Chapter 2 #2
“I didn’t think. I didn’t mean—”
“That’s correct. You didn’t think,”
Daniel shook his head. “Please—”
“Robert, you’re lucky I don’t send anyone to visit your wife and other children.”
There was still a strong chance I’d take Daniel’s and Robert’s lives, but I liked to play with my prey a little first.
Another gurgled whimper rolled out of Robert, but at least he nodded.
Pathetic.
Torment slapped Daniel’s hand to the metal table and held it in place.
Moving closer, I scraped the sharp edge of the cleaver across the table, creating a slow and harsh grating noise. Their new broken whimpers and pleas made me smile.
“Please, don’t. I’m sorry.”
A blunt thud vibrated the metal as an anguished scream tore through the room. Daniel recoiled, jerking away and sending his chair crashing to the floor, but his attention was on his dismembered hand that lay on the table, oozing blood.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Blood flowed heavily out of the stump and pooled on the floor beneath him. The cut had sprayed red everywhere, landing over my suit and face.
I swiped my tongue along my upper lip, enjoying the strong metallic taste, then grinned wildly. I’d made a beautiful, clean cut, thanks to Reaper and his addiction to keeping our tools sharpened.
Snorting, I demanded, “Get his other hand.”
Daniel’s head shot up, his face red, mucus pooling on his top lip and running down the side. His eyes were swollen and tears streaked down his face. “No, please.”
Laughing darkly, I shook my head. “No one steals from me.”
“I won’t. Not ever. I’ll do anything. Please. Please, Malice.”
Torment kicked out the back of Daniel’s knees, causing him to drop to them. He grabbed Daniel’s other hand and forced it onto the bloodied table.
“I can’t trust you.”
When I was about to draw down the cleaver, he rushed out, “Dad knew. He knew. He told me to do it.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Robert roared. He scrambled to his feet, hands out and up in front of him. “I didn’t. He’s lying, Malice. I wouldn’t—”
“I’m not. Take my phone. Look for yourself.”
Robert backed up against the wall as he muttered repeatedly, “I didn’t.”
My anger burned.
Behind me, I heard the door open, bringing the scent of cigarettes, hinoki, and cedarwood cologne.
Vincent. One of my younger brothers and the second in charge to Reaper’s first rank team.
He would never interrupt one of my meetings unless there was a matter that needed my immediate attention.
As I glanced over at him, he returned my stare with a nod before moving off to the side of the room to wait patiently.
Right, I needed to finish with these two pieces of shit so I could deal with whatever the fuck caused him to interrupt me.
Throwing the cleaver onto the table with a clatter, I snatched up my gun once again. “It seems I can’t trust either of you.”
Daniel shook his head over and over, clasping his bloodied arm to his chest.
Torment rolled his eyes before he moved over to Vincent to talk in whispers.
“Robert,” I called.
He whimpered, eyes closing as he slid to the floor, his hands in a praying gesture in front of him.
I wanted his attention on me. “Look at me!” I roared.
He quickly opened them, his gaze wide and filled with the glorious emotion of fear. “Yes, Malice?”
“Do you think I should trust you and your son?”
“Yes. I promise we won’t fuck up again,” he tried.
I scoffed. “I call bullshit.”
Aiming, I shot him between the eyes. Brain matter, blood, and bone fragments sprayed the wall behind him as his gaze glazed over. His body slumped back before it slid sideways, smearing a red stain along the concrete.
Daniel’s desperate screams were wonderful to hear, but they wouldn’t last. I pointed my gun his way and fired another round, hitting him in the chest. There was a sharp jolt to his body as his breath hitched before it cut off to nothing, and he collapsed to the floor, dead.
When I holstered my gun, I turned. Vincent had gone.
Torment stepped up to my side. “Ya know, we could have made a profit from Daniel’s heart and Robert’s brain.
” At my glare, he went on, “But I guess they’ve got other things to sell…
. Anyway, Vincent says there’s an incident upstairs that needs your attention. He’s waiting out there for you.”
Fuck me. Will this night ever end?
“Is this issue in the club or one of the other rooms down here?” Meaning, would I have to change before being seen by any civilians or was I good to go covered in blood?
“The blue room.”
“Got it.” I wouldn’t need to shower because after whatever this issue was, I’d be heading to my private parking area where no civilians would see me, and I could enjoy a long shower at home.
“Torment, arrange a team to get these two on ice and delivered to the warehouse for the doctors to distribute their body parts and find some buyers. Next, I need a team to see Robert’s wife and inform her of the tragic car accident where she lost her husband and son.
And get one of my assistants to give me a list of families who have shown an interest in stepping up within the business and would want to manage the laundromats. ”
“Yes, boss,” he replied before moving off to the side to make some calls.
Without glancing back, I walked out of the room to see Vincent leaning against the opposite wall, rolling an unlit smoke between his fingers.
I shut the door behind me, and Vincent pocketed his smoke and straightened.
As we walked, he gave me the rundown. We turned a corner and paused, seeing our oldest brother.
“Benjamin, what are you doing here?” I asked.
He smirked. “Can’t I just drop in for a drink and enjoy myself?”
I cocked a brow. “You don’t usually.”
Benjamin was the oldest in the Garcia family, and he’d always held a grudge that Father and the organization hadn’t appointed him to lead after Father’s passing.
But Father saw how useless and weak Benjamin was.
He would have run the organization into the ground and probably destroyed our family in the process.
He was greedy and lazy, wanting to do minimal work but still access the riches the family made.
Benjamin glared. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
Vincent snorted. “If you’re in his club you do.”
He bristled. “It’s a family-owned club.”
“Who Malice is the head of. Means he owns everything, dipshit,” Vincent said.
Benjamin’s face screwed up. “You little piece of—”
“Enough,” I barked. “I don’t have time for this. Go get your drink, Benjamin, but stay at the level above. You’re not permitted to come below.”
“You can’t—”
“I can,” I clipped. “You’re an accountant within the corporation. You don’t need to be down on these levels for any reason. If you need any one of us, you ask one of my men.”
“Fuck you, Maxwell,” he snarled.
Vincent reached out and gripped the front of Benjamin’s suit, shaking him a little as he clipped, “It is fuckin’ Malice to you.”
Benjamin grumbled, straightened out his clothes, then turned and walked back the way he came.
“Follow him and make sure to pass on the message to the guards,” I ordered.
“You got it, bro.”
I had a feeling Benjamin was up to something. I’d figure out what, but he wasn’t a priority. Still, it didn’t mean I wouldn’t send some of my men to keep an eye on him from now on.