AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mathieu couldn’t lie, he liked the sight of the sweat on Cesar’s brow. The wideness of his eyes as recognition and understanding set in.
“Cesar.” Mathieu granted him a tight smile. “How nice of you to finally join us.” When Cesar uttered a sound, muffled by the gag in his mouth, Mathieu yanked the cloth out.
“Ma-Mathieu, what is this? Release me right now.” Cesar tried for demanding but fell way short of the mark.
“And should I release them as well?” Mathieu nodded to the others. “I mean, I just got proof that they plotted my father’s death.”
Cesar paled but didn’t look away from Mathieu. “Then kill them, but let me go. I had nothing to do with it.”
“You’re a part of their group, are you not? And wasn’t Jairo Beltran also a member until you turned on him?” Mathieu got to his feet, smirking down at a disheveled Cesar, sprawled on the floor. “Is that the reason you disobeyed my order not to move on him and planted a bomb in his house? Because he carried your secrets?”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cesar stammered.
“Beltran was in on it with us, but we don’t consider him one of us,” Benson piped up. “He had to go because yes, he knew our secrets.” He spoke eagerly as if imparting any kind of information would save him from Mathieu’s wrath. “We thought if we pitted you two against each other then you’d kill each other.”
“Or one of you would die and we’d take out whoever was left standing while they were still vulnerable,” Aldean joined in.
Cesar glared at his co-conspirators, but they kept talking. Clearly they’d decided they had nothing left to lose.
“Then we would take over both of your operations.”
Of course. It was a good plan until it wasn’t. “Where is Jairo Beltran?”
Cesar’s mouth opened and closed. “I don’t know.”
“Then I guess he gets away with it while the rest of you will be buried six feet under.”
“Please. My family—”
“And what about mine?” Mathieu thundered. He didn’t even know which one of them said it. “Did any of you give a fuck about me and my sister when you gunned my father down?” That familiar heat of anger—no, of rage—swept over him, and his hand trembled when he pulled his gun from his waist. “It’s a mistake, trying to get any kind of mercy from me right now.” He took a step forward to where Michael Aldean, Joseph Shapiro, Renny Tells, and Oliver Benson were tied up together. Their voices rose as one, a grating cacophony, begging. “You got the wrong one for that; I don’t do mercy.”
A bullet for each of them. Right between the eyes. He didn’t stop, didn’t pause until only Cesar was left alive.
Mathieu went to him, getting down on his knees in front of Cesar. “Funny how the threat of death reduces a man to begging, isn’t it?” He grabbed Cesar’s trembling chin and pressed his fingers to either side of his face, forcing his mouth open. Then Mathieu shoved the gun into his mouth. “Funny how those who dish it out so easily would run from death when it comes knocking.” Cesar tried to twist away from him, terror in his eyes, smelling of piss, and Mathieu barked an order to Jason. “Hold him!”
Jason did and Mathieu’s lips peeled back in a snarl as he told Cesar, “I’m killing everybody you ever loved, know that. Wiping out your entire bloodline. Know that. And taking everything you ever thought to fucking own. Know that.”
One of the men who’d brought Cesar in held out a phone to Mathieu and he released Cesar’s chin, taking the phone and holding it up so Cesar would see the images on the screen. Cesar wasn’t married, didn’t have children, but he had two brothers. He had his mother, his father, and a grandmother.
“No!” Cesar wailed, bucking against Jason’s hold, trying to turn his face so as not to look at what Mathieu was showing him, but Mathieu was having none of it. “No!”
“Wi.”Yes. Mathieu dropped the phone, gripping the back of Cesar’s neck and pulling him close into an embrace. “Dunno what made you think you could fuck with me, but you were dead wrong,” he whispered in his ear. “You got them all killed. Know that. But listen, at least you get to join them.” He pulled away. “Let him go,” he instructed Jason, who dropped his hands and stepped back. Mathieu handed Jason his gun and pulled a knife from his boot. “For you,” he told Cesar conversationally. “For you, a bullet would be a kindness.”
A swipe of the knife across Cesar’s throat and blood spurted.
Cesar rocked on his knees, gagging. Twitching. His hands remained bound so he couldn’t do anything but blink surprised, terrified eyes at Mathieu as he bled out. The sounds he made. Mathieu remained on his haunches watching him, taking in every jerk of his body, every gurgle.
Cesar toppled backward, eyes open to the ceiling, blood pooling under him, his life draining away with every drop of red. Mathieu didn’t blink as he stared at him.
Then the silence registered. No more gurgling, no twitching. Just stillness. Cesar was dead.
Mathieu’s fingers flexed around the blade still in his grip, his chest heaving. He bowed his head, bringing up the image of his father in his mind. Expression serious, eyes sharp behind his glasses. Grief threatened to overwhelm Mathieu, gathering in his chest until it felt as if it would cave in on him.
“Boss?”
Mathieu took a breath and then another before getting to his feet and turning to Jason. Handing his second the bloodied knife, Mathieu told him, “Deal with this. Dump them somewhere where they can be found.” He was sending out a message to Jairo and he hoped that motherfucker got it before Mathieu got to him. “I need to get home.”
He had one of the others drive him while the rest remained with Jason.
