled the silence.
I steeped my fingers beneath my chin and looked up at the smooth metal ceiling. My back was cushioned by a solid metal chair.
The only thing separating the man from me was the wooden table between us. I had rooms in the stables designed specifically with the intent to kill, maim, and torture whoever needed to be dealt with.
The man before me had been given the pleasure of seeing one. He’d pissed himself while I was at dinner the night before. The smell of dry ammonia was grating on nerves I was vastly losing. His hair was a greasy mess. His blue eyes bloodshot. He looked like he’d gone through hell, and I hadn’t even done anything yet.
“But you said you were the best. You said you could track down what I wanted.” I repeated everything he’d told me our first meeting in a mocking tone.
“And he tacked on ten percent,” Elias added from his post against the wall.
“He’s also a week late,” Sergio said, standing just over my shoulder. He was one of the very rare individuals I trusted to be behind me.
“I need a little more time,” his brittle voice rasped. He flinched when a scream sounded from somewhere else in the building.
“More time.” I stood and made my way to where we kept all the essentials one would need to make someone speak.
I was more into torture of the mind, making someone slowly insane over a period of time. But sometimes I got my hands dirty, too. I grabbed a meat cleaver and industrial butane lighter.
“I gave you access to my city.” I sat the lighter down on the table. “I gave you all the resources you needed, your ten percent, and free reign to do whatever you needed to get the job done. Why do I have nothing from you but a grievance for more time?” I sat the meat cleaver down. He opened his mouth to speak. I held up a hand to silence him.
“Your wife, your brother, and your sister-in-law were removed from their homes last night and are on their way here. Let me refresh your memory. You’re looking for Brock Miles. He has a black leather book that was given to him by a whore.
“The book belongs to someone close to me, and they want it back. Now, would you like two weeks or three to find him, the book, and save your family?”
“T-t-three.”
I smiled. Such a dumb fucker.
Elias and Sergio moved into position each grabbing a side of him and forcing out one of his hands.
“No, please––,” his brittle voice turned into a high pitched shriek as I brought the cleaver down on all his fingers, excluding the pinky and one where his wedding band sat. My finely honed blade went clean through the flesh and bones, disconnecting all three with ease.
“Collateral.” I explained over his yells of pain. “You have three weeks now. You deliver and you can have them back. I’ll keep them in my toolbox for safekeeping.” Ignoring the blood, I picked up the lighter, flicked on the flame and brought it right to his freshly gaping wounds to cauterize them.
If possible, he screamed louder.
The smell of burnt flesh and blood quickly filled the space between us, making my nose burn. His shoulders slumped, and his head lolled as he passed out from the pain. I didn’t stop until the bloody flesh was scabbed and inflamed.
“Sergio, wake him up and dump him back in the city. I’m sure he’ll work much more efficiently this time around. Elias, come with me.”
“Do you think whoever has it will be able to decipher it?” my brother asked, falling into step beside me.
“It would take someone with significant common sense to do that. The point is finding it before that can happen.”
“Too bad Eva couldn’t do the right thing for a change,” he grumbled.
“I’m sure she deeply regrets her decision right about now, considering her new accommodation.”
“What about Elena? Do you think she knows anything about it, you said she had an ulterior motive.”
“Elena’s main motive is finding her sister. I’ve known that from the beginning. Why she chose to get close to me was another story. She has yet to make any moves trying to figure out Eva’s whereabouts but that may be because she isn’t a fan of the lifestyle.” I climbed inside a UTV and waited for him to situate himself.
