Sandro. My partner. My friend.
His body's in a pool of blood. There's a hole in his forehead.
“No,” I say even though there’s no one to hear me. “Fuck.No!”
A torrent of emotions swirls inside my chest, but I don’t have time to indulge them, so I lock them all away.
I need to find Blake.
Her phone lies discarded a few feet away from Sandro. The screen’s shattered as if someone stepped on it.
I search the house, looking for any trace of her, but there’s none.
Back in the hallway, I slide Blake’s broken phone into my pocket and sink to my knees beside Sandro. Pressure builds behind my eyes. When I touch him, he’s still warm.
They killed him in front of her just minutes ago. This is why she screamed.
If I’d just stayed put, I might have still been home when she came back.
I could have protected her and Sandro.
His eyes are open. I reach over and close them.
I’ve killed many men and watched even more get killed. But this death feels different. It feelswrong. We came to Darkwater Hollow so that we could live.
And Sandro didlive. He had an entire fucking life here. He was seeing someone. He wanted a family.
I get to my feet with a pained groan. It feels like it comes from the very depths of me.
They will pay for this. I won’t rest until I remove every single man responsible for this from the face of the earth.
I’ll find Blake. And then I’ll kill them all.
My phone rings. It’s an unknown number, but somehow, I just know who it is.
The man who’ll soon regret every single one of the choices that led him to this moment.
“How do you feel about road trips?” Lyle’s voice crackles over the line.
“If you touch a hair on her head, I will rip out your throat with my bare hands.”
Lyle chuckles. “Blake’s ex wouldn’t leave me alone until I showed your photo around. He’s an annoying prick, but he’s got good instincts, I’ll give him that. He said your background check came back empty, and his contact in the police wouldn’t agree to runyour photo through their facial-recognition system, so he came to us. We don’t take orders from guys like him, but when we saw that video of you pointing a gun at him, our curiosity was piqued. He mentioned you said you came from New York, so I showed your photo to someone I know who rides around those parts. A member of the Black Talons. He recognized you right away.”
I clench my jaw. Fuck. I know the Black Talons. We’ve worked with them in the past.
“If you want Blake to live, you’re going to do exactly as I say.”
“Let me talk to her,” I demand.
“She passed out when we shot your friend. Still hasn’t come around. Her skin’s so fucking soft, like a baby’s ass.”
Anger blurs my vision. “If you know who I am, you should realize taunting me is not a good idea. Or are you just that fucking stupid?”
“Yeah, I know who you are. That's why we took her. We don’t want a confrontation with you, Nero. We want this to be a civilized affair. If you follow my instructions, Blake will be just fine.”
I pace the hall. “What do you want?”
“You’re going to drive yourself to New York and meet us there. You’re coming home, Nero. How does Staten Island sound?”
