Chapter 38
Sunny
I snuck out in the early morning using my secret route through the Priory Forest, which borders Spine Ridge University grounds.
The cops don’t know that half the walls surrounding this campus are actually missing, but I do.
None of the students cares enough to go in that direction, as it’s rough, rocky terrain, filled with thickets and streams that make it difficult to navigate.
Not the usual exit when there’s an actual gate and road out front.
But I didn’t want to get questioned by the cops, so I opted for the scenic route instead.
When I’m out, I walk all the way to The Shack, the abandoned wooden house near the edge of the road that leads down the mountain, where one of my brothers conveniently left a bicycle when they came out here to have a primal play game with their friends.
It’s none of my business, but I am stealing that bike.
My brother won’t notice it’s gone until after I’ve already brought it back.
I race down the mountain and head over to the grimy side of town, where I know those fuckers of the Bones Brotherhood hide out.
The seedy neighborhood they call home is filled with businesses that have gone out of service, broken-down homes, and plenty of drug seekers strutting the streets.
These parts of Crescent Vale City have seen better days, but those are long gone since the Bones Brotherhood expanded into suburban areas.
The cops have really let them get away with far too much, and if no one is putting a stop to their antics, then I will.
I hide my bike somewhere in the bushes, far from their headquarters, and make my way to the street.
I remember vividly the last time I was here.
The memories alone make my heart rate shoot up, but I ignore the building dread and waltz straight toward his office at the end of the street; CF Plastic Surgery.
Right before I enter, I put on my bunny mask and open the door.
Inside, a dainty song plays through the speakers hanging from the walls. The little bell above the door annoys me, and I nearly knock the door out of its frame as I slam it shut behind me.
This scent of cleaning agent that lingers in the air… Vomit-inducing.
I turn the little Open sign behind me to Closed, and I walk up to the assistant in front of the desk. She looks a bit taken aback by my mask. “Um … hi, do you have an appointment?”
Skeevy, two-faced bitches don’t even know they’re working for the top criminal’s favorite surgeon.
My hand clenches into a fist. “Where is Carlo?”
“Are you a previous client of his? He’s not currently available. Shall I—”
I slam my hand onto the desk. “Tell me where he is!”
She scoots back. “Excuse me. He’s busy with a patient. Please calm down. I can take your number for you, and he can call you back later if you’d like.”
“I don’t want a phone call. I need to speak with him. Now,” I grit.
She swallows. “I’m sorry, ma’am, that’s not possible.”
I march right past her through the doors, and she hurries out of her seat to follow me.
“Miss! Miss! Please don’t, he’s in the middle of a surgery!”
Like I give two shits.
She grabs my arm. “Excuse me, you’re not allowed—”
I pull my bag off my shoulder and slam it into her, then fish out my ropes. I shove her back onto her seat and tie her up to make sure she doesn’t go anywhere, then I stuff her own pink jacket into her mouth and wrap it around her head to silence her.
“All you had to do was shut your damn mouth,” I tell her, and I march off again after giving her a foul look.
Some women don’t even realize what kind of devil they work for.
She keeps huffing and screaming, but it’s all going into the void. I don’t care how much anyone cries. I am going to tear this place down, and Carlo is going to burn today.
I march through the doors and into the many hallways, following the scent of bleach and decay before I finally find the OR.
I put my bag on the floor, take out my knives, tuck them into my pockets, then pull out my two guns and click the safety off them both. A red light glows on the wall, but I pay no attention to it as I barge inside.
The nurse squeals. “Gun!”
She points at me, and I wave the gun at her so she’ll move. “Go. Get out of here. Now.”
Another nurse pops out of a side room, and I point my other gun at her too, while Carlo himself drops the bloodied scalpel he was holding on the floor.
The two nurses hide in the supplies room, locking the door behind them.
I don’t care. I only need Carlo. The rest can fade into never for all I care.
While I keep my gun pointed at him, I barricade all the doors in this room with a chair.
He shivers as I approach. “It’s you.”
He picks up a scalpel and holds it in front of him like a weapon.
I laugh out loud. “Really? You think that’s going to save you from my wrath?”
“Take my money. Whatever you want. I’ll give it to you,” he says as I circle him like a vulture.
“I don’t want your cash, baldie. I want you to suffer for the pain you caused.”
He swipes at me, but I knock the scalpel out of his hands with a quick punch, then shove him down on top of his own patient, grabbing him by the neck. “Tell me where he is!”
