26. Mason
26
MASON
T here was a soundproofed room inside an empty Kade Enterprises warehouse. I had every intention of looking into why it had been soundproofed, but until I had time, we were going to make use of it.
Once we had Zeke strung up so he wasn’t going to hurt himself, it was time. Logan and I kept our masks on, and I trained the spotlight on him. “Wake him up.”
The room was warm and it smelled weird, but it’d do for what we were about to do. This was not going to be pleasant. Logan picked up the smelling salts and put them under Allen’s nose.
He jerked awake with a cough and a deep groan.
Logan stepped back, disappearing into the shadows with me. We waited until Zeke got his bearings.
After a moment, his eyes squinted against the light. He tried to move, but his arms and legs were both tied in place. Only then did panic start to hit him. He tried to see us, but the light hurt too much. He flinched, twisting and trying to move away. “What the fuck? What the fuck?! ” He struggled against his bindings. “Let me go.” He took a deep breath, fighting again. “LET ME GO! NOW !”
Logan started laughing, trying to be quiet.
Zeke froze, glaring at us. “You think this is funny? You fucking sick psychos. You twisted, fucking sick psychos. Who are you? When I get out of this—”
I was suddenly not in the mood to hear any threats. “Shut up.”
He did, but only briefly. His eyes narrowed, and his lip curled in an ugly snarl. “Or what? You’re going to break into my house and kidnap—” His eyes widened, and he froze. “My wife. My kids.” He strained toward us, eyes blazing. “My family, are they okay? If you did anything to the—”
More threats.
His fear was valid, but this wasn’t about his family. This was about mine, and he had put them in danger. A primal-sounding roar escaped me. He shut up for a moment, but still he strained to get free, pushing his body as far toward us as his bindings would let him.
Logan moved to my side. “That’s a good strategy.” He looked up to check on where we’d anchored the chains. It looked solid. “If we needed to keep him here longer than a day, he’d get free.”
My eyes fell to the anchor at his feet. He wasn’t focused on that, but he should’ve been. That was the weak point. I nodded at it, getting Logan’s attention. If Zeke was thinking, he’d twist his body as far forward as possible, taking the pain, because that anchor on the floor wouldn’t hold. It would loosen, and it’d pop out of the floor.
Good lesson if we ever did this again.
We let him struggle for a while, tiring himself out.
When I’d had enough, I stepped forward. “You’ve been looking into the Bennett family. Why?”
He went still, his chest heaving. Sweat trickled down his face, wetting his shirt. His eyes narrowed. “That’s what this is about?”
Logan growled. “Answer the fucking question. Why are you looking into them?”
Zeke scanned around the room, as if looking for other people before his eyes returned to us. “Can you respect my right to privacy?” he taunted.
Logan started for him.
Zeke laughed, sucking in his breath as Logan neared. He watched my brother walk over to a table where he had some weapons laid out. “Kai Bennett is a bad fucking guy. He’s…”
Logan picked up the knuckle rings, sliding them on and flexing his hand.
Zeke’s voice faltered. “What are you going to do?” He tried leaning away but couldn’t. “Look, man. I don’t know—obviously you know who I am, but I’ve got people who are going to be pissed that you’re doing this. They’ll fuck you up. Trust me. My best friend is…” He stopped, swallowing.
Logan shook his head, stepping around to inspect him, probably trying to decide on the first place to hit him. “We have you strung up, and you’re letting us know about the first threat to take out once we’re done with you? Thank you in advance.” An ugly chuckle came from Logan’s mouth.
Zeke tried watching him as Logan circled around to his back. “What do you want? I’m not going to tell you shit. You work for the Bennetts? Is that what this is? They’re pissed at me or something? It was just a little hacking. Nothing serious. I didn’t do anything. I was only looking for information.”
I stepped forward. “What information?”
He twisted back to me, his eyes widening. He’d forgotten I was here.
Zeke swallowed again. He closed his eyes, readying himself. “I—just information on them. Nothing incriminating. I… Who the fuck are you guys? I don’t know shit. Okay? Okay? They’re messing with people I know and I’m—I was just trying to help. That’s it. Fuck’s sakes. That’s it. I’ll stop.”
Logan stepped back so we could share a look.
