Chapter 24 Donovan
TWENTY-FOUR
Donovan
Disgust taints my face as I stare down at Paulie. He looks so pathetic, all slumped over and tied to the chair. I almost want to cut him loose. This feels too easy.
I grunt as I take a step forward. Paulie cuts his eyes up at me, and it’s easy to see that he knows what’s coming.
My lips twist up in a smile at the huge bandage awkwardly taped to the side of his head, but then I remember how I had this fucker in my grasp and let him go. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t known he’d been the one to poison Sonny at the time, I should have killed him then.
The warning of having the mayor’s protection rings in my mind.
I am going to kill Paulie, for that I am sure, but it wouldn’t hurt to drag some more information out of him? If I could just get him to connect Aubert to all of this, I’ll have the fuel to go after him. I won’t be able to turn away from what he’s done any longer.
I’m going to cleanse my city before I die, even if I don’t have long left to do it.
I reach into my pocket as I stare down at Paulie. Slipping my fingers through the brass knuckles feels like home.
“I’m done giving your ass a chance. I should have killed you the first time I had trouble with you.” I shake my head with disgust. “You’re a piece of shit, Paulie. A fucking cockroach in my city.”
“Listen, it wasn’t my idea,” he squirms frantically, pulling against his restraints to no avail. “It was all theirs. They want you out of their city. You’ve been gettin’ in their way for years.”
“Who do you mean, Paulie? Mayor DuPont?”
He snaps his mouth closed. His lips pale as he presses them together as if it will keep him from talking. Whether or not he wants to spill information isn’t my concern. I’ll get him to do it one way or another.
I grip his hair with one hand and pull his head back until he has no choice but to look into my eyes.
Tears well up in his eyes long before I bring my other hand in swinging.
The force of the impact causes his head to whip sideways, and I can feel the strands of hair tearing and ripping out.
With a grimace, I shake the clumps of hair from my grasp.
“Was it the good ole fucking mayor, Paulie?” I punch him again, catching him right under the eye. The skin splits, blood instantly filling the gap and running down his cheek. “Because I’ve got to say, I don’t think he has the fucking balls to make a plan like that.”
“Yeah, he’s a big part of it.” He wheezes for a minute, and I can’t tell if he’s about to cough up a hairball or puke all over his lap. Luckily, neither happens. “And you know…”
“No, Paulie, I don’t know. I’m going to need you to say it.”
He looks around as if someone is going to magically appear in the room. I know the name dancing on his tongue, but I want to hear him say it.
I slip the brass off and hand it over to Rove, who is good at making sure things stay clean.
He’s also not one for words, so it feel natural that none are exchanged.
I’ll be surprised if I hear his voice at all before I leave here today.
My knife comes out next, the handle cool and comforting against my palm.
“They’ll kill me,” Paulie whispers brokenly.
I almost feel bad for him. Almost. He’s put himself in this position.
He came after me and mine. Even if I cared enough to let him go, I couldn’t.
It sucks for him because I don’t care to give him another chance.
I’m going to make him regret crossing me until I take his last breath.
“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him. How he can think he’s got a chance is beyond me.
“Oh, right.” He almost looks as if he’s just realized the position he’s currently in.
“I can make it quick, or I can draw it out until you’re begging for the shadows to take you.” When he doesn’t answer fast enough for my thinning patience, I bring the knife down into the top of his thigh, plunging the blade in a good four inches.
He cries out, the sound echoing off the thick concrete walls. He can make all the noise he wants to. This room was designed to be a soundless bunker, so no one is going to hear him.
“Look, I didn’t want to, okay!” He tries to catch his breath. Snot drips from his nose. “If you ask me, you’re the more terrifying outta the two of ’em, ya know. But they got power, man. They got power to do things that you ain’t got. And that shit is scary.”
“What could he possibly have over you?” I sneer as I rip my blade out of his leg.
He’s a low-life dealer with two brain cells.
He’s neither smart nor savvy enough to make a business out of it.
He’s drawn the short stick more times than I would even know.
I’m likely not the only one who’s been looking for him, I just happened to find him first.
“They offered me money and protection, which is nice for a guy like me. I gotta lotta enemies.” He shrugs as if to say it’s just a fact he’s come to live with.
“I fucked up. I fucked up real bad. Mr. Aubert said he’d take care of everything as long as I helped him out.
” He pauses to catch his breath. “But I didn’t know how deep he wanted to go.
