Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Derek opened his mouth, presumably to plead for his life, but I swung out and connected the brass with his face.
Derek’s head cracked back, and he groaned. His cheek split open, and blood slid down his face to soak into his torn and tattered shirt.
“That was the light one. I’m just getting warmed up, assholes.”
“Did Liliana ask you to stop? Beg you to?” I said through clenched teeth.
Derek sputtered and tipped his head toward Logan. “H-He was the one,” he wheezed out.
My vision went wavy, red saturating everything in front of me. Before I knew what I was doing, my fists were working in tandem to clock both motherfuckers repeatedly.
“He’ll die from blood loss or shock if you don’t slow down.”
I heard Luca’s voice, and his words penetrated the hazy rage filling me. I forced myself to take a step back. I was breathing hard when I came back to my senses.
“You’re right,” I breathed out, not realizing until that moment how out of breath I was or how much blood covered me. “I better end this now before these fuckers pass out and can’t feel how I make the last seconds of their lives even more painful.”
I tossed my brass knuckles away and walked over to the rusted and dented table and grabbed a ten-inch serrated knife. I eyed it, turned to face Derek and Logan, and grinned as I walked over to the fuckers.
Derek was worse for wear out of the two, and Logan was struggling to breathe now as he eyed me. I could hear the liquid in every breath he took, likely blood filling his lungs.
“I need to be quick,” I said conversationally. “Sounds like you’re about to suffocate on your own fluids.”
Because Derek was half conscious, I stepped up to Logan and gripped his chin, turning his swollen and beaten face up, so I forced him to look at me.
I inhaled, feeling my nostrils flare as I bared my teeth.
“If you had only owed me money and hadn’t put your hands on Liliana, I would have made your death far quicker.” I smelled the sweat and piss pouring off of him.
I took the blade and ran it along each side of the asshole’s face. The skin opened up instantly, and Logan screamed in pain.
“I want to make you and your dad’s death slow and painful, but I know you’re too close to death as it is.” I leaned in and snarled, “And I want you with it enough to know you’re dying.”
I stabbed Logan in the gut and heard the wet gurgle of his cry.
“Your death won’t make her forget how you two ruined her fucking life, but it’ll make me feel better and ensure she’s safe. Luca,” I whispered. “use the smelling salts on Derek. I want him lucid when this all goes down.”
“Matteo,” Luca said, and I looked over at the man I’d known—the man I’d been closer to than anyone else—and narrowed my eyes. I could see the confusion on his face.
“Don’t fucking say it, Luca,” I snarled. I wasn’t in the fucking mood for anyone to question my motives, least of all the only person I’d ever given two shits about.
Until now.
Luca’s nostrils flared as if he wanted to say something, but he clenched his jaw and looked away.
I slammed the blade right under Derek’s ribs, knowing I only had seconds before he died. He gurgled, struggled fruitlessly, and as I leaned in and stared into Derek’s eyes, I smiled slowly as I watched the life leave him.
Derek made one last desperate plea for life, a sharp inhale of breath, and then he was gone. Logan made an inaudible sound, one a wounded animal would make when it knew it was about to die.
I turned my attention to him and said in a low voice, “You’re next, motherfucker.”
The silence that filled the room was deafening, but there was also this release that seemed to flow from me like I’d never felt before.
I took a step back and looked down at the knife, the blade dripping red, viscous fluid onto the cracked and stained concrete floor.
When I lifted my head and looked at Derek’s lifeless form, I inhaled sharply, smelling the coppery tang of blood that filled my nose.
A nudge to my side had me looking toward Luca, who held out a bottle of vodka to me. I drank the alcohol until nothing was left, until my throat was numb and my belly full, my head feeling light. I moved the blade up, opening up the prick’s stomach like a hot knife going through butter, and pulled it out. Blood dripped from it, landing on my loafers.
“Finish him. Slowly,” Luca said and grinned, and I felt my pulse race as I faced off with the other man. All I saw was Liliana. All I saw was the way she wanted to save these fuckers, to sell herself to me and save them.