Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Do you call all women sweetheart…or just me?”
My eyes flicked back and forth between hers, feeling the gates around my heart open just a little bit more. “I only say that to my woman—and you’re my woman.”
I walked down the hallway and met Octavio.
“He’s in there.” He nodded toward the back room. “But he’s not talking, like all the others.”
I nodded before I entered the room, finding Horace chained to the stone wall by metal cuffs. He was already beaten with blood pouring down his face from his eyes and mouth, cuts up his arms from the slices he took from the dagger.
I pulled up a chair in front of him, crossed one ankle on the opposite knee and lit up a cigar.
Horace sat against the wall, his body held up by the chains that suspended his arms. He looked dead tired, like he couldn’t take much more of this.
I sat in silence and enjoyed my cigar, knowing the unknown would simmer under his skin then turn into a boil.
He continued to watch me, taking a deep breath as he processed his aches. “I don’t know where he is. That’s the fucking truth.”
“I believe you.” I puffed the smoke out of my mouth. “But you know I’m gonna kill you anyway.” I sucked on the cigar again and let the smoke invade every crevice of my mouth and nostrils.
“Then what the fuck do you want from me—”
“Someone knows where he is. And you’re going to give me a name.”
“You just said you’re going to kill me, so I don’t have much of an incentive to help you.”
I sat there with the cigar in my mouth, arms crossed over my chest, letting my silence tell him how wrong he was.
He looked elsewhere for a while, avoided my gaze when he could, but once the silence became too deafening, he looked at me again.
I tapped my fingers against my temple. “You aren’t seeing the big picture here.”
He stared at me with those bloodshot eyes.
“I’ve tortured and killed two men before you. You know who they were.”
He continued his stare.
“How many will come after you?” An assassin wasn’t the kind of man to have empathy for others, but he was part of the Brotherhood, which meant they were family. “Give me a name that’ll have a lead, and the killing stops.”
“You’re making an enemy you don’t want to have.”
“Making an enemy?” I cocked my head and pushed the smoke out of my mouth. “We were enemies the moment your organization killed my brother. We’ll remain enemies until Bolton is dead…or I’m dead. So, if you want to protect the rest of your brethren, then I suggest you give up the coward. He knows you’re dropping like flies, but he continues to hide. Brotherhood obviously means something different to him than it does to the rest of you.”
After a long stare, he shifted his eyes elsewhere.
“He’s the reason you’re going to die here. You know that, right?”
He continued to look away as his breathing started to elevate.
“Help me kill him. Take him down with you.” There was no greater emotion than revenge. I planted the seed, and then I watered it. I was on a goose chase, grabbing the guys who didn’t stay one step ahead of me. I wanted a lead that took me down the right road. I might be the Skull King, but I didn’t enjoy killing people for the hell of it.
“Carson…he’s probably with her.”
“Her?” Carson sounded like a man’s name.
“His girlfriend.”
Astrid had told me the tale of his affair, that she’d spotted the messages on his tablet just before he remotely deleted them from his device and his cloud. Not only had he been cheating before he’d asked for the open marriage, but he had a long-term relationship with someone.
Carson.
“Does this woman have a first name?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But she lives in Rome.”
Bolton had told Astrid he had contracts to fulfill when he went out of town, but that obviously wasn’t always the case. Sometimes he took a trip to Rome to live another life, with another woman, while his wife stayed home alone.
Like I needed another reason to kill him.
I nodded to the guys. “Make it quick.” I rose from the chair and walked out of the room, the cigar still in my mouth. The last thing I heard before I stepped into the hallway was the sound of the gunshot.
“What are you going to do?” Axel sat across from me at the table in the bar. He’d ordered a smoky old fashioned, so when they removed the lid, a cloud of smoke rose up his face. He shook the cubes in the glass then took a drink.
I stuck to my usual scotch on the rocks. “I don’t know.”
“You know anything about her?”
“No.” I didn’t know if she was involved in the Brotherhood or if she was just a waitress in a bar. I wasn’t even sure if he was with her, but it was a strong lead. “If he’s not there, I can make her call him and trace the call. If he is there, problem solved.”