I want to keep it.
My beautiful distraction.
She shone hope on my existence. I liked being someone else with her. How I became more. . . But without her, I don’t want to be more. Without her, I have a place. Beside them. Protecting them. Making their lives better.
When my eyes fixate on the tan line on her ring finger, I clench my teeth to the point of pain.
Fuck.
I jump up, heading to the second bathroom. A whimper from the other side sounds as I turn the knob.
I open the door slowly and grin at the Italian fuck lying in the bathtub, bound with rope and gagged with black cloth. He flips around like a slug, trying to glimpse at me. Like he doesn’t know exactly what I look like or what is going to happen. They must all know by now. Does my reputation not proceed me? I take a step inside, letting the door click closed at my back.
All I can think about are her curves as they wriggled beneath me when I fucked her deep. Fucked him out of her. She let me. Wanted it like that, I think. Now I can smell her perfect scent on me. And mine will be all over her.
I blink at him, not sure why I’m in this room right now. Tears have dried on my cheeks, leaving tight salty tracks in their wake.
I lower my head, glaring at him through my lashes, feeling tight and volatile. I sniffle, eyes trained on him.
The Italian fuck in the tub starts to whimper, eyeing me. The state I’m in. I bet. . . I bet it’s terrifying. Deranged. I bet. . . I bet she was fucking terrified when I pierced her neck with that needle while her pussy still clung to my cock.
Another tear slips from my eye.
Grabbing a chair from beside the vanity, I drag it along the charcoal-coloured tiles to the side of the tub. As I twist it to sit on it backwards, hanging my arms over the backrest, he shuffles to face me. He stares at me like I’m the devil personified, begging with the whites of his eyes for a chance, for mercy.
I look from his wide eyes to the Mother Mary tattoo that wraps around his throat and remember how much I wanted to open The Mother up.
“You know the thing that makes the Butcher bird more deadly than other birds of prey is their ruthless pursuit when protecting their family. I get that. Protecting my family is what makes my blood pump. . . I have four brothers. You know me.Us,” I say to him, my gaze glossy, my eyes red from the tears I shed over that moment in the bedroom. I look straight through him. “One of my brothers I have only just met. Missed his childhood. I’ll never get that back.” I point at him and wave my finger. “You might know him actually. His name is Konnor Slater. Your boss used to call himson.A long time ago. Then, get this, he paid to have him kidnapped. The only reason that makes sense is if he knew he wasn’t his. A bastard boy with Butcher blood. We don’t know if he knew that for sure. . . but we can’t be sure he didn’t either. So my beautiful brother spent four years locked in a sick fuck’s basement. On your boss’s orders. Any of this ringing a bell?” I glance towards the door, still being pulled back to her. I should tuck her in.
Hold her.
His muffled words draw me back to him.
I shake my head. “No. You don’t talk. Just listen. I also have a sister. A beautiful, gentle sister-in-law. She is fucking sunshine, and she brings my family so much peace and joy.” I lean towards him, feeling heat crawl up my neck, ready to take over and bring carnage. “Your boss hurt her. Now, if you think I’m messing around, I’m disappointed. If you think that when I remove your gag, I will listen to the slightest bullshit, that I am going to spare you pain, then consider this. In the room across the hall, I have drugged the love of my life. And I plan on dragging her sweet arse across the country with me. I plan on keeping her until she forgets I took her against her will. Until she forgives me for it. And if she doesn’t forget, forgive, I’m keeping her anyway. If I can do that to her. . . what do you think I can do to you?”
I eye him for a long, patient moment.
“Now.” I sit up straighter and lock eyes with him, ignoring the need to be beside her. To pretend she is holding me willingly in her sleep. Being my beautiful distraction from the beautiful world and its ominous place for me. “Where is Dustin Nerrock?” I ask. When I’m met with silence, I glare into his wide panicked eyes that scream a message. I dart my gaze to the gag in his mouth. I laugh coldly. “Sorry.” Grabbing the black gag, I rip it from his mouth. “You were saying?”
“Jimmy will never approve of this!” He coughs the words out with a mouthful of spit and bile. “I have worked for Dustin for years. For Jimmy. I know Dustin and Jimmy are having a few issues, but they are family! We all are”
I grin, leaning back and folding my arms across my chest. Dustin and Jimmy are having issues, ay? Even though Jimmy played the whole attack on Cassidy down, the fact that Dustin disappeared after it always seemed off to me. If I was Jimmy, I’d have removed a finger and made everyone kiss and make up. He must have been unimpressed enough to banish Dustin. . . My grin grows at the thought. I bet Dustin hated that. “You aren’t family though, are you?” I laugh. “Jimmy and I are. And, ah, well, the old boy doesn’t like you very much at the moment, mate.”
“What?” He blinks in a panic, and it’s annoying that Jimmy’s disappointment strikes more fear in him than mine. “I haven’t done anything! Tell him.”
I shrug, grinning harder now. “He thinks you took his diamonds and killed his nephew.”
“The diamonds? Sal?Madonna Mia.Sal is dead? I didn’t kill him! Fuck, Bronson. I didn’t! You must believe me. I swear, I love Jimmy. I’d never do this.”
I nod. “I believe you.”
He stares blankly at me. “What?”
“I believe you,” I say smoothly, but he’s no fool. He knows that’s not a good thing, given I bound him in a bathtub.
“I don’t understand,” he says, and I watch his throat roll slowly. “Wha- Why?”
“I know you didn’t do it,” I say, tilting my head. “Because I know who did it.”