“Baby, I’ve been doing this for years. You listen tome.” I looked around and saw the men watching in awe. They hadn’t personally seen me kill anyone. I lifted my gun, cocking it. “I prefer knives and slitting throats while watching you bleed out, but this will get the message across.” I shot him in the head, his head bouncing off the tile floor. “Let this be a fucking lesson. I will always find out who is betraying me and my territories. I have a pussy that you can’t touch; get over it unless you want to meet the same fate as your friend here.”
I moved back to Carlos, leaving some of the men stunned as two got rid of Santiago’s body. “I didn’t know, Blaize.”
“I believe you, but you better keep your men under control. You know how I feel about non-consensual sex work and men raping women and kids in my territories. He might've pulled that shit, but I don’t allow it. The price of someone who can't keep it in their pants is death.”
“I know. It’s not my forte. I can’t help that some of my men are pussies and can't get a warm cunt without force. I’ll keep them in line.”
I glared at him. “You better, or the territories won’t even remember who the Scorpions were. If I find out anyone else is going against me, it won’t be pretty. Regardless if you know or not.” He gulped, but nodded his head in agreement.
I left the Scorpions’ hideout and made my way back to my car. Everyone knew who I was, even if it was the first time they’d seen my face in their pitiful lives. Blaize Matthews was a name to be terrified of. I would protect my kingdom and my legacy by any means necessary.
I preferred more tortuous methods for people who betrayed me. I liked knives; they’re quiet and hurt a lot more. The torture could go on longer. I knew firsthand how bad being cut thigh to chest burned, the feeling of hopelessness waiting for death to greet you, but it wouldn’t kill you. It added psychological torment to the mix, a feeling of melancholy and despair as death knocked on the door, but never came. Hawke found me before that bastard could kill me. He should’ve slit my throat when he had the chance, and he’d still be king of this territory.
Before I took over after that night, Elijah had shipments of trafficked girls coming and going from the port. I didn’t know how many I saved before he got wind of it. He didn’t like a woman fucking with his profits, but I didn’t like men hurting innocent people. After I killed that bastard, I ended his little sexring. The only sex work allowed was the hotels where the women and men consensually agreed to sleep with clients, and if anyone decided otherwise, they died painfully.
This girl was going to be a problem.
I wanted to know how she got to my town and stayed here for two weeks. Ricky was useless and probably wanted to use her pussy as a repayment for giving her a job. Men thought women were disposable. In reality, men were the ones who were useless in everything. All they knew how to do was create chaos.
It sounds like she was naïve and jumped at the first opportunity, but it could also be a trap. This girl got to Westhaven, and I now had the FBI poking around. I didn’t believe in coincidences—her wound and fever. I would figure out who she was and why she decided to poke around my town.
CHAPTER 13
KADENCE
The house was eerily quiet.
“Hello!” I screamed through the silence. The floorboards creaked with each step, sending a chill up my spine. As I ventured deeper into the dark house, my throat tightened, and I struggled to breathe. I clawed at my throat, gasping for air.
My body was thrown to the ground, and a crushing weight took what little breath I had left. Radiating pain rippled through my body as I was thrown onto a rough cushion. Course laughter bounced off the walls, taunting me as hands grabbed my clothes, ripping the fabric from me. Rough hands assaulted my soft flesh, paralyzing me.
I was back in this room. I was trapped with both of them again.
My body was frozen in the past, defenseless against the assault as I opened my mouth to scream, to beg for help. His voice taunted me as his thick fingers curled around my neck, his dominating force covering my body.
He was going to hurt me again.
His grip on my throat was more powerful, angrier. He was rougher this time, and everything was amplified by ten with each painful thrust and bite.
“Such a pretty fucking whore.”
His voice echoed through my ears, each word ricocheting off my brain. My lungs burned, begging for air as the world became fuzzy. Even in the pitch-black darkness, his voice still lingered.
I gasped, the breath getting stuck in my lungs as I screamed. Pain radiated in my side, shooting up my spine as I tried to catch my breath. Tears flowed from my eyes as I took in deep lungfuls of air, but I still couldn’t breathe.
You’re safe, Kadence.
He’s dead. He can’t get to you.
You’re safe now.
Throbbing pain radiated through my skull like a jackhammer on a New York sidewalk. My eyes snapped open, and I instantly regretted it when the bright light burned my retinas. The pain radiating in my body forced me back down as I tried to move my arm to cover my face, only to hear the rattling of metal.
No.
My dad found me.
I pulled against the handcuffs, knowing it was useless to try and get out of them. I’d spent plenty of time in the back of police cars with metal bracelets. No matter the position, I wasn’t getting out of them.