I figured all I gotta do is poison one of your guys, then I’m free… ”
“He didn’t let you go, did he?” I shake my head. Why does he have to be such a dumb fuck?
“I didn’t know it was liko. I really didn’t,” he pleads, tears leaking out of his eyes. “You gotta believe me.”
“What difference does it make? You still tried to kill one of my own.”
“And you,” he says. I freeze at this, turning my deadly look on him.
“What?” I say calmly, but there’s no missing the deadly edge in my tone.
“I-I thought you knew. I almost had you, too, but you saw me in the back of that shop. I’d gotten a call sayin’ you were there.
He’s got people watchin’ you, you know that, right?
” I didn’t, but I’d be an idiot to assume he didn’t try to keep track of my whereabouts.
It doesn’t scare me. “When I got there, I didn’t see you, so I thought you’d already gone.
I kinda hoped I’d missed you. But then you came out of the office and I slipped into the back when you weren’t lookin’.
It kinda worked to my advantage that you ordered food.
But you saw me before I got a chance to do it, so maybe it didn’t work out after all. ”
He was going to poison me. And likely Torrin too. A quick death won’t satisfy me. He’s going to suffer for hours.
“String him up,” I say as I take a step back.
Torrin and Rove move in without hesitation.
They cut him free and pull him up. It takes a bit of wrangling before they have his hands tied again and looped over the huge hook in the middle of the room.
Rove heads for the crank on the wall and turns it slowly, raising Paulie’s wiggling body until his toes barely brush the ground.
“Please, just kill me,” Paulie begs.
“I’m not going to make it that easy on you,” I promise him with a dead look.
“Unlike your bosses, I care about my people. I realize I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.
You poisoned one of my own. You could have poisoned my second in command and you tried to poison me.
I’ll watch you bleed until the life leaves your eyes for that. ”
I see the hope leave his expression as my words sink in. It’s a sad thing to see, but in a twisted way, it also brings me joy.
I hold his gaze as the tip of my knife drags along his jawline. He lets out a long, resigned sigh.
He’s not going to say anything else, and perhaps, I only have myself to blame.
I’d like to see what other information I can drag out of him, but I don’t really think he has much left to give me.
Aubert is smart enough to hide his secrets, especially from some low-level scum he’s using as a throwaway pawn.
“Since I have no use for you, I’m going to finish this up now. Don’t worry, it won’t be quick,” I tell him as I pat his cheek.
“You can’t kill Mr. Aubert,” he tells me as if it’s not known information.
“I’m well aware,” I say back. Whatever last play he’s attempting to make here, I want him to know it’s pointless.
“No,” he says with an awkward shake of his head. “You don’t understand. His protection is magical.”
I need more. I have to keep him talking.
Then I wonder if I’m actually falling for this shit. I already had a feeling about magic being the thing behind what’s keeping him alive, and I can’t imagine Paulie knows more than what he’s just told me.
But I try anyway.
“How do I—”
The words die on my tongue when the door at the top of the stairs bangs open. It’s so loud, Paulie flinches, and my blade might accidentally have found itself planted in the side of his gut.
“Fuck!” Paulie roars as I pull it back out and turn to face the commotion.
My heart stops at the sight of a limp Astra in Andre’s arms.
My knife clatters to the ground as I rush to take her from Andre as he reaches the bottom.
She’s lifeless in my arms as I carry her over to the metal table in the corner of the room, and it feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. Though I hate to admit it, I don’t think that feeling has anything to do with the curse.
Torrin is there, folding up my discarded suit jacket to use as a pillow as I carefully set her down on the cold, hard table.
I don’t want to think about how much blood has decorated its surface in its lifetime.
I’m thankful Rove is a neat freak, so I know the table is clean enough to eat off of right now.
“Astra,” I whisper as I brush the hair away from her face. She’s pale. I can see the inky lines spreading out over her skin, and it only takes me a second to realize I have matching lines running down my arm. How did I miss this? When did they start coming back?
Her skin is cold. I don’t care who’s watching right now, I lean down and kiss her forehead. Her cheeks. Then, finally, I press my mouth against hers.
How is it I feel fine and she’s like this?
How come she won’t wake up?
Is this from the curse, or did something happen? I will kill that Sandra witch if I have to. Fuck the rules. Fuck the covens. No one hurts my…
Fuck.
Yeah, fine.
No one hurts my woman.
My Beauty.