Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“I have nothing to say,” he mumbles, hanging his head.
Reaper pulls a long barreled gun out of his belt and starts wiping it down. “Are you sure about that? If it’s true, then you’re the first fucking lawyer I’ve met who’s run out of shit to say.”
“You don’t understand. This is bigger than me.”
“Cute.” Reaper pulls another stool over and straddles it, shoving his gun right up against the other man’s balls. “You say that like I care. If it’s bigger than you, then point us in the right direction and maybe we’ll stop looking your way.”
“Jesus Christ,” Mullerby breathes. I think I can hear his heart hammering from here. Or maybe that's just mine. “I don’t ask questions, okay? Occasionally I get a message that lets me know to not look too hard at a particular case. I don’t pick the people or what they go down for. All I know is that my bank account goes up when I do what I’m told. It’s not that deep.”
“Not that deep?” My hands curl into fists so tight my nails are probably drawing blood from my palms. “These are lives you're playing with. Who tells you which cases to throw?”
“I don’t know them by name.”
“You have to know something. You aren’t that stupid.”
He looks up at me and smirks. “It’s not in my best interests to know.”
Mack puts a hand on my shoulder. “Let us take a turn.”
“Fine.” I step back, mind reeling at having him confirm that I was right. It’s not just that the system is bad or corrupt, but the way he seems to think it doesn’t matter. That it’s just business as usual. I’ve never been so repulsed by a person in my life.
Like flipping a switch, Mack goes from sweet and supportive to terrifying. He boxes the side of Mullerby’s head so hard he looks like one of those little punching bags on a spring. “Maybe you’re telling the truth and you don’t know the guy higher up the ladder, but you sure as fuck know how to contact someone. Who did you hire to hurt Mila?”
Mullerby moans. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. “I didn’t! All I have is a number, I swear. If anyone gets close, I message that number and things are taken care of.”
“God, you are so fucking low,” growls Reaper. “You can’t even do your own dirty work. At least I fucking know how much blood is on my hands. How much is on yours?”
“Give us the number,” Scrapper orders.
His face goes white as a sheet. “I won't live past the week.”
Mack stands up to his full height. “We can make sure you don’t live out the day.”
“No, please. I'll… fuck.” Mullerby's head sags in defeat. “My phone’s in my pocket. The number changes every couple weeks but I just got the new one. I swear that's all I know. Let me go home. I cooperated. If anyone finds out I’ve talked to you, I’m dead.”
“Welcome to Give a Shit, population: You,” Scrapper says with a shrug. “Do we let him go? Or shut him up?”
“Let him go!” I hurry to say before someone does something drastic. More drastic. “I don't want anyone killed. I just wanted information, and I've got it. We have somewhere to go from here, right? Please.” It’s slowly sinking in that I’m complicit in what just happened. I could have refused to talk to him and walked out, but I stayed and accepted their screwed up help.
The guys look at each other. Mack nods, Reaper shrugs and then Scrapper steps forward with his knife.
“No! Please! I swear, I told you everything I know!” Mullerby squirms and wiggles, but there's no getting out of those ropes.
“Oh, for fuck's sake, just sit still. I'm not gutting you, I'm cutting the ropes. But if you keep moving, I can't guarantee I won't slip.”
Mullerby freezes, right up until the ropes around his wrists loosen and he hisses, rubbing them hard.
Mack pushes off the wall. “Get her out of here. I think we’ll give him some time to cool down and think about the shitty choices he’s made before we send him home.”
Scrapper nods his head. “Come on, baby. Let’s go. We’ll pass the number on to our tech guy. Maybe he can find something.”
I'm more than happy to leave the cells behind. It’s only been about an hour since I was running down to meet Reaper and thinking about how fun it was going to be. That whole time, Mullerby was sitting in a cell, waiting for me like a messed up birthday present.
Are my guys insane? Probably, but they were worried about me, and knew I wanted to talk to Mullerby, so they made it happen. No one’s ever done something like that for me.
I don’t know if I’m cut out for their world, but I can’t deny that having the three of them at my back is kind of amazing.