It’s been three fucking days since I last touched Kit, and the memory of that night still sits like a splinter under my skin.
That night on the pool table, after he’d talked me down from putting a bullet in Armen’s skull, after I’d fucked him hard enough to make the felt creak beneath us… I’d leaned in. I’dwantedto kiss him, actually kiss him. Mouth to mouth, slow and deep, like some pathetic lover instead of the king who owns every inch of him. Kit had turned his face away… the rejection had hit harder than it should have. I don’t do that kind of intimacy, it’s aweakness, a liability. Especially with someone as soft and breakable as Kit. In this world, weaknesses get people killed. So, I’ve stayed away. I haven’t gone near his room, haven’t summoned him to mine, haven’t even looked at him in the halls. I wanted to take him out like Selina suggested, to see for myself how bad his anxiety really is,but I needed the space more. Needed to remind myself that I’m not the kind of man who kisses.
I clench my jaw so hard it aches and force my focus back to the man hanging in front of me. The Vanderburn’s boy is chained by his wrists to heavy bolts in the ceiling, arms stretched wide, feet barely touching the floor. His head lolls forward, chin resting on his blood-crusted chest… he’s unconsciousagain.
We’ve been at this for hours and the stubborn little fuck still hasn’t given us anything useful. Not where my shipment is. Not why the hell they targeted the gear instead of the coke. It can’t have been random… nobody’s that stupid, or that suicidal.
Armen stands to my right, arms crossed, looking as relaxed as ever. We cleared the air… he came to me, head bowed for once, and actually apologised properly. Admitted he knew it was wrong to go into my safe but that he just wanted Kit to have one normal day out with the girls. I accepted it. Then I changed the code to the safe and didn’t tell a soul what the new one is. He knows he’s on thin ice now. He’ll have to work to earn back the trust he lost. Armen gets that; he’s been quieter since, more careful.
I crack my knuckles once, the sound sharp in the silence. “Wake him up.”
Armen steps forward without hesitation, grabbing a bucket of ice water from the corner and dumping it straight over the prisoner’s head. The man jerks awake with a choked gasp, coughing and sputtering, chainsrattling as he tries to twist away from the cold. His swollen eyes find me and widen in fresh terror.
I step closer, until I’m right in his face. Water and blood drip from his chin onto my boots.
“Let’s try this again,” I murmur, tilting my head.
He spits a bloody glob onto the floor and glares up at me, breathing hard; still defiant.
I smile, and it’s not a nice smile. Armen shifts beside me, waiting.
The guy lets out a weak, wet laugh, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. “I’m dead either way, ain’t I?”
I grunt a small laugh of my own. “Oh, youcantalk?”
He lifts his head, eyes glassy but suddenly chatty, like a man who knows the end is coming and has decided to enjoy the ride. “Finn. The younger of the three brothers.Fucking idiot…”
I tilt my head, waiting… he’s cracking, real opinions are spilling out now.
“He had a hissy fit last month,” the man continues, shaking his head with that manic little laugh. “We tried to pick up a new corner on Fifty-Second. The guys there said they had thebeststuff in the city. Finn asked who from… and the dealer showed him the little black patch on the coke with the S.S logo stamped on it.”
He laughs again, bitter this time. “Finn freaked. Got jealous.Properjealous.”
Armen lets out an amused snort beside me.
I exhale slowly. “You’re telling me this whole mess is down tojealousy?”
The guy shrugs as much as the chains allow. “Guess so.” He coughs hard, spitting more blood onto the concrete. “His brothers weren’t happy. Told him to keep his mouth shut. Hell, none of us even knew what Finn was planning. He came back claiming he scored new gear on hisown. Didn’t say shit about stealing it from you.”
I roll my eyes and lean back against the metal table covered in tools, arms crossed over my chest.
The man keeps going, voice getting hoarser. “His brothers figured it out later. Took him out of state for a bit to cool off.Dumb bastard.”
A dark grin pulls at my mouth. I like this talkative version of him. He’s clearly hoping that if he keeps talking, I might spare him. So I don’t interrupt, I just listen.
“Finn didn’t have acluewhat he was doing, man. If you say the other container had the coke… then he got unlucky as hell.”
I hum. “So… my gear?”
He coughs again. “You already sent it up in flames with those bodies. He’d already handed most of it out. Some of the boys were wearing pieces, some were in the lockers round back. The rest… the idiot tried to sell them. No one would touch it,obviously.”
“So…”
“So… his brothers scraped together what they could, hid the excess, and hoped no one would notice.”
I push off the table and step closer. “Had you told me this three days ago… Imighthave let you go.”
He nods, defeated, knowing exactly how badly he fucked up by staying quiet.
