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My nostrils flare at the confirmation that I wasn’t the only one. “How do I find them?”
“There’s a file on my phone. Use my retina to access it. The password is beauty.”
I push back my disgust to focus on getting the information I need to save his prisoners. “All lower case?”
“Yes,” he rasps.
“Is there anything else I should know?”
“Don’t desecrate my body.” He stares up at me, his pupils shrinking. “Have it sent to my wife and family for a funeral.”
“I was talking about the boys and women,” I snarl.
His eyes widen, and his mouth gapes open. “Marius?”
“You will die unmarked, unmourned, unremembered, just like all the women you victimized.”
“And my son?”
I shove him to the floor. “If you truly cared for your legitimate offspring, you wouldn’t have mounted up so many enemies.”
“Viktor is innocent,” Crius clutches at his neck wound, trying to stem the surge of blood. “An enemy of mine tried to get to me through him. His fiancée was killed, and Viktor avenged her death.”
I glance at Thor.
He nods. “The man who killed Viktor’s fiancée was high up within the Irish mob. They would have retaliated, and then Crius would have struck back, starting a war no one can afford. Father put Viktor in Seacroft to keep the peace.”
My jaw tightens. “I regret failing to kill you when I was sixteen.”
Crius gasps, his eyes bulging, his mouth opening and closing but making no sound. I stand over him until the hand on his neck drops to the floor. Light fades from his eyes, and he exhales his final breath.
The air in my lungs still for a moment. I wait for him to move or to mutter a last word, but he remains still.
Crius is finally dead.
None of the relief or euphoria I imagined from this moment materializes. The physical act of slaughtering Crius is no different to any of my other kills.
He died just like any other man.
Thor claps. “That was cold.”
I raise my gun. “What’s next?”
“Father ordered me to kill you if you didn’t fulfill your end of the bargain.”
“And if I did?”
“He wants you to assign him a substantial part of the Vanir property portfolio, seeing as his legitimate son is imprisoned. No one knows where Crius put the daughter. She’s probably ignorant of his affairs.”
“Anything else?”
Thor shrugs. “You’re fired, and he’s revoked your security clearance to the university.”
“I thought he might.”
I make a mental note to mail Phoenix a burner phone first thing tomorrow morning. She’s coming to London with me.
“Do we have a deal?” Thor asks.
