Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
CHRISTIAN
My eyes shoot up to McIntire. Abigail, was the leak? Surely, she wouldn’t do that to Jasmine; the girls are very close. From their first meeting long before Geralt was killed, they became inseparable. Jasmine has called her every single day since Geralt was murdered. Abigail has even told me herself that Jasmine has been the one to keep her going.
I turn to Jason and Maximus and can see the sheer shock and disbelief on their faces.
“No. There's no way Abbi would betray Jasmine,” Maximus declares, shaking his head.
“That’s because she hasn’t, not knowingly anyway. She is as much a victim here as Jasmine,” McIntire answers. “This prick has used her to listen in to conversations and probably gone through her phone at times as well.”
“I haven’t done anything; I love Abbi!”
McIntire punches Eddie in the face, growling.
“Enough of the bullshit! I warned you what would happen if you didn’t back off, and now I have even more of a reason to end you. How long and painful your death will be depends on what you tell us now.” McIntire turns to me, and I see why he is so feared. “What have you got down here? I left my stuff in the rush to get him here.”
“Jason, can you show him while I speak to our friend here?” I don’t need to look at Jason to know he will do as I asked.
Stepping in front of Eddie, I squat down, ensuring I’m still a little taller than him.
“Do you know who I am?”
Eddie nods as blood runs from his nose.
“So you are aware of what happens to people who come for my family?”
Again, Eddie nods, only looking at me for a millisecond at a time. I look at him cowering on the concrete floor and can’t believe Abigail would lower herself to something so pathetic.
“Head up.” Eddie looks up at me, and I take in an inventory of his injuries that I can see. His nose is broken, and his lip and cheek are split, and I think his eye socket may be broken. McIntire doesn’t mess around that’s for sure.
Eddie looks around, no doubt checking where McIntire is before whispering to me.
“He’s mad. I haven’t done anything. He has been trying to scare me off for a while, so now I think he wants to kill me.”
“Too right, I’m going to kill you, you little shit. I’m going to enjoy every second of it,” McIntire shouts, walking back over to us. “Here.” I barely manage to catch a phone as it's thrown at me. “See if you can get into that; otherwise, I will have to do this the messy way.”
I stand and look down at Eddie.
“Do you want to make this easy?” I arch one brow in question and don’t miss the way he starts to sweat. “Am I taking that as a no? What have you got on here that you don’t want us to see? Proof of your recent activities? Names of people you know? Accomplices, maybe.” Touching the phone, I can see it is fingerprint-protected. They are difficult to unlock without said fingers, but when I see McIntire leaning over our guest, I realise he has already thought of a solution.
“I don’t have all day, so last warning before I let him take over. What is on this phone?”
“Just pictures,” he mumbles, going back to looking at the floor. “Pictures Abbi wouldn’t want you seeing.”
I look over to McIntire; if possible, he looks even angrier. Fuck, this man is going to lose his shit. He stalks forward, grabs Eddie's hands, which are still tied to his back, and brings down a butcher's knife.
Eddie's screams fill the room, echoing off the walls as his blood splatters onto the ground. McIntire throws the hand onto the floor in front of me as Eddie brings the two arms in front of him, one with blood spraying from where his hand was only seconds ago.
“Jason,” McIntire bellows over the screams. Jason walks forward with a handheld blow torch, which McIntire takes as he points to Layton. “Hold him down.” Layton looks at me, and I nod, giving him the go-ahead to follow someone else's orders. Layton and Jason pin Eddie down, and McIntire starts the blow torch.
The smell of roasted skin fills the air as he cauterises the wound. It takes everything in me not to gag. Maximus moves as far away as possible; he has never had a strong stomach for this kind of torture. Show him blood, broken bones, even internal organs, and you would think he didn’t even notice. Add the smell of burning flesh, and he’s a goner.
Looking over my shoulder, I nod, giving him the go-ahead to leave if he needs to, but he shakes his head. This is too personal; I know he will need to be here to discover why everything has come to this.
McIntire moves away and turns off the flame as the others release Eddie, who curls up in the foetal position and cries loudly.
