Lifting my gun, I shot anyone who was in my way with practiced ease, counting down the bullets I had left in the gun.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
I jerked when a searing pain bloomed in my thigh causing me to pause and look down. Blood started to ooze out of the wound, and I didn’t see an exit. It wasn’t enough blood to mean it hit an artery, so I continued, blocking out the pain.
One.
Empty.
Reload.
“Astin,” someone screamed at me, but I wasn’t going to be distracted.
There, desperately trying to claw open the elevator, was one of the men I was looking for.
Two hulking men charged at me.
Eight.
Seven.
“Why isn’t she hearing us?”
“Where’s the boss?”
“I saw her drag him back this way. Did we call an ambulance?”
“Guys, look at her. The boss is gone.”
Something in my chest rioted against that proclamation, but I couldn’t stop.Hedid this. It was his mouth that uttered the words that made this happen. Finally, the rat knew I was coming for him, the scent of piss in the air told me he knew. Father was dead, and this man was responsible. He was going to pay.
“Please, I didn’t know,” the Rat sobbed. “It was never my intention to have him assassinated. I might have been upset with him and lashed out, but he was my friend.”
The Rat scrambled away from me only trapping himself in a corner. I raised the gun, knowing with a simple squeeze of my finger he’d die. No. That would be far too good a death for him. Rats don’t deserve a good death, they must suffer, screaming their agony all the way to hell. Kneeling, I grunted as I put the weight on my bleeding leg, but I dismissed it. Reaching back, I pulled my blade from my heel.
“You say you didn’t want him dead, so what was the purpose of all of this then?” I asked, my voice sounding hollow to my own ears.
The Rat didn’t answer. He just cried and begged.
“If you won’t answer me, then there’s no reason for you to ever speak again. You shall have the same fate as your traitorous whore. She’ll learn as will you that betraying the Caprioni Family only leads to nothing but suffering and death,” I shared, grabbing his jaw.
I tried to get the Rat to open his mouth, but he fought against me. Fine, there’s more than one way to skin a rat. I flipped the gun so I was holding the muzzle and slammed it into his jaw hearing the bones crack. The Rat screamed, thrashing under me, but it was no use. This time, when I wrenched his mouth open, he couldn’t resist with a broken jaw. I reached in and grabbed his tongue, pinching it hard enough that he whimpered in pain.
“You will drown in your own blood the way my father did,” I whispered in the Rat’s ear. “Slowly, you’ll choke on the thing that gave you life, but no one will cry for you. No, Rat, you will be alone, cold, and filled with the knowledge this is the result of your choices.”
Sitting up, I wiped my one hand dry on his shirt as I grasped my thin yet wickedly sharp blade. I worked quickly, wanting to make sure he lived long enough to be as terrified as my father was. Blood flooded his mouth, making him choke, but I kept working, ignoring the blood he coughed on me. Once I freed his tongue, I tossed it aside and ripped open his shirt, letting my blade pierce into his flesh deep and into his lungs. I made sure to hit the upper and lower parts, ensuring his death.
Finished with the Rat, I stood and found the release for the elevator doors revealing the empty shaft. I dragged him to the edge and spat on him as he gagged and gurgled up at me. “May my face be the last thing you see before you greet the king of hell.” With a shove, I tossed him down the shaft.
When I stood, this time my leg gave out, sending me crashing to the floor.