Chapter 6 Indi #3
“You—you’re part of that network, aren’t you?” His tearing eyes looked from Haze to me. “You both are. Fuck,” he exhaled. The man cried a bit more.
I gripped his face and forced him to look up at me. “What do you know?” I asked. “Answer me!”
He managed to force a bloody smirk. “Those eyes,” he whispered. “Oh yes, I’ve heard of you…Charlotte’s Web’s very own green-eyed devil.” My stance hardened as I glared down at him, hiding any emotion. “Felix Osvaldo.” He laughed and coughed on the blood from his broken nose.
My fingers squeezed his jaw, making him wince. “You may think you know me, but I can assure you—” I leaned closer. “You’re fucking wrong.”
The man groaned as I dropped his face and spun back to the table. “Am I? It’s no wonder you care so much for that woman. She’s your sister. And you.” He looked over at Haze. “Your rage. All that pent up hatred. You must be Haze.” The man shook his head, dripping sweat. “I’ve been looking for you.”
He ripped the Halloween mask from his face and grimaced at the man. “Who are you?” he snarled. “What do you want with my sister? With me?”
The man grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Haze watched as I picked up a very specific tool. One I had used many times in my years of working for the web. “What is that?” my brother asked. “What’re you doing, Felix?”
I raised the sharp, heavy duty shears high enough for the man to see.
His face drained of what little color was left as I played with the tool.
“Most people use these for cutting meat, specifically at Thanksgiving dinner.” I grinned beneath my mask.
“But I have a much more entertaining use for it.” I returned to the man.
“You see, men like you think they’re so tough…
beating up on women. As if that makes you a man.
” I crouched down and used the shears to cut his pants and clothing, exposing his pathetic little dick.
He tried to fight me, but Haze quickly circled around and held him still.
“You think because you have a dick between your legs, that you’re entitled to act however you want with no consequence.
” I held his flaccid dick in my gloved hand.
He begged me to stop, trembling like a child at the sheer thought of me injuring his manhood.
It made my smile grow. “You hurt our sister. And that’s something I can’t forgive.
” My eyes shot past him to Haze, who was also smiling. “Hold him still.”
My brother released a faint laugh and yanked the knife from deep within the man’s thigh. Blood poured from the man’s wound, and he held the blade to his throat, gripping his face tight. “Keep those eyes on my big brother,” he teased the man. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Maybe he was cut out for this shit after all.
I raised the shears to the tip of the man’s dick.
“You know of Charlotte’s Web, which tells me one of two things.
Either you’re a rat, or”—I yanked his shaft closer to the opened blades— “you work for someone else.” I lined the tip of his dick up with the shears.
“Which is it?” He tried to remain calm, but I knew he’d break. “Have it your way.”
I quickly snipped a thin layer of skin from the tip of his penis, listening as the man’s voice nearly cracked as he screamed.
Blood began to seep from the cut, dripping down onto the floor where the fleshy slice of his dick now lay.
I ran the tip of my gloved finger through the tiny puddle of blood with a smile.
God I love my fucking job.
The man nearly fainted from the pain. “Hey!” Haze slapped his face a couple times, forcing him to stay awake. “Wake the fuck up!”
I adjusted my grip on the man’s shaft and widened the gap of the blades. “Who do you work for? And why are you so interested in my siblings?”
The man shivered and shook with terror. “Please!” he begged. Haze pressed the blade against his throat, cutting him faintly, and I guided the shears closer. “No! Please! I–I–it was the Harris family!”
My brother and I froze at his answer.
“What did you say?” Haze’s head tilted as he removed the knife and stepped around to my side.
The man nearly burst into tears as I dropped the shears and stood back. “The Harris family—they hired me to find Haze! They’re the ones who sought me out!”
I should’ve fucking known.
“Why?” I asked. “Why didn’t they just go to the police? Why you?”
The man was uncontrollably pathetic. “Because I’m from Northern Lights.” My stomach dropped.
Fuck.
I quickly backed away from the man. Haze stared at me, confused. “Felix? What is it? What’s wrong?”
I shook my head as the man answered for me. “I guess every family has its secrets.” He spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor as we both looked at him.
“Shut up,” I growled. “Shut up!”
The man smiled. “It’s too late now, Felix. You’ve already broken the treaty…and now…you’re fucked!” He ruptured into a half cough, half laugh.
I rushed the man and gripped his collar, raising him and the chair off the ground. “You knew! You knew who I was and what I’d do! You set me up!” The man cackled. “You fucking set me up!”
“Who the fuck is Northern Lights?” Haze shot between us.
My eyes remained on the man as I answered.
“Northern Lights is like Charlotte’s Web.
Except they lack any empathy or values. They’re a rival network, one the web settled into a treaty with years ago to prevent absolute hell from breaking loose.
They don’t touch us, and in return, we don’t touch them. ”
The man snickered. “Except your brother here just broke that treaty. Which means things are about to get pretty ugly.”
My muscles ached as I threw the man across the room.
He slammed into a nearby wall and landed on his back, the metal chair still tied to his body.
Absolute rage surged through my veins. I rolled my sleeves and sauntered towards him, pulling my concealed gun from its holster.
His eyes widened as I cocked it and aimed the barrel down at his skull.
“Wait!” Haze charged me and grabbed my arm while he tried to restrain me. “Don’t kill him—”
I ripped my mask from my face and glared at my brother. “You don’t fucking get how serious this is, Haze. I have to kill him!”
He crossed his arms. “You didn’t let me finish. Don’t kill him…yet.” I blinked. “You said it yourself, someone's been talking. Well, now that we know who, the next question is…who has he been talking to.” We both looked down at the man.
The man tried to plead with us. “I’ll tell you anything! P–please! Just don’t kill me!”
Haze tilted his head. “How did you know where to find Indi? Who was helping you?”
The man swallowed. “A woman…one with bright r–red hair! Her name is—”
“Mary-Jane,” Haze hissed. “Fuck.”
The man’s eyes met mine. “Anything else we need to know?” I asked over my shoulder. Haze didn’t answer, which was all I needed.
My arm raised again as I aimed the gun. “Wait! No! You can’t kill me! If you do, he’ll come looking for you!”
I stared down at the trembling man. “Not if he can’t find you.” I pulled the trigger and shot the man straight between the eyes. He died almost instantly.
“Who will come looking for you?” Haze asked.
I returned my gun to its holster and picked my mask back up. “Kief, the head of Northern Lights.”
Haze scoffed. “Well, if he does, we’ll take care of it. There’s nothing to worry about. You’ve got Charlotte’s Web. And me.”
I shook my head as I returned my mask to my face. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” he asked.
I turned to look at my brother and released a heavy sigh. “He’s family.” Haze’s face nearly dropped. “But that’s not our problem right now. Right now, we need to find this Mary-Jane and stop her from talking.”
Haze’s smile returned. “Already ahead of you, big brother.”