Chapter Twenty-One #4
I reach out a hand, and Noah flinches and turns his head to the side.
When he squeezes his eyes shut, I wait. As soon as one eye pries open, I land a punch to his jaw, and little pinpricks of pain dance up my arm.
I throw another punch, and this time I hear a sickening crunch as bright red blood drips from his nose and onto the floor.
Noah winces. I hit him again, this time focusing on the side of his face. It isn’t long before his face is covered in blood, and his breath is shallow and uneven. Still, it isn’t enough to quell the bloodlust rising within me, and the image of London’s hurt face playing on a loop in my head.
Rage pumps through my veins as I focus on the feeling of my fist connecting with his face.
I blink, and Noah’s bruised, bloodied face swims into my field of vision.
The smell of blood fills my nostrils.
Noah doubles over as I land another punch to his stomach, and he coughs, spittle and blood staining the floor at his feet. Then, I yank Noah’s head back and wait for him to focus. As he does, he offers me a grim smile that surprises me.
He’s harder to break than I thought.
I’d be impressed if I weren’t so livid.
Most men would’ve broken down in tears and offered me everything they owned by now.
How have I underestimated Noah?
I lower myself, so we’re at eye level. “You’re going to tell me exactly what you told your family about me.”
“Or what?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Or Katia’s knife might just slip.”
Noah’s eyes flash as he glances over at the assassin, who is leaning against the wall, examining her nails, and then back at me. “You’re bluffing.”
I release his head and stand up. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Katia strolls over to us. She whips out a knife and runs it along the length of Noah’s arm. The silver glistens in the dim light as she reaches his shoulders. Then, her expression hardens as she presses hard enough to draw a thin welt of blood down his forearm.
Noah turns green, and a shiver ripples through him. “You don’t want to do this.”
“This is taking too fucking long,” I tell Katia, shaking my head. “He’s a waste of space.”
Katia digs the knife in harder, and Noah hisses. “Give me a few hours with him. I’ll make sure he tells me what I need to know.”
I shrug. “Make sure you clean yourself up after. London won’t want to smell his blood on you.”
Katia’s smile is a flash of white in the darkness. “I’ll tell you all about it after.”
I chuckle. “I look forward to it. When you’re done with him, bring me his brother.”
“No! Leave him out of this. Ryder hasn’t done anything.”
“We’ll need a plan to get to his father, too. I don’t want any loose ends.”
Katia levels Noah with a withering look. “I’ll take care of it.”
I turn my back to her and shove my hands into my pockets. Noah calls out to me, but I ignore him. Once I reach the top of the stairs, the door swings open, and Carlisle appears, smiling. He lowers his voice and leans back to look at me.
“Get the car ready,” I tell him in response to what he shares. “And tell Katia there’s been a change of plans.”
A short while later, Katia and Carlisle are waiting for me by the front door, wearing identical grim expressions.
I don’t look at either of them as we step out into the cool night air, and then into the black car waiting for us.
Katia gets into the back with me, and Carlisle slides into the passenger seat.
As the car drives away from the estate, I lean back against the leather seats.
“What do you want to do when you find them?” Katia asks.
“Leave Everett to me,” I say. “You can have some fun with Fitzpatrick first.”
As long as I get to deal the deadly blow, I don’t care what Katia does to either of them.
Not when I finally know where they are.
All I need is to get close enough, and it’s only been a few minutes since our guy at the airport tipped us off.
Fucking amateurs.
I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I cut them off on the way out of the airport.
They won’t see me coming, and it’s almost enough to make up for the disastrous night I’ve been having.
Don’t forget that you still have the Noah problem waiting for you.
I pour myself a drink and picture returning to Noah, who is on his hands and knees, begging for mercy.
For London’s sake, I might even consider it.
Knowing that Noah will sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life is tempting, but it’s not enough.
He needs to be taught a lesson.
Carlisle’s phone rings a while later. He presses it to his ear and says nothing. Once he hangs up, I recognize the glint in his eyes. “They’ve got the journalist.”
I eye Carlisle over the rim of my glass. “Good. And the security company the mayor hired?”
“Working on it,” Carlisle replies. “Should I tell the men to bring the journalist in the usual way?”
I take a long sip and nod. “Yes, but keep him bound and gagged. I want to greet him personally after I take care of this problem.”
Carlisle reaches for his phone again.
Halfway to the airport, as I’m envisioning all the ways to make Michael and Lance pay, the car begins to skid.
With a frown, the driver grips the steering wheel with both hands and swerves out of the way of an incoming car.
He lets out a steady stream of curses when we almost collide with another truck, its bright headlights nearly blinding me.
I glance out the window at the world racing past on either side of us.
“Someone messed with the brakes.” The driver raises his voice to be heard over the clamor outside. “I’m trying to find somewhere safe to crash.”
“Just fucking do it.” I ignore the pounding in my chest. I glance out the window again and stare at the asphalt below, and then yank on the door handle.
When the door doesn’t open, I scowl and try again, but it’s no use.
Fear claws through me as I throw my shoulder against the door, but it doesn’t budge.
What the hell?
Katia is trying to pry the other door open with her knife. “Get us the fuck out of here.”
The car skids again, and we’re all thrown forward.
The impact rattles my teeth. Then, the car swerves out of control and spins in a circle.
A few seconds later, we crash into a tree.
Pain blossoms behind my eyes as I grit my teeth and push back against the searing pain.
