24. Astor
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ASTOR
T wo days. Two day’s I’ve been torturing four men until they either die or give me the information I want before I kill them. I’m currently on the last one, and if he dies, or I snap and kill him before I get what I need, then I’m back to square one. That’s good for him, but not good for my patience that’s diminishing fucking quickly.
“You know…I expected more information from your friends over there. Hopefully, you’ll be a better sport than them.” I take my fist and drive it into his face, repeatedly. I hear a crack and another; blood spurts all over me and him. I admit, I’m being a bit rougher because I’m pissed that Alessia hung up on me. Not only did she hang up, but she’s ignored every fucking call since then.
Twelve, to be exact.
Justin is sitting in the chair next to the door, his elbows resting on the back, shaking his head as I plummet him again. I don’t know his name—I don’t know any of their names. Nor do I give a fuck.
I take my knife and slice it across his chest as he bellows out in pain.
“Where is Miles?” My voice is dark, low, full of threat. I don’t have time to waste on this. He shakes his head and I run my knife across his chest again, this time deeper.
“Boss,” my head security, Benny, says, tapping my shoulder. I raise my eyebrow at him in question. “You might want to see this.” He holds his phone up to me and I’m raging in anger. Not because this piece of shit in front of me won’t give me any information, but because I’m watching a live fucking video of my fiancée standing on top of a bar, in a tiny, black piece of fabric that’s a pathetic excuse for a dress, swaying her hips back and fucking forth.
Justin is out of his seat in a second, watching the madness unfold. He’s fine until he sees who’s next to Alessia. He snatches the phone out of Benny’s hand, his eyes landing on Caroline. She has one arm around Alessia and the other in the air as she tosses her hair back and forth.
I knew they had a little thing since the bar, but by the way he’s looking right now, it’s obviously more than a thing now.
“Ast, finish this the fuck up…” he grits out, pushing the phone back towards me. A man approaches the bar and taps Alessia’s leg. I push the phone away and turn back to the last man.
“Change of plans, buddy. Can I call you buddy?” I say, gently tapping his face. “My fiancée has decided to make a statement, an extremely bold one, might I add, and it’s pertinent that I get to her quickly. You understand that, right?”
He groans and Justin pulls his chair to sit in front of him.
“Look, he’s really obsessed with his girl, if you can’t tell. I’d tell him what he wants to know. He’s not nice when something, or in your case, someone, gets in the way of getting to her,” Justin states with a grin on his face.
“I’ll give you to the count of six to tell me where he is.” I circle around him and he shifts back and forth, trying to break the ropes that are wrapped tightly around his body.
“One...Two…Three…Four...Five…”
“Stop! Stop! He’s in Reno! He has a house there!”
“When is he coming to New York?”
“Next week, for a meeting with his father!”
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I lean down close to his ear and chuckle. “But guess what? Six .” I jab my knife into his jugular. I grab my extra shirt from Benny’s hand. Justin and I quickly get to my car, not bothering to stay to watch the last man bleed out.
The drive to the club will take about fifteen minutes. Of course they choose to go to one of my clubs. Alessia is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. She knew someone would alert Benny; she knew I’d see her. Justin hasn’t said a word since we left the house my father owns in the city. His knee is bouncing up and down and I can’t help but wonder why he looks so murderous right now.
“How deep is this shit with Caroline?” I ask him. He huffs and turns his gaze to the window. “Fuck, Jus.”
“I haven’t spent a night without her since the bar,” he mumbles.
“So, when you were ducking off these last two days, it was to see Caro?”
“You know how you met your match with Lessia? Well, I can promise you she’s giving me a run for my fucking money. I’ve met mine, too.”
“Then let’s go get them, shall we?” I ask as we pull up to the front of the club. The bouncer waves us in and pushes people back for us to get through. My phone vibrates and I glance at it, seeing a text from Benny. He’s been watching them on the live feed cameras.
Benny:
Boss, I can’t see her on the cameras anymore. She was at the bar.
I shove my phone in my pocket and beeline it for the bar. The bartender sees me and his eyes widen. I yank him across the bar and Justin leans against it.
“Where the fuck did she go?” I ask him.
“I-I don’t know. I thought she went to the bathroom!” I push him backwards and Justin taps him.
“The blonde with her, where’d she go?”
“With her. She went with her!” he screams over the music, his hands up. Justin nods and tussles the bartender’s hair.
“Thanks,” Justin leans down and reads his name tag, “Trent. We do appreciate it.” I glare at him, unable to stop the thoughts of wanting to hurt him. The vibration of my phone is the only thing that takes me from that thought. Benny is calling me. Not texting, calling. Fuck.
“Yeah,” I bark out.
“She went to the back. The best friend followed her. But boss.”
“Spit it out, Benny.”
“She took that guy with her.”
“Call my father, tell him to have the clean-up crew on standby. Someone’s about to die.”
Alessia, sweet Alessia, I surely hope you aren’t as dumb as you’re sounding right now.
Justin and I push through the back of the club, everyone sidestepping to let us through. When I open the first door and there’s no sign of her, I walk down the hall to the other abandoned offices.
“Alessia!” I bellow, stopping when I see the light illuminating the basement door. Justin elbows me and I nod. We both pull out our guns, silently opening the door to the basement. The voice we hear stops us both in our tracks.
“What lesson did we learn tonight? Hmm?”
Alessia .
I hear a groan, one that I know way too well after the last two days. It’s a groan of pain.
“She asked you a question. Answer her,” Caroline adds.
“You both are crazy fucking bitches,” a male voice says, before I hear a feral scream.
“Last chance, what did we learn? Tell us and we’ll let you go. Easy peasy,” Alessia says, smiling at him. They have him hanging with arms tied behind his back, a rope wrapped what appears to be tight around his dick. Ouch .
“Not to touch without permission! That’s what I fucking learned! Fuck, let me go!”
“And who exactly did you fucking touch?” I ask in an almost growl.
I step into view and Justin clears his throat, causing three pairs of eyes to turn onto us.
“Oh! Hi, Justin!” Caroline says. She smiles and licks her lips.
“Caro, what the fuck are you doing?” She shrugs her shoulders and starts untying the man.
“Nothing, just letting this nice guy here go ho?—”
I’m in Alessia’s face before Caroline finishes her sentence, my hand wrapped tightly around her throat.
“Who the fuck did he touch?” I grit out, tightening my hold on her neck. She does nothing but raise her eyebrow at my question. Justin and Caroline are saying something, but I can’t take my eyes off the woman who lives to fucking defy me. “Alessia, answer the question.”
“Does it matter?” I grind my teeth, and this time, I’m grinding so hard I actually do have a headache.
“ Malyshka ,” I groan.
She sighs. “Both of us,” she says quickly. I drop my hand from her neck and she rolls her lips between her teeth.
“Jus. Stop him.” He moves with quickness and grabs him by his arm.
“No, leave me alone, man,” the man groans, holding his dick.
“I already taught him a lesson,” Alessia says, grabbing my arm. I yank away from her, my eyes dark.
“Go home. Now .”
Someone is definitely dying.