Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ADAM
I hated leaving her, after seeing the complete mental meltdown the video caused. But I couldn’t let the crimes of her family go unpunished, either. To treat my wife with such disregard was disgusting. The way her father went about it, repulsive. Had he not done such a heinous thing, I might have let him live, at least for a little while.
We barely caught her when she passed out. I was thankful Mercer’s reflexes were as good as mine. When we had her steady, I scooped her in my arms, brushing the strands of hair out of her face before looking to my friend. “She’ll be okay, right?”
He nodded, making me feel reassured. “It was a shock.”
I closed my eyes, trying to rein in the rage bubbling inside. “Should she see a doctor?”
“I’ll call our on-call doctor. See if he’s able to make a house visit.”
The stone lodged in my throat made swallowing a struggle. My clammy hands made it feel as if I’d drop her at any moment. “I’m taking her to my room. Send in the doctor when he comes.”
Mercer raised a brow in question, but didn’t say a word as I walked down the hall and kicked open my bedroom door. That fucking dog was on my heels the whole time. Inside my room, I laid her on the bed, then took a throw and covered her. The dog jumped up, and I growled at it. “Off.”
It didn’t listen, only walked in a circle before collapsing in a position next to Belle, laying its head on Belle’s stomach. I glared. “You think I don’t know that? It’s why I have the doctor coming.”
The dog huffed, and I flipped her off. Fuck her and her judgements. I was doing what needed to be done, even if Belle couldn’t handle it. It was best for her, best for the both of them. They wouldn’t have her toxic father lurking in the background, always a danger. I didn’t know what power play Accardo was working toward by sending that video, but if he wanted to go back on his alliance and eliminate the threat, I’d gladly do it for him.
I pulled up a chair and sat, watching my wife. She was beautiful, and admitting that felt like a vice was squeezing my heart. I loved Elizabeth, and it was a betrayal to watch Belle and feel something, anything at all.
I looked around the room, the one my wife had never slept in. I’d never taken her in here, never invited her into any of my private spaces. I don’t know why. This room never belonged to Elizabeth. That one was locked away behind a closed door in the west wing. Still, I wondered if Elizabeth would be angry that I laid Belle on my bed, even if my intentions were pure enough.
“She looks good on your bed,” Mercer commented as he walked in, not bothering to knock.
“Your dog is not sleeping with me.”
“I wasn’t talking about Lady.” And he was right. Belle’s creamy skin and brown hair were like a portrait against my black sheets.
I didn’t acknowledge what he was hinting at. “Your dog refused to move.”
“She’s worried about her mama.” He reached the edge of the bed. “Doctor will be here in twenty.”
“Her mama, hum?”
He shrugged. “She’s the only gal in this house and Lady is a baby still.”
“For a second, I thought maybe you reconsidered my offer.” I kept my voice low as Belle stirred.
“I’ve thought about it. It is all I can think about, really.” He sighed as he reached forward and petted the dog's head. “Isn’t it up to her to decide, anyway?”
“I can’t give her everything she needs.” Hell, I doubt I could give her much of anything that’s not financial. I’m doing a shit job as it is.
“Shouldn’t you let her decide what she needs?” I hated that he was right. What she needed was up to her to ask for, to take, and I didn’t know if she’d ever ask for more than any of us could give her.
Her eyes fluttered for a moment before she squeezed them together, and I leaned forward. “Hey sweetheart, just rest, okay? We’ve got a doctor coming to check you out. You’ll be good as new. You just fainted, is all.”
She was struggling to wake, her eyelids moving as she fought to grasp consciousness. Then Lady snuggled closer and Belle sighed, relaxing under the weight of the pup. I guess, even though I’m not fond of animals, the dog could stay. Anything to make our girl comfortable.
Five hours later, the doctor had come and deemed Belle healthy, suggesting plenty of rest and fluids. The baby's heart was strong, and when Belle finally woke, she seemed perfectly fine. Though I’d still not let her move. I didn’t want to risk it.
Ignoring her protests, I left her with Mercer in my room, watching a movie, and stomped my way down the stone steps to the basement. It was cold down there, wet, dark; the perfect place to keep a prisoner until I wanted to deal with them.
And Vinnie Crusiaux was a prisoner.
Ace had arrived an hour ago, dropping him straight into the basement before creeping upstairs, not letting Belle see him covered in blood. Smart move. Her father deserved to die, but she didn’t deserve to see the fallout of it.