Slowly, I open my eyes to see Katia hovering over me.
She shatters the window and crawls out.
As I climb through behind her, I spot Carlisle with one arm hanging limply by his side and his pant leg drenched in blood. His eyes widen as he looks past me. I wheel around, but my gun is kicked out of my hand before I can shoot.
Katia’s grunts pierce the fog.
I crouch, throw out my leg, and kick my assailant onto his back.
Then, I retrieve the gun hidden in my sock and open fire.
Two bullets lodge themselves in the man’s legs, but they only slow him down. His face is half-hidden behind a mask, and his all-black outfit makes it harder to make out his outline. Something sails past me, and I turn to see Katia throwing another man through the air, his face contorted in fury.
Carlisle is shooting blindly now, and bullets race past in either direction.
One of them hits another man in the arm, and he yells as a streak of lightning illuminates the night sky.
I grip my gun tightly and fire again. This time, the bullet lands in the man’s chest, and he crumples to the ground.
He sputters, and his eyes widen and fill with panic as I aim between his eyes and shoot again.
His blood soaks the ground beneath my feet as the skies break open, with rain pouring down around me.
When the light leaves the man’s eyes, I step over him and frown.
Then I shove strands of hair from my face and look around.
Another bolt of lightning streaks through the sky, offering me a glimpse of Katia with one arm around the back of a man’s head, and the other holding a knife to his throat.
Her knee comes up, and she hits him in the groin.
A heartbeat later, she slices through skin and releases the man, his hands moving immediately to the gash on his throat.
I shift closer, and the man’s sputtering fills my ears.
Carlisle joins us a moment later, breathing heavily.
“Where the fuck is our backup?”
Carlisle shifts on his feet and winces. “I don’t know.”
“It’s your damn job to know,” I snap. “Get us the hell out of here, or there will be one more body to join the rest.”
The anger coursing through me means that no one, not even my right-hand man, is safe.
My mind is still reeling as Katia steps out onto the road, her dark eyes scanning the cars that rush past, bright headlights momentarily illuminating the dark.
One hand remains clenched at her side, and the other is holding her knife, still dripping with the man’s blood.
With a frown, she glances down and wipes the knife on the thigh of her pants.
She looks over at me, and our eyes meet and hold for a brief second.
I know she’s thinking the same thing I am.
The crash wasn’t an accident.
How the hell did they get to you so fast? Only a handful of people knew about tonight, and two of them are with you.
It’s not Katia. She wouldn’t betray you, but even if she did, she would go for something far more subtle. Crashes aren’t Katia’s style.
Whoever did this wanted a show.
It would’ve been the perfect setup, too, with the pouring rain and no witnesses.
My blood boils at the thought of what I’m going to do when I find out who’s responsible.
“We’ve got company.” Carlisle’s voice barely carries over the sound of the rain. “They’re only a few minutes out.”
I curse and rifle through the bodies, retrieving a few more guns.
I toss one to Carlisle, one to Katia, and keep one for myself.
“There’s been an attack on one of the warehouses,” Carlisle adds as he steps beside me. He grimaces and shifts his weight again. “There are men on the way.”
I wipe the gun on my pants and roll my shoulders. “We’ll just have to make sure we give them hell. I want everyone driving by to hear their screams.”
Carlisle nods.
Katia appears by our side, her hair pressed to her face. She steps closer, and I see a figure huddled behind her. It takes me a second to place the face, but as his hat and button-down shirt shift into focus, I point the gun at the driver and let out a stream of curse words.
He shrinks and hides behind Katia, who offers him a disgusted look. “I figured you’d want to deal with him yourself.”
Slowly, the driver raises fear-filled eyes to me and swallows. “Mr. Payne, please. I didn’t have a choice. They were going to hurt my family—”
“I don’t care if they held a fucking gun to all of your heads,” I interrupt. “You should’ve thought twice. I’m going to make it my mission to hunt down your family once we’re done.”
His eyes widen, and he wrings his hands. “What if I gave you the name of the person responsible for all this? The guy who’s been pulling the strings behind the scenes?”
I stare at the man for a few seconds and weigh my options.
He’s a lower-level hire, a nobody in the grand hierarchy, but there’s something about the hint of panic in his voice.
He’s telling the truth, or at least he thinks he is.
Katia pulls him by his hair and forces him to his knees. She presses the knife against his throat and scowls. “Speak.”
“I… I don’t have a name.” The man is trembling violently. “But I do know it’s someone close to you.”
I glance over at Katia. “How fast can you get rid of the body?”
“It’s a Payne.” The man’s words chill my blood. “I didn’t catch the first name, but it’s another Payne, I swear.”
I nod to Katia, and she releases the man, who lands face-first on the wet ground. His eyes are filled with relief when he looks up at me, but the relief is quickly replaced by fear when he sees the gun still pointed at him. The protest dies on his lips as I pull the trigger.
Katia steps over him to stand next to me. “We’ll hold them off.”
I stand up straighter. “Paynes don’t run from a fight. Just make sure it hurts.”
“We will,” Carlisle vows. “Those fuckers are going to pay.”
There’s a rustle somewhere to our left, and we shift as one, turning to face the stream of men pouring out from behind the trees.
Sometime later, the smell of blood fills my nose, and I ignore the stabbing pain in my ribs as I limp forward.
When I collapse on the side of the road, all I can think about is revenge.
Images of London’s face flicker in my head as I move in and out of consciousness until I see Katia hovering over me.