Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
The image of Evie fucking herself with a dildo won’t leave my mind.
It has to be the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen.
I know she was trying to prove a point to me, insist that she didn’t need me.
It failed on her part, though, because I know she was thinking of me when she came.
I didn’t need to be there. She closed her eyes and pictured me.
I wish I could see just what she was picturing so I could make whatever fantasies run through her head come true. For now, I’ll have to wait. I’ve had to fly back to Las Vegas. Alejandro called and said he was able to get the list out of Evie’s mother without much fight.
I was surprised it was that easy for him. I honestly thought she’d deny any wrongdoing. According to him, she seemed broken and lost. Quickly rattled off the names of everyone who paid her to have her daughter—her words.
I said I wouldn’t kill the woman, but fuck do I want to. What kind of mother does that to their child?
When I think about what Evie went through, a rage like I’ve never felt before courses through me.
It’s feral. Which is why I’m starting my vengeance for her with the fucking doctor who took her rights to choose away.
I know that sounds hypocritical coming from me, considering I’m not giving her the opportunity to choose a life without me in it.
I’ve never pretended I was perfect, though.
I’ve been sitting at the opposite end of the room, watching the man currently strapped down to an operating table. He’s squirming, doing his best to get free. It’s pointless. Even if he did manage to loosen his bindings, he’d find himself back on that table before he could take three steps.
Paz and Alejandro are here with me. Each just as eager to get the show started. There’s a reason Alejandro is my top enforcer. He’s a goddamn psychopath. He lives for this torturing shit. Me? I do it out of necessity. Usually.
Right now, excitement fills me at the thought of causing this fucker pain.
I stand and slowly make my way over to the table. A bright surgical light shines right above his face. I made sure it was flickering just to fuck with him. He’s been here for five hours now, not knowing why or what was going to happen to him. It’s time he learns.
“Hello, Dr. Venn. I’ve been waiting to meet you.” I lean over the table. I want to see his eyes. I want the fear, the moment he realizes he fucked up.
“Who are you? Untie me!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” I shake my head. “I don’t know why you think you’re in a position to be making demands right now,” I tell him. “From where I’m standing, you’re in no position to be telling anyone what to do.”
“What do you want?” he asks, his body going limp. Has he given up already? I hate when they have no fight in them.
“You did something to someone I happen to care about. A girl, a few years ago, right here in Vegas. You performed a procedure on her without her consent or knowledge,” I explain.
The asshole shakes his head again. “No. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Let me refresh your memory.” I pull out my phone and show him a picture of Evie. It’s one I found online from her pageant years. Evie has a face no one is forgetting. The woman is fucking beautiful.
The doctor’s eyes go wide in recognition. “Her mother told me she wanted the procedure,” he says.
“But she didn’t,” I hum. “You helped the people who abused this girl. You took something from her she will never get back. Now, I’m going to take from you.”
“I didn’t know!”
I wave a hand in the air, indicating for Alejandro to bring in our surprise guest. “The way I see this, you took a child from her, so it’s only fair for me to take one from you.”
Alejandro drags in a punk-ass college student who just happens to be the good doctor’s twenty-year-old son. He’s screaming but stops when he sees his father.
“What the fuck?” the kid yells, trying to pull away from Alejandro, who delivers a swift kick behind the knees, forcing the fucker to the ground.
“No! He had nothing to do with this. Take it out on me! Leave him out of this,” the old man pleads, his eyes tearing up as he stares at his son.
“I would, but I want you to feel every single bit of pain she felt when she woke up and discovered her baby had been killed by you,” I tell him. “The difference is… you’ll be able to see your child killed. You will know it’s happening. She didn’t.”
“She was sixteen. A child would have ruined her life,” Dr. Venn insists. “I was helping her!”
“You helped the people who abused her. You did not help her,” I correct him.
Walking over to the table that hosts several surgical knives, I grab one. These little blades are sharp. I step behind the son, grab the back of his skull, and dig the blade into the side of his throat.
“You feel that? The fear? The loss? Now imagine you’re a sixteen-year-old girl.
” I look the doctor directly in the eye as I make a clean slice right across his son’s throat.
“That…” I sweep out a bloody hand, aiming the tip of the knife in the doctor’s direction as he screams out in agony.
“That is a fraction of what she felt. Of what she feels every single fucking day,” I hiss. “Do me a favor. Don’t go anywhere.”
