Page 21 of Beneath the Carnage

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I said nothing, staring at him as if his words meant nothing, but inside I was falling apart. I reminded myself that I knew he'd done terrible things, and I accepted him.

“Watch yourself, Hector. I'm sure you've done things you'd rather your wife never hear the details of.” We all heard the threat.

“Actually, Hector, I’ve never been a party to a flaying, but I already knewhehas.” I managed to sound incredibly bored as the lie fell.

“Hmph,” he meanly smirked. “So tell me, what was unhappy about your day then? You got to see your enemy's guts. Your pretty girlfriend doesn’t care how often you’ve slit a man’s throat.”

Mason’s eyes drifted to me, answering Hector’s question.

“Ah, that explains it.Shesaw it, and her displeasure interrupted your day.” He shrugged, his face full of mock pity. “My wife had a similar situation, except do you know what she saw?” he looked right at me as he spoke, the hatred I assumed centered on Mason freely overflowing onto me. “Well, do you?”

“No,” I bit out, keeping my voice from shaking through sheer determination alone.

“She thought she was opening a gift from a friend and found her brother's fucking head with his eyes plucked out! My little girl saw that head when my wife dropped the box, and herTio'sempty fucking eye sockets stared back at her!” anger flooded his cheeks, deepening the brown tone. A single tear escaped as he glared at me.

Tears sprang into my eyes as I allowed his angry words to paint a horrid image of the scene. I'd never seen his wife or daughter, but I could see them as they wailed. His wife's unimaginable pain was one thing, but his daughter's confusion was another entirely. I thought I might be sick.

“I am so sorry. I am so incredibly sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Claire.” Mason snapped, grabbing my arm and yanking me against him so Hector couldn’t glare at me directly. “Hector, I’m very sorry this happened, but we need to kill those responsible. And you taking your frustrations out on her isn’t only unhelpful, it’s suicidal.” His measured tone turned downright feral on the last word.

Hector nodded, absorbing the threat and seeming to relish in it. Unfortunately, the meeting was going in a bad direction fast.

“Of course, Mr. Sharp, right away. Let me just clarify what we need to do.” He held up a single finger. “Find your father, the man who killed my family and mutilated my brother-in-law, and then what? You're going to take revenge on him?” He held up a second finger with a skeptical look on his face as if Mason couldn't possibly deliver on his promise.

“What did he do to you, Mr.Sharp?” The way he said his name was another taunt, practically begging Mason to dosomething. “He took care of an enemy you still wanted to play with? Stole your dinner out of your fucking mouth when you still wanted to toss it around a bit?” He slapped his hands against his desk, “Our stakes are not the same in this! Your father will destroy me while he teaches you a lesson and then brings you back into the fold.”

“You may know my father, Hector. But you do not know him as I do. We are far passed the point of him wanting to bring me back into the 'fold.' If you have any question of that, he admitted to murdering my mother to taunt me into attacking first.”

His mouth popped open in shock, “Your mother?”

“He killed her when I was fourteen, Hector. You told me a dead pedophile on my doorstep meant nothing to me, and you were right. But what about my mom? I’ll admit he killed her in the summer, not at Christmas.” Hector digested Mason’s words without comment.

“Regarding what message he was trying to send yesterday, you can make what you want of that, but think carefully about the enemies you choose, because if my father wins, he's going to kill you.” A bit of the tension had eased with the admission of his mother's murder, but that only assured me no one was about to die.

“A message? Is that what Paulito is now? Nothing but a message from your enemies, all because I chose to help you? That is the message. This is what happens to your loved ones when you help Mason Sharp! This is what happens to you when you help him!”

My heart ached for him and his pain. I understood that desperate need to place blame all too well.

“You didn't have a lot of options aside from helping me. Are you too angry to remember you were desperate?” All the rage had died out of Mason's voice, and it was clear to him that Hector wanted to share a little misery, not hurt us.

“Fuck this business! I was an idiot to think saving it was worth getting into business with you!” he leaned his hands against his desk, and we were all quiet for a minute.

“Watch yourself, Hector. We can easily be out of business.” Of course, I knew that to be a bluff.

“They gutted Wolfe like a fucking fish for helping you, and that's what he plans to do to anyone who helps you. If I had any sense, I'd get far away from you and all the shit you touch. You're poisonous, man. Your whole fucking family is poison.”

Mason's fist clenched. The only sign that Hector's insults had the desired effect.

“Gavin Wolfe was a thief and a traitor, and those were two of his redeeming qualities. If my fuckingpoisonkills people like him, I'll take it. I don't know your fucking brother-in-law well enough to know if he deserved it or not, but he got it all the same.” Hector looked up at him, meeting his gaze with a spark of hope mixed in with the frenzied pain.

“You cannot presume to know better than I do what the message left on my door meant. I don’t have a giant compound. Your men are not among those stationed at my home. So who would this message be for, then, if not for my men or me?”

Mason gestured toward the men at Hector’s sides. “Mymenare not so easily frightened. James and Vick? The fact they betrayed my father is common knowledge, and they know he has worse things planned for them than what he did to Gavin Wolfe.”

James nodded gravely at that, and my brows pushed together. There was a story there that I hadn’t heard. How deeply were they involved with David Sharp? Mason shot me an apologetic look, seeming to guess the direction of my thoughts. I didn’t give him much credit for his intuition, seeing as the adjustment period between all his lies and this new world full of truths came with many surprises.

Hector heaved a breath. “Give me one good reason not to count you among my enemies?” To his merit, his gaze focused solely on Mason and James, and I prayed his eyes didn’t flit to me because I knew Mason would react if they did.


Tags: Aurelia Knight Romance