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“You’ve done that before?” Sasha’s black brows furrowed, his only outward sign of surprise.
I nodded, clamping a hand to my side, hoping to silence the protest inside my body. Idefinitelypulled something. Maybe it was a good thing I’d be sitting behind a desk from now on. My days on the street were clearly numbered, whether I wanted them to be or not.
“Where the hell did you have to do that the first time?” he asked, looking at the car as it rolled up onto the curb and came to a halt.
“Bulgaria.”
“Oh, I hear it’s nice there.”
“It is. You should visit. I think Roan would appreciate Plovdiv more than Sofia.”
Sasha nodded, his pale blue eyes darting past me as Anton and Marek rushed up to us.
“Boss,” Anton said, pointing at his watch and I nodded. Based on the average police response, we needed to move. Quickly.
“Why are you guys just—Oh my God!” Marek stared at me with wide eyes. “You’re bleeding! Did you get shot again?”
I tugged my black shirt up, frowning. Not a muscle cramp, then. My previous wound had reopened and fresh blood seeped out from beneath the adhesive. In the rush of everything that happened, I’d kind of forgotten about it, although I was happy to see there weren’t any new holes. “It’ll be fine. Just needs a couple new stitches.”
“You think?!” Marek snapped.
Sasha snorted and walked away with Anton.
“Let’s get out of here.” I slung an arm over Marek’s shoulders and walked with him back to the car, grinding my teeth as pain flared with each step.
“What are we doing now? Finally taking you to a hospital?”
“You are going home with Anton. Sasha and I have more work to do.”
“I don’t think so. The last time you two went off together, you came back with a fucking bullet hole. And today you’re out of the car for all of five minutes and you’re bleeding again!”
I stopped outside the Escalade and tugged the earplugs out, slipping them in my pocket before I took his face between my hands. It didn’t matter. The world was still distorted from all of the gunshots. “I don’t want you to see what I’m about to do.”
“What are you about to do?”
“I’m going to dismember him and any other Neon King we find alive.”
Marek blinked quickly and looked away, nodding mutely.
“You wanted his head,” I reminded him. “Do you still want it, or is my word enough?”
“Your word is enough,” he said, so quietly I could hardly hear him with the ringing in my ears.
“I promise you, he’ll suffer for everything he’s ever done. I will see to it personally.”
Marek nodded. His lips parted but he closed them again, letting his gaze fall to the center of my chest.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It wasn’t fair to blame you for what happened to Axel,” he replied, still not looking at me. “I know you were only trying to help.”
“That man murdered your brother in cold blood. Whether you blamed me or not, I would still make him suffer for hurting you.”
“You know, you’re one of the only people I know who actually keeps their word?” Marek gave me a sad smile and turned, climbing into the Escalade.
* * *
The Romano warehousewas cold and drafty but I still preferred it over the summer heat. The cold always helped with the stench. Plus, the way steam curled off of hot entrails had a way of unnerving people as they waited for their turn to be butchered.
