Page 42 of Bullet

I grab an empty chair and straddle it, facing the two men. “Maybe we can start with something simple,” I suggest. “Why pin Sal’s death on us?”

The older man turns his face away. He’s in his late forties and looks weathered. He’s done shit and seen shit. He knows how this is going to end. The younger guy still holds out hope that the cavalry is coming to save his ass.

It’s the younger man who answers. “Why not? You made it easy by showing up.”

“Satan’s Pride never got into your business. It’s stupid to think we’d let this go without finding out who fingered our club. That’s mistake number two, gentlemen,” I inform them. I glance back at Sebastian. “They got names?”

Sebastian points to the older man, known as Hurst. “Liam.” Then to his partner. “Jasper.”

“Right. Here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to ask questions, and for every question you don’t answer, I’m going to let one of my brothers loose on you. Eventually, you’ll tell us what we want to know, because Sebastian here, well, he’s something of a master of torture. And we have a doctor on call, so we’ll bring you close to death and pull you right back so we can do some more to you. Think on that for a while.” I get up from the chair, pull it back, and take a step toward the door. But I leave them with this thought: “Confession is good for the soul.” I shut the door behind me.

I know the older man, Liam, isn’t going to crack. He knows he’s a dead man. My best option is Jasper. I give our prisoners time to let their minds wander to the many varieties of pain they’ll endure. Sometimes, time is the best weapon.

Guard has arranged for Amelia to be driven out to spend the evening with Ava and Vi. As far as she knows, they’re having an impromptu girls’ night in.

Four hours and twenty-nine minutes is the length of time it takes to break Jasper. He surprised me; I thought he’d crack faster than that. Liam never spoke a word. To him, it was an honorable death. He never betrayed Jonah and did what a soldier is supposed to do, until his dying breath.

We learned much more than anticipated, like where the warehouses full of cocaine are located. This makes Sebastian happy, because this is fuel for Reno to make his move on their clan. The list of dirty cops affiliated with Jonah O’Malley was started years ago. Little by little, he’s been building an army of illegal law enforcement. His plan is to keep the police away from his drugs and arms-dealing empire, while leading them to his competitors to run them out of business.

As for Sal, he made a mistake that cost him his life. Jonah likes young, pretty things to play with and, when he came to the shop one day, had his sights set on Violet. No way in hell was Sal going to hand his daughter over to Jonah. He stood his ground, but Jonah made him pay in other ways, trying to force his hand.

We know Sal refused and is dead because of it. From what we gather, Sal hid Violet in the closet for fear that Jonah’s men would take her away and force her straight into the hands of a tyrant.

Jasper is close to the end. Guard returns into the cell with Vance. “There he is, the man who shot your father.” He hands him a gun. “You want to finish him, that’s up to you to decide. But before you do, I’ll warn you that this will mark you. Not for a moment, or a week, or a month. You’ll have nightmares for years. You’ll never forget the feel of the cold steel in your hand, the anguish on his face until death finally takes him.”

Vance points the gun right at Jasper’s head. Vance hesitates, his hand shaking. It’s not like Jasper will last much longer, but Guard’s right about what happens when you take a life.

Vance continues to hold the gun and turns to Guard, “Why can’t I do this? He killed my dad.”

“This isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of conscience. Your father was protecting you from them and the criminal boss they work for. He wouldn’t want you to lose part of who you are and who you can be. Pulling the trigger will change you for life,” Ghost tells him.

He hands Ghost the gun. “I…can’t.” Vance walks toward the door, and the moment he reaches it, the gun goes off. Jasper’s dead, his head sagging and blood oozing from his skull.

“I can,” Ghost states.

Vance is gone, leaving Sebastian, Dante, and the Pride brothers to decide how to move forward. Dante and Demon have collected so much dirty intel on the cops working for Jonah that they’d all be brought up on charges. We need one cop to turn on Jonah and set the record straight.

Sebastian says, “We can take care of that for you.”

Guard lifts his brow. “How?”

“Reno knows a judge. We can make it work so that the cop who makes the deal first gets immunity from prosecution, and he disappears to another country. Meanwhile, the others get what they deserve,” Sebastian answers.

“What about Jonah coming for Violet?” I ask. Crush might not admit it, but she means something to him and isn’t going to let anything happen to her.

“Reno’s business was with the other families. They’re talking and deciding if they’re willing to make a deal with Jonah’s sons, Keenan and Kalen. Keenan wants to go back to Ireland with Kalen and his sister. He wants to run the family business as it was. Last I heard, the other Mafia dons like this idea. We already have the Russians, Triads, and gangs to deal with. Having the Irish mob out of our hair would be good for all of us. Alessio and Rafaelle are particularly pissed because they now know who is attacking and undercutting them in their arms activities. Jonah stepped over the line,” Dante tells us.

“When would all this go down?” I ask.

Sebastian says, “Since this involves the Pride, and out of respect for our relations with Risk and the Pride, Reno wants to speak with Guard to work it all out.” He hesitates, then adds, “Privately.”

It means that the discussion will be between Guard and Reno. I have no problem with that, and neither do any of the brothers. Guard’s always put the club first. I know for a fact that he would never do anything to endanger his men. He’d die for us, just as we would for him.

“I want Risk and Ghost present,” Guard says.

Sebastian smiles and grabs his phone. “I’ll let him know.”

“Why are you smiling?” I ask.