“He’s all yours. Do what you want, but I will be the one to kill him.” McIntire doesn’t wait for my response; he grabs the severed hand from the ground, holds out his hand for the phone, and heads to a seat in the far corner, no doubt to search the phone.
Turning back to Maximus, I nod to the other side of the room. “Get the other chair.” He does as I ask without a word. Placing it beside the withering Eddie, my brothers grab him under the arms and heave him into the chair. Judging by his colour, I’m pretty sure he’s about to pass out.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I unbutton my cuffs and slowly start folding up my sleeves. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and if you take too long to answer, you will get punched. However, if I think you are lying…” I pull my flip knife out of my pocket and open it in front of him. “I will stab you.”
“Why should I bother? That psycho is going to kill me anyway!” Eddie shouts, drool and snot hanging from his mouth as he lifts his arm to wipe it away; he sees the burnt stump and cries harder.
“How did you think this was going to go?” I ask, frowning. “When you joined this little crusade, how did you see it ending?”
“I haven’t done anything. I swear!” He starts to sway, but Jason grabs his shoulder and holds him in the chair. There’s nothing gentle about the gesture; I can see his knuckles turning white where he’s gripping him hard.
“He’s lying. It's all here on his phone. The locations and times of the girls’ meetings, the vendors, everything,” McIntire's face darkens, but I know better than to ask what he has found. I trust him to tell me if it concerned Jasmine.
Turning back to Eddie, I sigh.
“Who have you been working for?”
“No one.” The wind is taken out of him as Maximus punches him. He falls to the floor, crying out as he lands on his burnt stump.
“I warned you not to lie to me, Eddie.” Maximus stabs him, before kicking him so he rolls onto his back, and I look down at him. “Let’s try something a little easier.” Placing a foot just above his wrist, I apply the smallest amount of pressure. Eddie howls and tries to move away from me as soon as I lift my foot. “Pin him.” I don’t speak to anyone in particular as I know Jason and Maximus want in on this.
“Please, I don’t know anything!” he wails, trying to escape my brothers, but Jason backhands him across the face. I watch his eyes as he stares at us all. He’s a fighter, and I’ll give him that.
“I’m going to tell you what I know, and you will fill in the gaps. Understood?” Eddie opens his mouth to speak, and Maximus punches him. He’s gunning for blood, and there is nothing Eddie can do to prevent the beating he’s going to get.
“This is what I know; stop me if I’m wrong,” I declare, getting the chair he was just sitting in and placing it backwards over his torso, the legs on either side of his stomach, leaving me with the back to rest on as I straddle it, keeping a foot near his burnt arm.
Looking down at him, he tries to look away to avoid eye contact, but he is met by Jason's angry face on one side and Maximus's murderous face on the other. Eddie attempts to close his eyes, so he isn’t looking at any of us, but that won't help him. “Look at me when I’m speaking to you, or I will let McIntire carve your eyes out like he threatened to.”
“Oh, he will lose his eyes, that’s for sure,” I hear McIntire answer, but don’t look to him for an explanation.
“I don’t think the person you are working for is the one who started this whole mess,” I start. “I think they saw that I was a target and used that to their advantage, hoping it would deter me from discovering what they are up to.” Leaving a pause, I watch Eddie, noticing a small tick in his cheek.
“The person who has been vandalising wedding dresses, flowers, hotels and trying to get to our fiancée is not the same person who organised the coup at our stag party. However, they did give Mitchell all the information he needed and ensured they got into the building without being spotted.” The tick in his cheek appears again, which tells me I’m on the right track.
“Who was selling our information to the competition?” I ask, leaning forward a little, and see the tick again.
“I don’t know.” A scream fills the air as I apply a little pressure onto his arm. “I don’t know! I would say if I did!” he screams.
Flipping my knife in my hand as I lift my foot, I flick it downwards and watch as it sticks into the top of his arm. He screams again, and for a second, I think he’s about to pass out. But he somehow manages to stay conscious.
