Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
KNOX
Carter glances from Heather to me, his gaze insistent. “She’s coming. We both know she can handle it.”
It’s not that I think she can’t, but she’ll see us in a much darker light, and I’m concerned about what that might mean for Carter. He won’t handle it well if it changes things between them.
“Tesoro, it should be your call, but there will be blood and violence. This man won’t leave here alive.”
She jumps up off the bed with more excitement than she should have.
“I’m coming.”
I laugh, and shake my head at her enthusiasm.
“Kill is going to love this,” I say to Carter, and he shrugs his shoulders in response.
“Try to behave, yeah?” I tellHeather, as she puts her hair into a high ponytail. Turning, she bats her eyelashes at me, as she tilts her head.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I always behave, Knox. I’m practically an angel.”
I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in close to me.
“Be a good girl, and we’ll go on a date tonight. The three of us.”
She turns to me with a scowl.
“Absolutely the fuck not. That was the reward you offered before. This will be extra. No takesy backsies.”
Carter barks out a laugh.
“She’s not wrong.”
Killian starts yelling down the hallway, clearly pissed off and sick of Carter and I taking our sweet ass time joining him. His irritation is only going to grow when she walks into the garage with us.
“Let’s fucking go!” Killian growls.
Carter walks towards the garage with Heather and I following behind him.
We make it down the long hallway and circle around to the garage, and I can’t help but chuckle at the look on Heather's face when she spots Killian. It’s not the whimpering Matteo, begging for a chance to live, that has captured her attention.
It’s Killian, in shorts and no shirt, as he wraps his fists with black tape.
“Careful, Tesoro. You’re going to get drool on your chin.”
She snaps her head with a gasp and stares at me, her cheeks glowing red.
“It’s not like that. Don’t be gross.”
Carter laughs out loud, likely thinking what I am. Physically we are carbon copies, so if she’s attracted to us, she’d also be attracted to Kill by default.
Killian looks over at us with a sour expression.
“It’s not ‘Bring Your Pets to Work Day’. Don’t you have a kennel for your little killer?”
Heather places her hands on her hips and stares at him with the same disgust he looks at her with.
“Stop being an asshole, Killian. I’ll be a silent observer.”
He snorts a laugh and says, “She’s probably compiling information to take to the police.”
Heather rolls her eyes and steps closer to Killian, ready to match his irritation with her own.
“Yes, I’m going to walk into the police station and say, ‘Hi, I escaped from an insane asylum and killed a bunch of men, but let me tell you about these three brothers. You should really see a doctor for your paranoia.”
Killian steps closer to her with a glare in his eyes. One I’ve seen so many times, and his words don’t surprise me one bit.
“Careful, Killer. I would be only too pleased to snap your pretty little neck.”
Heather opens her mouth, surely to spout some kind of bratty comeback, but I intervene.
“Tesoro!” I growl. She turns to me with a questioning expression. “Enough.”
I expect her to disobey me and continue arguing with Kill, but she steps back and moves beside me.
“I’m sorry,” she says, as she looks up at me with eyes that nearly beg for forgiveness. This fucking woman does things to me. It doesn’t matter if she’s being obedient or not. She has a way of making me want her at all fucking times.
Glancing over to Kill, I see him staring at us with an arched brow, before shaking his head in disbelief.
“Can we get to work?” He asks, so I kiss Heather on the cheek and walk over to Matteo. He stands, trembling, as he darts his panicked gaze between the four of us. He mouths ‘help’ to Heather, and she asks, “What did you do?”
Killian surprises me when he doesn’t tell her to shut up, but actually answers her question.
“Matteo here was supposed to turn in fifty-thousand dollars from selling our car parts, but he chose to gamble it instead. He knows what we do to thieves, but did it anyway.”
“So now he dies?” She asks with her head tilted. I thought she might prefer not to see this for some reason, despite what she does to the men in her family, but I was wrong. Her eyes light up with excitement as she rubs her hands together with glee.
“Show me what you’ve got, Killian.”
He rolls his eyes at Heather’s taunt and steps closer to Matteo. “You know how this works, don’t you? You’ve seen it more than once.”
“I-I’m sorry,” he stammers, but regret won’t save him now.
Nothing will. He made his choices, knowing damn well what the outcome would be.
As always, Carter stands back, and will continue to, until Matteo’s hands are restrained.
We’ve got this routine down to a science.
Killian is the beginning, I’m the middle, and Carter is the end.
Kill pulls his fist back and throws a hard punch to Matteo’s jaw, causing him to stumble back. My brother steps forward again and sucker punches him in the gut one, two, three times, as Matteo howls in pain.
Tears stream down his face as he stumbles with another fist to his face, this time his nose, blood pouring from the wound as he lands on the concrete floor.
“Knox,” Killian says as he steps back.
I glance at Heather. “Stay back with Carter. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Standing over Matteo, I chuckle as he writhes in pain on the floor.
“You did this to yourself.”
Lifting my foot up, I stomp down on his stomach with the heel of my boot. I kick him repeatedly in the face, stomach, and his ribs. With each kick he cries louder. My focus breaks when I hear a sweet voice break through his sobs.
“Can I kick him just once, Knox? I promise I’ll go back to my spot after.”
I look down at Matteo, and decide to allow it. I don’t think he could get up right now to save his life.
“Okay, Tesoro. Come here.”
I spot Killian shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, but he doesn’t say anything. Carter’s sporting a grin on his face, like he knew all along this would happen.
Heather steps forward and squats down, spreading his legs before righting herself, and he takes one hard kick to his balls with her purple Doc Martens. Matteo screams as he turns his head to the side and coughs so hard, I think he may vomit.
We already knew this girl was unhinged with the way she kills, but this surprises me.
Her killing is purposeful, it’s revenge, and protecting the children in her family.
But her excitement to watch, and participate in, Matteo’s punishment is all I need to know.
She may be a better fit for us than I realized.
If Killian could get on board, it could be fucking perfect.
If…