I grabbed him by the balls, digging my short, manicured nails into his small penis. He bellowed as tears filled his dark eyes. “No,youlisten. You seem to have forgotten who the fuck I am. Mencowerat the mention of my name. They know what I do to traitorous bastards like you.” I reached down the leg of my slacks and pulled out my trusty dagger. “You should have behaved, Henry,” I tutted.
Julian screamed bloody murder, and I couldn’t help the smile forming on my lips. “She screamed like that for me. Has she ever done that for you?” Only a pained gasp escaped his lips. “Don’t worry, she’ll be joining you in hell.”
I grabbed the back of Henry’s head, forcing his head back and chin up. I rested my blade on the edge of his throat, just under his left ear, and applied enough pressure to draw the smallest amount of blood, but not sever anything…yet. While I allowed the blade to sit there for a moment, he visibly relaxed, presumably thinking I would let him go. Instead, I dug the blade deeper into his throat, severing his jugular first, and I watched with a smile on my face as dark, venous blood sprayed over me. He gurgled as I shredded his windpipe before finally hitting his carotid artery. Henry’s body collapsed to the floor, his eyes filled with despair as he gasped, choking on his own blood and clawing at his throat.
I loved the chase, knowing I was going to be the last thing they saw—a woman ending their pathetic excuse of a life. The fight made it harder, but fuck, was it exhilarating. They foolishly believed they could get away from me, but I was always quicker. Unfortunately, cowardly men like Henry never fought, and thatdid take the thrill away, but this, more than anything, was to send a message.
Julian was screaming at the top of her lungs as she watched the life leave her husband’s eyes. If she was smart, she would’ve run instead of standing there naked and quivering in fear. Of course, it would’ve been less messy to push her down the staircase, her neck snapping. Except, my dagger has been itching for a kill, and it had been far too long since she could enjoy one too.
I turned, looking at her now pale face. Her eyes were darting across the room before locking with mine. The guilt and fear radiated off her like a furnace. “P-please, don’t kill me,” she sobbed.
I smiled, walking closer to her. My hand found her throat and gripped tightly until she let out a pained gasp. I pushed her against the wall and let my nails dig into her skin. She clawed at me for freedom, her eyes pleading with mine. “Ten minutes ago, you were coming on my hand while I choked you. What changed, hm?”
I plunged my dagger into her chest, twisting the blade. With this placement, she’d get a pneumothorax or maybe a hemothorax. She wouldn’t die from either of those. No, the fire would be the one to take her last breath.
A weak sob escaped from her swollen lips as I plucked the knife from her body and let her collapse once more, this time to the floor. She gasped for air, her chest hardly rising.Maybe she’d die before the fire, I mused. Hovering over her body, her big, sad eyes still pleading as she tried to find the words to speak to me.
“No hard feelings—but maybe you shouldn’t marry scum or help them abuse women.” I cleaned my dagger on the edge of their bed before sticking it back in my holster. If I were a nice person, I’d allow her to work off her debts to pay for her sins. Alas, Julian knew what she had been doing all along and deathwas the only payment I would take for the suffering of so many women.
“Vocês dois precisam queimar no inferno.”Both of you can burn in hell.
I walked to the kitchen where they had their gas-powered stove and turned on every burner, including the oven as I left it slightly ajar. The scent of fumes were already dancing in the air. I walked out of the house, flicking open my lighter and throwing it into the living room. I continued down the driveway, and then I finally heard it—the entire house lighting up like the Fourth of July.
This would serve as a reminder to everyone: my allies, enemies, and all of the shadows I’ve yet to meet—not to fuck with me, Hades, or Hell’s Reapers.
CHAPTER 2
CADEN
When I imagined my twenty-third birthday, I expected to be wearing a slutty dress, drunk off my ass, and finding some random woman to sleep with. Instead, I was on a train, escaping my father, my ex, and one of the most dangerous gangs on the east coast—add a few FBI agents in there, and we could have one hell of a party. I guessed it really was true when they said no one liked you when you’re twenty-three.
Signs of Lifeby Motionless in White blared through my headphones as pain rippled through my side. The fresh stitches of my stab wound sent radiating pain through my body, making me wince with every movement the train made. I didn’t remember train rides being this rough when I was a child, but I also wasn’t running through the New York subways when I was five-years-old.
Maybe ditching my protective custody fresh out of the hospital wasn’t mybrightestidea, but I was tired of being babied, even if my stupidity was to blame. I didn’t feel the blade penetrate my skin since I was drugged out on whatever concoction Dom gave me, but boy, did I feel it now.
Karma really was a fucking cunt.
If it wasn’t karma, it was the universe’s sick, twisted joke of a consequence for rebelling against my father. I fucked the bad boy with the sexy tattoos and shitty dick game—very disappointing after getting hooked by his sweet talking and charm. I never expected a bucket of bullshit being added to my already existing trauma, a stab wound,andwitness protection. A complete trifecta.
Dominic was…a mistake. I thought I loved him, but really, I loved theideaof him. I had no idea he was part of a gang or that he’d end up ruining my life. I didn’t know who Liam was until that night. Now he was permanently embedded into my mind.
Liam Keller sounded like your garden variety, white-collar, rich man—turned out he was the leader of a notorious gang in New York. Not the typicaldealing drugs to high schoolerson the cornertype of gang. Nope. Born Killerz, with a ‘z’ at the end, sounded like a shitty name for a wannabe pop-rock band. And again—nope. He was one of the biggest cocaine and heroin distributors, plus prostitution on the East Coast, mainly in New York and Massachusetts. He was trying to go down south with his operations, but they already had their own people down there, so it didn’t work out.
And I was the reason he was dead.
Technically, I didn’t kill him. Dominic sold me to the fucker after he ripped my heart out of my chest. At least in that moment, I thought he did. Moments later, he shattered my soul, then my world deteriorated when he drugged me, and Liam destroyed what was left.
My memory was still hazy, and I still don’t remember all the details. The doctor said Dom injected me with a drug cocktail of sorts. He couldn’t pinpoint one of the drugs that was administered, and said it was something new and dangerous making its way onto the streets of New York. I remembered calling my dad prior to Dominic finally meeting me outside, butbefore I could protest or run, I was stumbling inside the house with Dominic whispering in my ear about being a good whore. I think Dominic had a cuck kink or something because he stayed the entire time with Liam. Dominic hacked off my tiny black dress with his switchblade before cutting my bra and panties, not caring about the superficial lacerations he left behind.
I thought drugs like Ketamine and Rohypnol would make the body oblivious to pain, but I felt everything. I just couldn’t fight. I remembered bits and pieces like the needle going into my neck and the fear coursing through my body.
The pungent smell of mildew and musk were permanently ingrained into my senses, an aroma that made my skin crawl. I could feel the old mattress and coils beneath it as they dug into my skin all while Liam straddled my bare hips. It was a permanent ick etched in my brain. My body was paralyzed, but my mind was alert and screaming.
It was hard to explain the feeling, but it was like my body was in slow motion, yet my mind was going a million miles a minute.Waiting for my fate felt like hours, but in reality, only a few minutes passed. Dominic wasn’t intimidating, but his deceitful laughter was only a fraction of the impending torture.
My trauma felt like a heavy blanket weighing down my soul, leaving me torpid. Apathy was all I felt now. Well, other than the intense pain in my side, but I couldn’t succumb to the darkness dancing on the edge of my mind. I was a fucking mess. Anger, sadness, fear, guilt—everything swirled together in a chaotic mix. This was my life.
I wiped the tears angrily as the memory flashed through my mind like an unwanted horror movie.