“I don’t know. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
I tighten my grip, squeezing the lifeblood out of his veins. “Yes, you do! Tell me where Sam is hiding.”
His shaking finger points at a laptop in the corner, and I shove him away so I can waltz toward the laptop and find the information I’m looking for. On it is a whole list of his clients, including Sam, along with some new contact information I wasn’t privy to.
Gotcha.
I spot the doctor running at me through the laptop screen’s reflection, and I sidestep to block his path. He crashes into the table, and I grab his arm and twist it so far it breaks.
He screams in pain. “Fucking bitch!”
“Shouldn’t have attacked me, fucker.” I spin him around and pin him in a chokehold, then slam his face down onto the laptop. “Hungry for more, asshole?”
“Let me go!”
“No, you don’t deserve to live after what you did to me!”
I slam his face into the laptop again, and blood cakes the keys from his broken nose.
“Stop, please, stop. I’m begging you. I have a kid.”
“And what did I have?!” I scream.
“I’m sorry. He paid me to do it. I didn’t want to, but he threatened to hurt my family.”
“I don’t fucking care!” I yell back. “You fucking knew what you were doing was wrong, and you did it anyway!”
I punch him in the face so hard that it knocks out his teeth.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“Sorry won’t get me back what you took from me!”
I pick up his scalpel from one of the small tables next to the operating table and stick it into his fucking eye.
He screams out loud and thrusts his body at me, but I sidestep as he squirts blood all over himself. “My eye, my eye! You stabbed my fucking eye!”
“An eye for an eye,” I growl.
He tries to swipe at me, but rips out his own patient’s breathing tube instead, causing a spasm in the man, whose machines go off.
The beeping is annoying, but Carlo’s full body-slams are even more annoying as he tries to get away.
I shove him forward until he falls on one of the medicine-filled tables, and I wrap the patient’s wires all around his body to seal him in.
Who needs rope when you’ve got surgical tools?
“How does it feel to be tied to a fucking table, huh?”
I grab the biggest needle I can find and shove it into his arm over and over again until he yelps.
“How does it feel to be stabbed while you’re helpless?”
“Rasputin” by Boney M. starts playing on the radio through the speakers, and I just love the vibes.
I pick up a scalpel and pierce Carlo’s chest with it.
“How does it feel to lose your fucking life?”
“Please, help me!” he screams, probably at those nurses who are locked in the supplies closet.
“They’re not going to help you,” I hiss as I inch closer to his one functioning eye. “Everyone hates greedy, old White men.”
I stab him in the other eye too so he can’t see me in all my glory anymore.
I don’t want him to witness me.
He doesn’t deserve it after what he put me through.
Someone bursts through the door, and I turn around with a knife in my hand, ready to throw it at my assailant, but his voice makes me stop mid-throw.
“Thank God I found you.”
Flabbergasted that he’s here, I mutter, “Xavier?”
Atreus
Sighing out loud, I lean back against the walls of my jail, or whatever the fuck these guys wanna call this.
The ropes cut into my skin as I try to reach for a smoke.
God, that woman…
What a fucking mess. How did I fall so deep into her rabbit hole?
“Need some assistance?” The one they left behind, Orion, approaches and goes to his knees, filtering through my pockets until he’s found the packet of cigarettes and plucks one out.
My eyes narrow. “You mind?”
He sticks it into my mouth, smiling. “Not at all.”
“Light’s in my other pocket,” I tell him.
He goes to town searching me, groping my package, and it makes me roll my eyes.
“Oops. Happy accident,” Orion says as he finally fishes out my lighter.
He lights the cig, and I take a quick drag. “Thanks.”
“Happy to help the enemy,” he replies.
“I’m not your enemy. I’m trying to help.”
“Help… by threatening us with violence?” he hums, rubbing his chin. “Or do you mean the part where you’re trying to get us arrested?”
“I guess you’re right. In your mind, I am the bad guy.” I chuckle and glance at him. “I’ve only ever tried to do the right thing.”
He taps my forehead. “In your mind.”
Fuck. Throw my own words right back at me, why don’t you?
“I can get her a good deal and keep you out of it.”
He laughs in my face. “And that’s supposed to sweeten it for me? Pass.”
He saunters off and picks up his wineglass again to take another lavish sip. “I’m so bored. Wish we could all just fuck again.”
I snort. “Pass.”
“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t like it.” He rolls his eyes at me. “Even though I look like I am, I’m not dumb, you know. The pretty didn’t come at a price.”
“Your sanity,” I retort.
He grimaces. “Ha-ha. You must be very fun at parties.”