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As it hovered about ten feet from the ground, it came to a halt and his crew—Lucas, Cade, and Mickey—as well as Lena’s guard, Jamie, appeared with wooden crates about four feet tall, positioning each one beneath a noose. These crates had clearly been custom-made for this purpose, though, because there was a step on each.
The crew moved over toward either end of the rebar, where two longer lengths of rope hung.
Metal fixtures were screwed into every corner of the platform we were standing on, and each man took one of the ropes and slotted them through a loop. The rebar was stabilized to a certain extent, and it stopped swaying.
With all the choreography of a show on Broadway, my brothers-in-law appeared next, as well as some guys I didn’t recognize, each one dragging a traitor to their doom.
When their eyes clashed with their fate, a surge of bitter satisfaction filled me, something that was only impacted by Aidan gifting them all with the coldest, most terrifying smile I'd ever seen him grace upon anyone.
I froze at the sight, semi-terrified and semi-awed by that malevolent curve of his lips.
It spoke a thousand words, yet it boiled down to seven—you came for me, and you lost.
More whispers stirred among the crowd.
The six traitors trudged onto the platform, most of them being shoved along by an O'Donnelly. Conor was here as well—that surprised me more than anything.
When I caught his eye, he shot me a wink, which had me hiding a smile.
The traitors had been battered. There was no other way to describe it. Each was naked from the waist up, allowing me to see that there were more bruises than clean flesh visible amid their filth, and each was crusted with blood and God only knew what else.
It'd have been a solace to go to prison, but the Five Points weren't kind.
And that was another point Aidan was ramming home.
They weren't kind even if you were family.
The men behind each traitor grabbed the noose and tucked it over their head.
As they did, Aidan replied, "There's a science to hanging. Each rope is the specific length to break your neck. But onlyifyou stand on the box. If you don't, you'll be strangled to death."
He said it so calmly, so coldly, that it sent a shudder down my spine, but of course, there had to be one.
I didn't know who it was, but he appeared younger than most of the old men whose shoulders were hunched in on themselves and who, frankly, looked to be relieved that their days were coming to an end.
I recognized this guy, though—he was the one Aidan had stabbed in the eye, the one who’d dared head-butt him.
The moron tried to shove Declan aside but Brennan was there in an instant, his knife pressing against the underside of his chin as Dec finished looping the noose around his neck.
While the others climbed onto their crates, Brennan dug his knife harder into the guy’s chin when he tried to step onto the box too, but my brother-in-law drawled, "It's too late for that, Hal. You made your decision when you tried to run."
Hal spat, "You’re a fucking bastard, O’Donnelly."
Brennan smirked, and before he could dole out an insult in return, Aidan declared, "Remember today. Remember this moment." His voice was barely above a conversational tone, but somehow, it slipped over the murmurs from the crowd like a scream. "Remember that whenever a Five Pointer betrays me,betrays us,this is how it'll end."
Interrupting him, I demanded, "Who was driving?"
He studied me for so long that I didn’t think he’d tell me. Then, he rumbled, "Anthony."
He pointed to him and, as cool as a cucumber when my heart was pounding like crazy, I moved over to the bastard who’d mowed into us.
With my back to the crowd, my gaze locked on the blind man’s face which had burn spatters from the base Aidan had used to destroy his eyes.
He didn’t sway his head from side to side as if trying to understand what was going on. No, if anything, he kept his chin angled down, his shoulders rounded, his stance one of utter defeat.
He wanted this to be over with.
When Aidan clicked his fingers and the men kicked the boxes out from under the traitors' feet, I did the same.