I waited an hour after Ace’s return before I allowed myself to leave Belle’s side. I knew Vinnie wasn’t going anywhere. Ace wouldn’t have just left him down there without securing him. Plus, Drew and Max were guarding the door, and I knew they’d not let anyone come close to touching Belle.
They followed me down to the basement, standing guard in case I needed help. I didn’t anticipate needing assistance. The aging, crumbled man on the floor wasn’t the man who let me walk off with his daughter at the altar.
“Vinnie. My friend.” The word held no fondness, and when Vinnie looked up, his face coated in dried blood and his nose crooked, I knew that Vinnie already had his own chat with Ace.
“Where’s my daughter? She won’t let you do this.”
I smiled slowly, drawing out my joy. “Upstairs, in my bed. And I’ve already got her permission.”
I might have left out the details of why she was there, but it didn’t matter. She was my wife, and I didn’t owe this man an explanation.
He huffed, then winced at the action. “She’s a whore.”
I sucked air through my teeth, causing a whistle to escape. “Vinnie, that’s not really true, now is it?”
“Close enough.” His missing teeth caused a bit of a lisp as he talked, not becoming of a mafia man.
I crossed my arms in front of me as I peered down at him for a moment. When I was satisfied with my decision, I grabbed a set of car charging cables that hung on the wall. I hooked one of the jumper cables to the metal attached to him, then I pulled out a machine that Mercer had altered for this purpose, and hooked the other one onto the nob.
I switched the switch on, and off quick, enough so that he got a jolt. He cursed his displeasure while I announced, “Just testing.”
“Fuck off,” he spat.
“Now that’s not a nice thing to say to the man who literally has your life in his hands,” I cooed.
“You’re going to kill me either way.” I sent him another shot just because of the attitude.
“That’s true,” I agreed. “But I’d rather us help each other first.”
“Kill me now. I’ll never fucking help you.” He spat at me and missed.
“That little lisp is adorable. Did Ace help you with that?” I taunted him. When he didn’t respond, I continued, “Do you know why you’re here?”
“Gee, I don’t fucking know.” He rolled his eyes at me, and I let him get away with it. His eyes were practically the only thing he could move at the moment. “Let me list all the reasons.”
“There is only one.” I sent a long, drawn-out shock to his system, enjoying as his body shook and his eyes rolled back. “I wonder if this is what getting hit by lightning feels like?”
His chest heaved, his eyes closed as he gasped for air. “I imagine so.”
“Great. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I use it,” I responded cheerfully, before upping the voltage and watching him seize.
After flicking off the electricity for the moment, I picked up some air freshener and sprayed it around. “Sort of smelling like burnt hair in here.”
“Sorry to inconvenience,” he gasped out sarcastically.
Before he could blink, I was on him, spraying the air freshener in his eyes and enjoying the scream of pain as it burned his pupils. “Tell me why you’re fucking here.”
“I don’t fucking know,” he gritted out.
“I think you do!” I shot back to him before hitting him with another jolt of electricity.
“I don’t!” he wailed.
“I got a delivery from your good friend, Joseph Accardo, this afternoon,” I informed him, taking joy as his skin paled. He knew what that meant, knew what was delivered. “Seems like your good friend no longer wanted you as his ally.”
“Fucking bastard.” The chains rattled as Vinnie moved. “I can explain.”
“I truly doubt you can.” But I crossed my arms in front of my chest anyway, waiting for whatever explanation he pulled out of his ass that would never be sufficient. Nothing ever would. “Go on, I’m waiting.”
He swallowed hard, his energy waning as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse he thought would be worthy enough to forgive him. “I needed an alliance. I’ve got men… a lot of them turning up dead and I don’t know why.”
“And your daughter was worth the alliance?” I growled.
“Everyone has a part to play in the life we lead, you know that.” The look he gave me spoke of more, that he thought my family’s death was all part of a greater scheme and he was okay with the sacrifice. Before I could cut his tongue out of his mouth for merely thinking about it, he continued. “Take you. If your life didn’t turn to shit, you’d not be nearly as ruthless. You were soft, and we both know it. Businessmen like us aren’t meant for softness. If Accardo didn’t do it, it would have happened some other way. You’ve been smuggling drugs through your casino for years, tampering with other people's suppliers and ambitions. Do you think that wouldn’t have its consequences?”
