Chapter 38 #2
“At least I’m not the one going around fucking everybody in sight,” I retort, taking another drag.
He narrows his eyes and plucks the cig right out of my mouth. “And you participated. Whore.”
Goddammit. No need to remind me of my own filth.
My nostrils flare. “Unwillingly.”
He chuckles. “You moaned. Out loud. We all heard.”
The fuck—why would he bring this up?
“Doesn’t mean shit. Give me back my cig.”
“Not until you stop pretending you didn’t like it.”
God, I hate him already, and I barely know this fucker.
“I had no choice,” I grit.
He dangles the cigarette in front of my face, just out of reach, and it pisses me off. “Doesn’t mean you didn’t love every second.”
My eye begins to twitch. “Fine. I loved it. Now put it back in my mouth.”
He bites his lip. “If only you had said those words in her room, I would’ve put it in your mouth any time.”
He winks. Actually fucking winks at me.
“I’m not fucking—”
He shoves the cig into my mouth, probably to shut me up, but we both know I’m only interested in fucking her. I don’t swing that way. I barely swing anyway, except toward the law … until she came along and made her entire existence my sole obsession.
Fuck.
“Finally,” I mouth, taking another drag of the cig.
“I’m glad you finally admitted it,” he says.
“Under pressure.”
“The pressure of losing a cigarette?” he scoffs.
“You don’t know how much I fucking need it right now with you here all up in my face,” I say, rolling my eyes.
He taps my chest. “You’re just saying that because you miss her.”
Like that’s supposed to mean anything. “And so fucking what?”
“You just can’t admit you’re as crazy as she is.” He shrugs. “That’s fine, we’ve all been there.”
“I’m not a fucking murderer.”
“No. You just put the wrong people in jail,” he says.
I raise my brow. “Preposterous.”
“Is it? Do you even know who she’s killing and why she wants them dead? They’re not innocent people. They all had it coming for them.”
I take another drag and narrow my eyes at him without saying another word. I’m not going to spill my entire investigation to a drunk, let alone a drunk who does anything and everything that woman tells him to.
But I am intrigued by how he knows the men she kills aren’t innocent.
Orion bends over to look me directly in the eyes. “So you do know more … tell me.”
“Fuck that. It’s an active investigation.”
He rubs his hands together. “Are you investigating me?”
“Yes,” I hiss.
“Hot.”
I roll my eyes again and turn my head so I don’t have to look at him while he drools all over my body like he’s starving for attention. I’m not going to entertain the thought. The only thing I care about is getting that woman in my grasp.
I don’t care if that makes me insane because I’m obsessed.
She’s made herself my target.
And once I’m out of these chains, once I’ve gotten my hands on her … she’ll be mine forever. And no one is going to stand in my way.
“Are you going to stay mad at us for the rest of your life?” Orion asks.
I’d almost forgotten he was there. “As long as I’m tied up here, yes.”
“Then I guess that seals it.”
“My men will come look for me. You know that, right?”
He sighs and walks off again. “Whatever. I’m going out. I’m bored. You can entertain yourself for a couple of hours, right?”
“Hey. Come back here. You can’t just leave me.”
“Why? Miss me already?” he muses, pissing me off again.
I just stare at him. “I will try to escape.”
He still opens the door and sets one foot outside. “Sure you will.”
Fine. “When I’m out of here, I’m going to arrest her and put her behind bars. You realize that, right?”
He’ll never touch her again as far as I’m concerned.
He smirks at me one last time. “Good luck with that.”
My cigarette had already long gone out. The bud is no longer smoldering on the floor by the time the door opens again.
The darkness is swept away by light pouring in through the narrow opening. I blink a couple of times to adjust my pupils while a stranger steps closer.
“Who are you? What do you want?” I growl.
A young guy with wavy brown hair puts a stool in front of me and sits down. “Atlas. I’m Orion’s half brother.”
Nice of him to implicate himself so I have names for later.
“He asked me to check on you. You okay?”
He hands me a bottle of water, and I take a sip. “Thanks.”
“Need anything else?”
“You can free me. That’ll help.”
He rubs his lips together. “Can’t do that, sorry.”
Of course, not. Why did I even suggest it?
“I’m a cop. You know that, right? What they’re doing is against the law.”
“I don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t tell me.”
Interesting.
Maybe I can use this guy.
“All I know is that they must have a good reason.”
“So she can continue her murder spree.”
His lips part. “Sunny?”
“So you know about her. Does everyone in the Rivera and extended families know?”
He frowns. “I think I’ve said too much.”
He gets up again, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity. “Wait. I can give you something if you give me something in return.”
He pauses and looks at me. “What?”
“Information,” I say, hoping it’s enough. “But I want you to give me my phone.”
He sits back down again. “All right. Tell me who she’s killing.”
“Men,” I reply.
“Not enough.” He sighs, nearly getting up again, so I feed him more to win his trust.
“Members of the Bones Brotherhood, as far as I can tell. An underground organization of criminals, drug dealers, traffickers, organ harvesters.”
His eyes narrow. “Organ harvesters?”
“Yes. They steal organs from healthy victims to sell them on the black market. Anyone is on the chopping block. Women, men, kids, any age, any number. All inches of their bodies can be used by these people, even their organs aren’t safe. Kidneys, livers, lungs, hell, even their hearts.”
“But why steal people’s organs?”
How young is this dude?
“Because the list is long, and some people can’t wait for an organ because they will end up dying instead, so they resort to buying it off the black market instead. Is that the info you want? The world is cruel. Doesn’t give us the right to be just as cruel.”
He swallows. “I … I didn’t know she was involved with those kinds of people.”
“Only some of them. I don’t know why she’s only targeting specific individuals. But they’re dying in brutal ways due to her actions, which cannot be left unchecked.”
“But they’re a criminal organization. You said it yourself.”
“Yes, and they too will face the full extent of the law.”
He plays with the multitude of rings on his fingers. “Then why haven’t they?”
My lips part, but I don’t know how to answer.
I want to say we’re working on it, but I do have to admit that my bureau lacks the people to deal with this mess. Still, we do our best with the men and women we have.
“I will do my best to put them all behind bars,” I say after a while. “If you help me get out of here.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Then at least put my coat over my shoulders. It’s fucking cold in here.” I shiver.
He sighs. “Okay, fine.”
Orion put it on a shelf in the back, so Atlas grabs it and throws it over my shoulders. “Better?”
“Thank you.”
“I need to go. I have a class in like five minutes. I’ll bring some food later. Or Orion will. Whoever is quicker,” he says, as he walks off. “Thanks for the chat. It was … enlightening.”
The darkness returns, but my wicked smile never fades.
My hands are tied right where the jacket rests, and I tug it close enough to reach into the pocket to pull out my beeper.
Game.
Set.
Match.