He attempted to smile through the pain. “I’ll give it to you, pretty…you and Granite sure did a number taking my men down one by one.”
“Don’t call me pretty.”
“But you are. You’re the prettiest one out of all the Kings. If I had a pussy, I’d fuck you.”
It was an involuntary reaction when I swung my fist and slammed it into his jaw. Blood burst from his mouth and splattered on the floor, mixed with his sweat and snot.
I smiled. “Did you really think we’d let you get away with what you did to Neon?”
“It sure took you long enough.”
“A hunter bides his time, waits for the perfect moment to strike.”
“Bullshit. It was your president—or ratherpresidentswho kept you from finally coming for me.”
I held out my arms. “Yet here I am, and mypresidentsdon’t even know.”
“They forced your hand.” He tried to smile with a busted lip. “You knew if you didn’t get me out of that room, Onyx would have planted led in my skull.” His gaze met mine. “And we both know there’s no way in fucking hell you’ll let anyone else kill me.”
“One thing you got right, snake.”
Slither glanced around the room with tired eyes. “How did you find this place, anyway?”
I took a seat on a crate, playing with my knife in my hand. “A little piece of the building’s blueprint no one fucking knew about.”
“But you did.”
“Like I said, a hunter bides his time and does his homework before he strikes.” I smirked. “And with your fellow rapists dead—”
“Courtesy of you and Granite going on a murderous rampage.”
I looked up at the ceiling, a huge smile on my face. “Those were good times.” I sighed. “Good times. Anyway, now, with them dead, the only people who know about this room are you and me.”
He snickered. “And one very beautiful blue-haired pixie.”
It took me a split second to launch at him and grab his face, my fingers clawing into his cheeks. “Talk about her again, and I’ll cut your tongue out and shove one half down your throat, and the other up your ass.”
The chains rattled and clanged as I let go of his face with a jerk, his body swinging back and forth. It was ironic, really, how he hung from the same ceiling she did. Being tortured in the same room where he tortured her. His little minions didn’t know where he was, and I bolted the door shut the day I brought him down here. Now, the only way in and out was through the secret door that led to the sewers.
Slither spat out a mouthful of blood, trying to wipe his lips against his arm. “My crew will be looking for me, and my VP—”
“Oh, you mean Boa?” I rubbed the back of my neck. “See, the thing about a crew, you need to earn respect and not demand it. If the leader is a selfish prick, it’s only a matter of time before they start following the example.” I started to circle him again. “Something tells me Boa is quite happy to sit in your seat, snake. I don’t think he’ll worry too much about finding you.”
His silence confirmed it. He knew just like I did that his crew’s loyalty was volatile, at best. They were loyal to the position, not the person. They didn’t care who wore the president’s tag.
“You know I’m right, don’t you?”
“Fuck you.”
I scoffed. “It’s a goddamn pretty sight, seeing your confidence wither.”
“You won’t break me, pretty,” he taunted. “I’ve endured pain far worse than you’ll ever be capable of inflicting.”
I rubbed my fists together, narrowing my eyes as I stared at him. “You have no idea what I’m capable of, snake.”
He snickered. “All this for a girl. Like I said, she’ll end up destroying you.”
“I don’t care.” I pressed the blade of my knife against his cheekbone, slowly dragging it down, tears of red bleeding out of the gaping wound. He cringed, his jaw clenched, and his eyes pressed closed. “All I care about right now is making you bleed.”