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Sweat beading his brow, the hellbull began to shake.
“Now, I will ask you again,” said Levi, his voice low and calm. “Why did you kidnap my anchor?”
“I wasn’t planning to hurt her, man,” replied Vittorio. “I’m just the delivery guy.”
“Explain.”
“I retrieve shit for people. So do—so did—my boys.”
“Define ‘shit.’”
“Cars, jewelry, people, whatever.”
He classed people, classed Piper, as shit? Levi’s demon growled. “You’re saying you were hired to ‘deliver’ my anchor to someone?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“I want their name.”
“I don’t know who it was. Some guy called Alfie’s burner, just like customers always do. They didn’t give their name, and Alfie didn’t ask for it. They told him they wanted Piper Winslow alive, and they agreed to our fee.”
“Where were you supposed to deliver her?”
“We hadn’t agreed on a location. We only do that once we have what or who we’ve been hired to retrieve.”
“I’m going to need the phone number of whoever called your friend Alfie.”
“I don’t know it. Alfie has it on his burner. He keeps that phone in the van.”
Fuck. The hellfire would have consumed the cell by now.
Knox’s mind touched Levi’s. I’ll have Armand check the wreckage just in case the phone is intact.
Moments later, Armand disappeared.
Vittorio licked his lips. “I’m telling you, I wouldn’t have hurt her.” He said it like he should therefore be spared.
Anger spiked through Levi, hardening his jaw. “But you knew that whoever hired you might hurt her. That didn’t stop you, did it?”
“Alfie made it clear to him that we don’t deliver people to be killed. The guy assured him that he meant Piper no harm.”
“And you believed that? I doubt it. I doubt your friends did either. But you felt that having that stipulation—one you didn’t attempt to enforce—meant you bore no guilt in whatever might happen to the people you retrieve for others.”
Vittorio shook his head. “It’s not like that.”
“It very much is. And this right here is the consequence. You fuckers knew what a dangerous game you were playing. You played it anyway, and I’d say you enjoyed it. After all, you boasted to your friends that snatching Piper was ‘too easy.’ She said you were cocky about it.” Levi crouched beside him. “Taking my anchor was the worst mistake you ever could have made. But I’m thinking you’ve already realized that.”
A scream tore out of Vittorio as Levi squeezed, tugged, twisted, punctured, and hit the organs in his body. He didn’t rush. He took his time. He made it hurt. He kept it up until the bastard was dazed and drained and weak … just as Piper had been. Only when Vittorio was near death from internal bleeding did Levi finally rupture his brain.
Slowly standing, Levi burst the body into cinders with a mere click of his fingers.
“Feel better?” asked Knox.
“No.” Clenching his fists, Levi rolled back his shoulders. “I will once I have my hands on whoever hired the hellbull.”
Knox folded his arms. “The person who wants Piper dead could have paid a teleporter to appear at her side and kill her. Instead, they wanted her taken and delivered to them. I would say that means they would prefer to do the murderous deed themselves.”
“And if that’s the case, it would suggest that the person who attacked Piper at the deli—who did try to kill her on the spot—wasn’t a mercenary. She went head-to-head with whoever has her in their sights.”
“I had both Tanner and Keenan do some very deep digging. Although the ability to conceal a person’s presence isn’t unheard of, no one the two sentinels questioned knows of anyone in or out of our lair who can do that. Whoever is after Piper has kept their ability very quiet.”
“Because it gives them an advantage. We all have gifts we don’t boast about for that very reason.” Levi scrubbed a hand down his face. “I still think Jasper and Sefton are the likeliest suspects. Especially since Jasper confronted Piper earlier at the bar shortly before she was kidnapped.”
Knox lifted a brow. “Is that so? I hadn’t heard that.”
Levi brought him up to speed. “Considering Sefton allegedly only made a half-assed attempt to pull his brother away, I’d say he didn’t really mind so much that Jasper mouthed off the way he did. It suits him to let Jasper say the shit he’s too scared to voice.”
Knox nodded. “I’d have to agree. Unfortunately, I can’t search their minds to see if your suspicions are correct.”
Levi knew that. Knew that the only thing a person would find if they entered the mind of a nightmare was their own personal nightmare.
“I can, however, thoroughly question Jasper when I punish him tomorrow,” said Knox. “He was warned to leave Piper be. He knew what the consequences would be if he didn’t.”
“I want to be there for that. It’s going to be hard to leave Piper’s side, though.” Levi tilted his head as he remembered, “She’s off work tomorrow. I should be able to convince her to spend the day in my apartment. She might agree to wait for me there.” Levi wouldn’t worry so much if she was safely within his home.