“You’re lying to me, Eddie. I don’t like being lied to,” I point out, leaving the knife in his arm. When he opens his mouth to argue, I shake my head slowly. “Don’t bother lying; I know your tell, so I can tell when I say something you didn’t think I knew.” Slowly, I make a show of placing my foot just above his wrist again.
“So, if the person you are working with isn’t associated with Mitchell, I think they are trying to get Jasmine out of the picture somehow.” I watch as the muscle in his cheek twitches, confirming my suspicions. If I thought I was angry before, that’s nothing compared to how I feel now.
“Who the fuck wants to kill our woman?” Maximus screams, grabbing the knife and twisting it. Eddie screams as Maximus twists it further.
“No one! No one wants her dead! Please!”
I turn my attention to Maximus, but he still glares at Eddie.
“If they don’t want her dead, then why are they trying to destroy her?” he asks through gritted teeth. Eddie stares at him momentarily, his cheek ticking as he tries to stop himself from talking. While he’s distracted, I hold out my hand, and Jason drops his knife.
“Last chance,” I warn as Maximus finally looks up at me and sees the knife. Eddie follows his line of sight as his eyes widen, and he starts to cry.
“Just kill me. I won’t turn them in!”
“Are they worth your life? Do they deserve your loyalty if they are leaving you high and dry like this?” I point out, shaking my head. “Are you really willing to die to protect them?”
“YES!” he screams as I bring my foot down onto his burnt wrist. “I would rather die than turn them in. Wouldn’t you do the same for your brothers?” His face slips when he realises he's given us something huge to work with. Eddie starts to lose it, realising what he’s done. Screaming and trying to fight against Jason and Maximus.
“Somebody shut him up!” I snap as Maximus looks for something to gag him with. Jason, as usual, is one step ahead, grabs my knee, and pushes down so my foot presses against Eddie's wrist. Eddie lets out a blood-curdling scream as I apply more pressure before he passes out from the pain.
“Well, that’s one way to do it,” I sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “Gag him and tie him up somehow. I don’t want him screaming when he wakes up.”
“McIntire, what do you know about his family?” I ask, heading over to where he is sitting, the amputated hand lying on the table beside him.
“He has one brother, but he’s stateside and has been for years,” he answers. “He does have a sister, but I’ve not bothered looking into her, as she's never around, and Abigail hasn’t met her or doesn’t plan to.” McIntire opens Eddie's phone and starts scrolling through his contracts. “The kid is a moron; it seems he tried to get close to Danielle King, but she wasn’t interested, so he turned to Abigail. Looking through messages, he always made excuses for not being able to meet her friends.”
“But it was probably so Danielle didn’t recognise him,” I finish. McIntire nods before turning Eddie's phone around.
“See if you recognise any of these numbers.”
Taking the phone from him, I walk over to Terry, who is locking the chains around Eddie.
“See if any names stand out or have the same number as any of our guys.”
“Yeah, no problem, give me two-” the phone beeps as a message pops up.
M: I can’t take this anymore. I need to find out what's happening; I’ll call you when I leave theirs.
Terry snatches the phone from me as we open the messages from “M” There’s hardly anything there, but Terry knows what he’s doing. He passes the phone to Layton, who looks at the message and curses while Terry sets up his computer.
“Wait, I know this number!” Layton calls out. We all turn to watch as he pulls his own phone out of his pocket and starts scrolling on it. “Shit! The fucking bitch!” he curses, showing Terry the screen. Terry’s eyes widen as he grabs the phone on the wall and presses a button.
“Answer, goddamn it!” he curses, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“O’Reilly.” I hear Sean's voice and stare at my brothers, who are all watching the scene unfold.
“Sean, we know who it is. You need to get down here.”
“Sounds serious. Okay, I’ll head down now.”
“Bring Jasmine and Mrs Brown with you, but don’t bring them into the basement,” I say, looking to Terry, who nods.
“They will be fine up here. Mykela’s just arrived.”
The colour drains from Layton’s face as Terry curses.
“Sean, we are on our way, so do not let her know. Keep her occupied.”
“Why?” Sean asks as it all starts to click into place.
“Because she's the mole.”