“Other people’s ambitions are of no concern to me,” I fumed. “I’m the stronger player, the better man.”
“For now, but how long do you think that will hold? Accardo has always wanted a piece of the territory you control. You think the minor threats you issue phase him?” Vinnie laughed. “He doesn’t even tremble.”
“You think I’ve been issuing threats?” This time, it was my laughter that filled the room. “I’ve hardly blown in their direction. I’m a patient man. I would think you would realize that. After all, did it not take me five years to take something from Accardo in return for what he took from me?”
“Are you going after his wife?”
“Worse.” I lowered my voice. “So much worse.”
I didn’t hurt women, even if they were caught in the crossfire of our lives. But I had no problem destroying everything he’d worked for his entire life. It’s time. I let five years slip away without revenge, and in those five years, I’d barely survived. But now, now I was ready to live.
“Why did you do it?” I asked, not needing to clarify. He knew exactly what I was asking. Why would he sell his daughter for an alliance in such a harsh and brutal way? What type of monster was he?
“I didn’t have a choice.” He chuckled. “But even if I did, I’d probably do it again. You lost a wife; you know how that is. If it wasn’t for Bellamy, mine would still be here. She took everything from me, and I still had to act like I cared. I didn’t. I despised her existence. The only reason I even tried to stop you from hurting her in that church was the audience that expected me to do so. Had we been alone, she could have died at the altar with her intended.”
That dusty organ inside of me, some would call a heart, ached for the girl upstairs in my bed. She didn’t deserve this, none of it. She deserved better, deserved to be worshiped, deserved to be loved. I doubted I would be the one to give her those things, but damn it, that’s what Ace and Mercer were for. We could do better for her.
I set the electricity to low voltage and left it on, let him twitch as I strolled to a set of drawers in the corner. Reaching in, I pulled out a scalpel. When I turned back, his body was beyond his own control. I smirked. “Seems like you pissed yourself. Disgusting.” I took out my phone, taking a photo. “I’ll be sure to share this out, so the men who followed you can see just how little it took to break you, to make you lose control. You know, I am always accepting recruits, in case any of them will need jobs.”
“Fuck off.” The hatred in his voice soothed me.
“I don’t think I will.” I closed in on him, twirling the scalpel, making him guess what was coming next. When I was close enough, I turned off the electricity. “Care to tell me what the alliance was about?”
“I already told you.” He was squirming as he watched the blade twirl in front of him. “My men were being picked off. I needed to strengthen myself.”
“Or you had plans to go after one of your biggest competitors. Me,” I stated, because it wasn’t a secret. It was facts. In the five years that I took myself out of the game, I kept my head down, building strength, taking over slowly while their heads were turned.
“Taking you out was a benefit. I won’t lie. But it wasn’t my primary goal.” I brought the scalpel to his bicep, carving a B while listening to him wail. I added an E before talking again.
“It’s ironic, don’t you think?” I pondered out loud. “The world had been calling us beasts long before Accardo made me one.”
Vinnie moaned. “You’ve never cared about what the world called you. If you had, maybe you’d be more discrete with your actions. Accardo never would have attacked if you didn’t set fire to his warehouses.”
The A slid into his flesh easy enough, followed by the S. The blood flowing down his arm lubed up my blade. “I never would have set fire to his warehouses if he hadn’t hijacked my shipment and murdered a boat of men.”
He howled, and I stopped, waiting for him to finish. “You didn’t try hard to save her. I know it was an act, but… did you ever care a little? Ever?”
“Her mother would be disappointed,” he finally stated, his voice weak from the screaming, “with what I did to her, how I let her go.”
“I’m not going to argue with you there.” I dug the scalpel into his skin to the hilt, putting more pressure than necessary as I formed the T. “But she’d be proud of her girl for getting past the dark part of her life living with you. Just so you know, I’d never do that to our child.” I leaned in. “And it is mine now. Don’t question that for a second.”
“He’s going to come for?—“
I moved before he could register my palm tight around his throat, cutting off his air. The scalpel dug into his chest as I carved through his flesh, seeking his heart. As I tore into the skin, ignoring the bones, his body gave up the fight and his limbs went limp. His breathing grew shallow, his chest barely rising and falling as my hand refused to give him air. And right before he took his last breath, seconds before his life faded to nothing, I used my scalpel, shoving the sharp tool forward, slicing his heart in two.
“Let him come. He’ll never take my family twice.”