Zeke looked between us. He licked his lips. “Seriously. I’ll stop. Don’t…” Suddenly, the fight drained from him. His body slumped. His arms strained with his weight, strung above his head. “Whatever. I can’t tell you shit, and I’m not going to. Fuck me up. Just… Leave my family alone. Okay?”
Logan tapped the knuckles against his other hand, but Zeke seemed to tune him out. He was waiting for the torture to start, which put us in a bind because we didn’t actually want to torture him. Scare him? Yes. Put some pressure on him and see how he handled it? Absolutely. But making him bleed… Well, I couldn’t deny that something about that held some appeal for me, but Zeke wasn’t the real enemy.
“You’ve given up already?” Logan picked up a knife and tapped it against Zeke’s forehead.
Zeke shook his head, trying to flip him away.
That same ugly chuckle left my brother again as he stepped around in front of Zeke, trailing the tip of the blade over Zeke’s chest.
Zeke just waited. His chest and stomach trembled under the knife’s point.
Logan was enjoying this, and he angled the knife higher, so only the tip touched Zeke’s stomach. He grabbed hold of it with both hands and moved in, pushing it further. It cut through Zeke’s shirt and he grimaced as the tip pierced his skin.
I waited. This was new for us. We’d not done this type of interrogation, usually resorting to blackmail or straight up violence in the past. A writhing ball of emotion twisted in my stomach. I liked doing this. How fucked up was that?
Logan pushed the knife farther.
Zeke grunted, panting. “Fuck. Fuck! Stop.”
I moved to the side, checking to see how far the knife had gone. It wasn’t that far, just a little past the tip. But it was enough to make him feel searing pain and bring some blood seeping out. It looked bad, but in the end, he’d only need a stitch or two.
Zeke went pale, struggling again. “What do you want? You still haven’t told me shit.”
“We want information,” I barked. “Why were you looking into Kai Bennett and his family?”
His eyes flicked my way but returned immediately to Logan. That knife was still there. Zeke was moving around, making it worse. “I—” His voice broke before he yelled, his tone strangled. “What are you going to do? Cut me up? Just do it! Do it, assholes. Slide that shit deeper. Come on .” Zeke began straining toward Logan, pushing the knife deeper.
Logan didn’t move back, just looked my way to see what I wanted to do.
“Stop.” Grabbing Zeke’s shoulder, I held him in place.
He strained against my hold, driving the knife deeper. He’d snapped or something. There was a wild look in his eyes, and I reached up, tugging on the chains to release his body. He dropped.
Logan removed the knife, so it didn’t do more damage, but as soon Zeke was down, we were on him. I knelt on his shoulders as Logan knelt on his legs, still gripping the knife.
Well, I had my answer. This guy was certifiably crazy.
He was also like us.
“Get off me! Get off—” He was twisting so much that Logan had to let go of the knife.
I’d seen and heard enough. This guy was—I didn’t know what his endgame was. But this wasn’t getting us anywhere. I stepped up and delivered a punch straight to his head. As it landed, his body thumped against the floor. He was unconscious again.
Logan stepped back, peeling off his mask. He was shaken, a little pale too. “Holy shit.” He ran his hands down his face.
I peeled off my own mask, knowing I looked the same. I stared down at the kid, who—I know, I know, wasn’t a kid, but I’d first found out about him when he was in high school. Now he’d chosen to hurt himself over telling us anything.
I respected him for that. “We need to take him to the hospital.”
“I can call Taylor,” Logan said. “She can stitch him up. He’ll be fine.” He shook his head, standing. “The dude’s crazy.”
I grunted. “He’s more solid than I thought.”
Logan lifted laughing eyes to me. “He’s like us, Mase. I never would’ve thought that.”
I shook my head, reaching for my phone. “He took a risk. If we actually were from the Bennetts, he’d be dead. And they would’ve used his family against him, no qualms about it.”
“Yeah.” Logan sighed, sounding exhausted. “Fuck, man. Fuck .” He took a staggering step back, still not totally steady.
I crossed the room to pull out the first aid kit. I’d do what I could until Taylor got here. I motioned to Logan. “Call your wife. Don’t let her tell anyone where she’s going.”
Logan cursed, his head tipping back. He dug out his phone, hit a couple buttons, and lifted it to his ear as he turned and moved away. “Hey, babe?…”
I regarded Zeke at my feet.
He’d surprised me. Not a lot of people did that anymore. But when he woke up, we’d have to start all over again because I still wanted to know why he was looking into Kai Bennett.