Page 29 of Darkest Kiss

"Not today. We don't have time. She could wake."

“Who are you talking to?” Leo stammers.

“Himself,” Ransom answers. “Didn’t you know? You pissed off someone that’s genuinely unhinged.”

Brent groans. I feel the bloodlust building in my chest.

The soft one first, Beast whispers, eyeing Brent. The corner one looks like he’s ready to shit himself.

"His name's Brent," I tell Beast.

Brent flinches at his own name, which is fair. Nothing good has ever followed me saying someone’s name aloud to Beast. I crack my knuckles and look between the two men.

“Which one of you pieces of gutter trash is going to answer my questions? Hm?”

Brent hangs his head. He’s already defeated.

Leo looks at me with wide eyes. “Please. I c-can pay. I have lots of money!”

I grin at him. “Thanks for volunteering, Richie Rich.”

"A million." The number tumbles out of him. "Two. Whatever you want. I've got a place in Boca, I've got a boat, I've got a guy who can wire it by morning."

"He's got a guy," Ransom says from the corner, not looking up from his phone.

"I've got a guy," Leo agrees, latching onto it like a life raft.

"Everybody's got a guy." I reach in my pocked and produce my length of braided nylon, pulling the thin rope taut between my fists. "I've got one too. He's me."

I use my weapon of choice, the rope, to hang and strangle both of the men until they’re gasping, red-faced, and crying. Turns out it’s not very hard. It takes less than twenty minutes to break Leo down from man begging for his life to sniveling pile of shit. As it should be.

At length, the men start giving me answers. Dosing schedules, the buyer list, who keeps the books. Useful to Ransom, I'd assume. Boring to me. He takes it all down from his perch in the corner with the mild interest of a man working a crossword in a waiting room.

"You're getting blood on the floor again," he says with no heat.

“That’s what the drains are for.”

He glances at the floor. “Yeah, but look at the drain. It’s getting clogged with all the shit you’re cutting off their bodies.”

"So? I'll buy you a new floor."

"It's my floor either way." He turns a page in his little notebook. "I'd just prefer it to stay the color I picked."

I swear, if Ransom wasn’t on my side, his callousness might make me feel genuine fear.

It's Leo who eventually gives me what I want and stops my heart at the same time.

"Caruso’s wife sold her," he says, through a mouth that doesn't work the way it did before. "Kathleen didn’t even give us time to make threats. When we called, she gave up the girl's address for fifty thousand dollars."

I crack my knuckles again, my thoughts a mess.

Kathleen Caruso. The aunt. She gave Ransom the tip about where to find Noemi, the two-faced rat bitch.

"Rian." Ransom, from the corner. He's read my face. "What are you upset about? Caruso?"

I nod. "Noemi’s aunt."

He's quiet for a second, calculating. "You want to tell Noemi, or you want me to dig around first?"