Chapter 30
Cleaning up loose ends
Atlas
It was six thirty in the morning. Birds chirped, and the sun hid behind the clouds. I wanted to get this over with as early as possible so we could plan our trip back to Rhode Island.
The humidity was thick this morning as Jacob and I walked across the stone path to the guest house.
The mansion was quiet behind us, the girls still tucked in where they belonged.
Safely locked behind closed doors. Kitlyn and I slept soundly without her usual nightmare waking her.
Becca and Layla still had some difficulty with night terrors.
Everyone heals differently.
We continued walking in silence. Neither of us needed to speak. We both knew what this morning would bring.
An ending.
The guards smiled when they saw us approach.
I nodded once, and the door was unlocked with a hollow click.
Jacob and I stepped inside, wrinkling our noses.
The smell wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday, but it still stunk like a cesspool.
The guards opened the windows to let some fresh air into the rancid-smelling bungalow.
When we're finished executing the three assholes, I ordered a cleaning company to come in and disinfect the whole place.
Hector sat in the middle of the room. His body was painted with bruises and crusted open wounds.
Juan and Julio were beside him, strapped to their chairs, with their heads leaning forward.
Their lower halves were covered at my order.
Not out of mercy, but because I had no interest in looking at their dicks while I tortured them to death.
Hector looked up as we entered, one eye glaring through a haze of severe swelling. Even after all we had put him through, he still had the audacity to smirk.
"Well," he croaked out, his voice raw and broken, "look who finally decided to finish the job."
The rage in me remained coiled and controlled as I crouched in front of him.
"You're only alive because I wanted you to feel what it was like to be powerless, and to sit in your own filth.
Give you some time to think about what you've done to all those women.
" I tilted my head, watching his lips curl.
"Tell me, Hector. How does it feel to be on the other side of the coin? "
He spat blood onto the floor. A crimson blot landed between us. "Do you think you broke me, assassin? You don't know me, gringo. You can chain me, beat me, starve me; but you'll never be half the man I am."
Jacob stepped out of the corner calmly and drove his boot into Hector's ribs with a crack that echoed in the room, almost sending the chair flying. The ex-cartel boss coughed hard, wheezing and spitting more blood. Jacob moved in closer, his voice firm and steady.
"You're right," he said. "We're nothing like you."
Beside him, Julio stirred, lifting his battered head. His voice cracked; words of desperation flowed from his lips.
"It wasn't us. It was him."
He jerked his chin toward Hector.
"He made us this way. We were forced to do things. Horrible things. Even our father never subjected us to the cruelty Hector did. We weren't like this before he took over the family business."
Juan joined in, broken and pathetic. "We didn't want to touch the girls. He ordered it. He's the one who turned us into monsters." His eyes filled up, swollen lids twitching. "It was always Hector's fault. If we didn't obey, we were brutally punished. He's the monster."
I circled them like prey caught in a snare.
"You're both pitiful losers," I said sternly. "You blame him for your sins, as if your hands weren't the ones holding them down. Like it wasn't your cocks inside them, your fists landing all over their bodies. It wasn't your piss on Becca? You want forgiveness?"
My voice sharpened, piercing the air. "Then ask the women whose screams haunt them every night."
They had no answers.
Just silence, broken only by Hector's hoarse laugh.
"They're lying sacks of shit," Hector croaked, his smile ragged and bloodied. "I didn't have to force them to do anything. They loved every minute. I had to sit in the training room many times to keep Juan from going overboard and killing the girls he was in charge of."
He turned his head toward his brothers, sneering.
"Just like I told bad boyfriend assassin, I should have killed both of you a long time ago. Fucking idiots you are, you never checked the girls for trackers. You always were incompetent morons."
He glared at me, both eyes barely open. "Let's go, you two. Just fucking kill us and get it over with."
I pulled my knife free; the blade shining in the faint light. "You should know by now, Hector," I murmured, my voice low and dangerous. "There won't be a quick death with me. Not after what you did to Kitlyn, so I suggest you relax the best you can, and enjoy what's coming."
Jacob stood by my shoulder, silent and solid.
My brother in arms.
Hector grinned through broken teeth, blood staining his chin. "Do your worst, tough guys."
So I did.