I turn around, letting the kid’s body drop to the concrete floor, and walk out of the basement.
I want to leave the old fuck in that room for a few hours.
I want him to stare at his dead son before I end him.
I don’t want his suffering to be over just yet.
Evie has had to suffer for years. A few hours are nothing in comparison.
I head into the bathroom, wash my hands, and glare at myself in the mirror.
I’ve never shied away from the monster glaring back at me.
I’ve embraced it. This was my father’s doing.
He created this man. And for the first time in my life, I’m thankful to him for it.
Because being him means I can do what I have to do to get vengeance for Evie.
A few minutes later, I’m heading down to my office, Maria following close behind me. “I have lunch,” she says, placing a tray of food on my desk. “You need to eat. You’re looking skinny.”
“Thanks?” I ask with a raised brow.
“When is Miss Evie coming back?” Maria nods. “I like you better when she’s here.”
“As soon as I can convince her she wants to come back.” I shrug.
“Well, don’t make me wait too long,” Maria says before walking out again.
I shake my head at her. Maria has always been like a second mother to me. Which then has me thinking about Laura. I never suspected that my mother was capable of doing that to me. Of taking something away from me.
I was never going to let her do it a second time. I didn’t want to kill her, but when it was a choice between her and Evie, I chose the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I chose the woman I need more than I need my next breath.
Leaving the tray of food, I stand and pick up my car keys. “Going somewhere?” Paz asks from where he’s now standing by the door.
“Out. I’ll be back in a few hours,” I tell him.
“Need me to come?”
I shake my head and make my way to the garage.
I haven’t been back here since I first saw Evie. I’ve been avoiding her. Laura. I felt like I’d replaced her and I didn’t want her to know. But I haven’t replaced her. Evie isn’t Laura.
“I wish I had known what was going on back then. I wish I could have saved you,” I tell Laura.
I don’t wish for her to be alive now, though. I don’t want the life we could have had. Because the life I want now isn’t with her. It’s with someone else.
“I met someone. You would hate her.” I chuckle.
“But I…” I stop myself short. I don’t want the ghost of my ex-girlfriend to hear those words before the woman who earned them does.
Evie needs to hear them first. “I’m sorry, Laura,” I say as I stand and leave, messaging Evie as I walk back towards my car.
Me:
I miss you.
Three simple words but they couldn’t be more true. I fucking miss her. I need her to hurry the fuck up and come back to me. I don’t know how much longer I can allow her to believe that I’ve left her alone.
Evie:
You can see me anytime you want. Just turn on your creeper cameras. The ones you STILL haven’t removed from my house.
I laugh to myself. I have no intention of removing those cameras.
As I jump in the car, another message comes through from Lailani.
Killer Woman:
Someone took a shot at Carlo in front of the Royal. He had Jazzy with him. Both are unharmed.
A red haze fills my vision. Someone took a shot at one of my friends and his six-year-old daughter? My fucking niece? Today is not the fucking day to be that someone.
I immediately dial Louie.
“E, now’s not a good time,” he answers it on speaker.
“It usually isn’t when you’re being attacked. What do you know about the shooter?”
“We’re handling it,” Louie says.
“That’s not what I asked. Someone took a shot at my niece. I want to know who it was,” I growl.
“We’re tracing the plates now. We will find the fucker,” Carlo chimes in.
“Not if I find him first,” I say before cutting the call. And I will find them first.
As soon as I get back to the house, I head down to the basement. I need to finish the doctor off and then move on to finding my next fucking victim of the day.
The old man looks defeated. He’s accepted his fate, his gaze locked on his son’s lifeless body.
“I hope it fucking hurt like hell. Because that’s exactly where you’re going, motherfucker.” I wanted to draw out his suffering. Right now, I just want to send him to hell.
Picking up the blade I used to slice his son’s throat, I step up to the table.
I don’t bother saying anything else as I slice Dr. Venn’s throat from one side to the other.
Then I pick up a vial and hold it under his jaw until it’s full to the brim before securing the cap and pocketing the whole thing.
Alejandro and Paz are both standing behind me when I turn around. “Someone took a shot at Carlo and Jazzy. I want their fucking head now,” I grunt. “No one takes a shot at my fucking niece.”
I haven’t known the kid for long. She just recently turned up on Carlo’s doorstep with a note. But she’s his daughter, which makes her family. And honestly, she’s the sweetest fucking little girl I’ve ever met. I will do anything to protect her.