“Please just kill me,” he groans as his eyes roll in the back of his head.
“You want to give him a shot?” I ask Alejandro. This guy is about to pass out from the pain he’s in. We’ve been at this on and off all day. I’ve already cut off so many parts of him that he looks almost unrecognizable from the man who we met when we first came in here, but all he keeps telling us is that we ruined his life, he’s sorry and he never meant to hurt her, in between begging us to end his life. One of Alejandro’s tactics is to give people morphine so that they can endure more pain for longer and then when it wears off every part of their body screams at the same time. I have to admit it’s pretty twisted.
“You think he deserves any?” he asks.
“No.” I kick him in the nuts and he retches but there is nothing left in him to throw up. He puked up his guts ten seconds after I cut off his first toe. “But he’s going to be out soon though. I’m not sure how much more he can take.”
“So fuck him. I want him to hurt so bad that the memory of his screams will haunt this place for the rest of time.”
“I do too, but we’ve got nothing from him yet.”
“Maybe there’s nothing to give?” Alejandro shrugs. “Maybe he’s told us all there is. Because I gotta say I don’t think this piece of shit has it in him to withstand this level of pain without cracking, do you?”
I look back at the pathetic figure of Owen Kincaid. “No.” I frown. He was definitely the guy in the car that day. But why target Lucia?
I grab him by his hair and try one more time. “Why her?” I ask him again. “Why did you try to run her car off the road?”
“I didn’t,” he wails.
“What?” I snarl at him. He’s fucking delirious. He’s already admitted that it was him driving the car and now after everything he’s endured he’s trying to claim that it wasn’t. Alejandro walks over and punches Owen in the side of the head. His head snaps back and stays there.
“What the fuck?” I shake my head at him.
“I knocked him out. Wake him up.”
“Owen.” I shake him but there is not a flicker of life. “Owen!” Still nothing. I take my knife and hold it to his lip, slicing into the delicate flesh but he doesn’t flinch. “You fucking killed him.”
“So? That was the plan. I just did it a little sooner than expected.”
I drop the blow torch to the floor. I suppose he’s right. But fuck I was enjoying torturing that fuck way more than I thought I would.
As I walk out of the warehouse, I wipe my blood-soaked hands on an old rag and toss it to one of Alejandro’s security before I take out my cell phone. “Fuck.” I have no battery.
Alejandro walks up behind me.
“Can I borrow your cell?”
“Sure.” He takes it from his pocket and tosses it to me but he stays right by my side as we walk to the car. I can’t call Lucia because he’ll ask questions. I enter his passcode and dial Shane Ryan’s number instead.
“Hi, buddy. What’s up?”
“Hey, amigo. We found that guy that Jessie was looking into for me.”
“You did? I’ll let Jessie know she can stand down.”
“Thanks, and tell her thanks for her help.”
“I will. I’m glad you got everything sorted. How is Lucia?”
“She’s fine. There was no permanent damage from the crash.”
“Ah, that’s good.”
“Yeah. Thanks again, Shane.”
“No problem, Jax. I’ll catch up with you soon.”
“Bye, amigo.”
I end the call and hand Alejandro his cell phone back, wondering if Lucia is expecting me or whether she’s sleeping because we were traveling almost all night. I also remember that Alejandro has a guy stationed outside her apartment; how will I explain my visit? I’ll just say I’m checking in on her after our trip. She must know I’ll come to her place, right?
I should go home first and wash this asshole’s blood off me but all I can think about is touching her, tasting her, burying myself inside her until the rest of the world fades away. Rage and adrenaline and fury burn through my veins and I need to do something to release it. I need her. She is the light to my darkness.
“You ready?” Alejandro holds open the car door for me and I climb inside and count the seconds until I can get to her.