I'd had enough of these three scumbags. It was time to get to Kitten, and our life. I think I got my point across and the three maggots in front of me paid dearly for touching what is mine. Hurting her in all ways.
This was personal.
The blade in my hand felt like an extension of myself….cold and angry. Hector slouched forward, his eyes burning with hatred. "You think this ends with me? He gasped. "There will always be another. You kill me, ten more will rise. That's how this world works."
I bent closer, the knife tip resting against his throat, pressing just enough to dimple the skin. His breath hitched.
"I don't need to end the world, just you."
Jacob barked out a laugh, moving toward Juan, who flinched like a whipped dog. "And you—you pissed stained motherfucker—don't pin it all on your brother. Your dick didn't accidentally fall into Becca's mouth, so shut the fuck up and face the consequences like a man."
Juan's silence was answer enough.
I stood beside Hector, bringing my blade down into his thigh, digging in deep. He howled like a wounded animal, his muscles straining against the chains. Blood seeped through the blanket, dark and oozing.
"This is for starving, torturing and raping Kitlyn."
I twisted the blade slowly.
His jaw clenched, eyes rolling in the back of his head.
"You're nothing but a piece of shit!" I spat.
Juan whimpered, his voice desperate.
"Please. We didn't want to do it. He made us—"
"Shut the fuck up," Jacob snapped, and before Juan could utter another word, Jacob's fist slammed into his jaw so hard, the bone cracked. Juan slumped forward, drooling blood.
I pulled the blade free from Hector's thigh, leaving crimson splashes across the floor. He was wheezing and panting.
"You die last. You get to watch your brothers go first."
Jacob grinned, cracking his knuckles.
"Well, let's get started. I'm starving."
He went for Juan, who was still slumped half out of it. Jacob didn't hesitate. He grabbed the chair, tilted it backward to the floor, and brought his boot down hard on Juan's throat. The metal bent beneath the force. Juan choked, gasped, then stilled, his eyes wide and blank.
"One scumbag down," Jacob muttered, brushing the dust off his hands. "Two more to go."
Julio's screams filled the room. He thrashed in his chair, chains biting into his skin. "No! Please don't—"
I silenced him with a slash across his chest. Shallow and deliberate. Just enough to tint him crimson.
His cries echoed off the walls, shrill and panicked.
"Do you remember Kitlyn and Becca's voices?" I asked him softly. "Screams, just like yours, but louder and longer."
Jacob stepped forward, bending so Julio had to look him in the eye.
"You pissed on her, you filthy piece of shit.
Think about that while you bleed out." He drove the knife into Julio's gut, twisting slowly.
Julio shrieked, convulsing as the blood bubbled to his lips.
Jacob wrenched free, then slit his throat with one quick cut.
I looked at the two bodies slumped and silent.
Only Hector remained.
His chest heaved, blood running down his leg…his face pale beneath the bruises. Still, his mouth curled into that sick grin. "You think killing me gives her back her innocence? She's ruined. She'll never forget me. That's my fucking victory, assassin."
My fury went lethal. I crouched, pressing the knife under his chin, tilting his head back. "You're wrong. She came back to my bed, even after you brutalized her. You no longer haunt her dreams. That's my victory, motherfucker."
He spit out a chunk of blood, chuckling low.
"Then do it, big bad assassin. End it."
I stared into his fucked-up face, then whispered. "Gladly."
The blade slid clean across his throat. His smirk froze, then faltered as the life drained out of him. Blood spilled hot and fast, soaking the chair, the floor….pooling at my boots.
His eyes turned dark, the light gone.
Silence fell heavily inside the room.
Three brothers.
Three corpses.
vengeance carved into flesh.
I exhaled, wiping my blade clean on Hector's chest.
"Well," I muttered with a dark grin, "guess family dinners are off the table."
Jacob smirked, putting his knife back in his pocket.
Justice has been served in its place.
I slapped a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Great job. Let's get the fuck out of here and grab something to eat."
He nodded. "I'm with you."
I ordered the guards to call the CIA and remove the bodies. The cleaning crew would be here tomorrow to fumigate the place, leaving it sparkling like new.
Jacob and I headed back to the main house, glad it was over. We were eager to head back to the States with the girls and start a brand new life without traffickers haunting our thoughts day and night.
I smiled to myself.
Now that's something to celebrate!