Chapter 10
SLOAN
I rolled my bare shoulders and winced as the stitches pulled and a spike of pain streaked through me.
Hot and blazing, the sensation was a reminder of why I was here, naked as the day I was born and standing in front of the two men in our cellblock showers.
The only piece of clothing I wore was a pair of flip-flops because I wasn’t about to stand on these tiles in my bare feet.
The men tied up in front of me were the same two who had scampered like cowards.
Hanson’s minions. They’d run, but they shouldn’t have thought about attacking me in the first place.
Hanson had heard about his first man, stabbed to death, but I had a bigger message to send him—I wasn’t weak, even in Rikers, and I wouldn’t back down.
A new rage burned inside me, mixed with a feeling I hadn’t experienced since my brother’s death.
Anxiety and desperation. My chest was being clawed at, sharp nails digging into my lungs and dragging through my organs, and the urge to kill, kill, kill flooded me.
I was in survival mode. My family needed me—Fionn and Conall—and I wasn’t going to stop surviving this place until I was out of it.
I held up a shiv, the same one I’d taken from the man I’d killed, and turned it in my hand, the steel gleaming under the lights. “I don’t take being attacked lightly. This is my territory.”
I raised my gaze to them and smirked, and the one on the right—a young man with an array of tattoos weaving across his chest—let out a whimper.
The second guy was older, with a receding hairline and scared, bloodshot blue eyes.
Reyes had happily informed me that he was a simple thief by the name of McAroy.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill your families because you walked away, but you? You’re not so lucky.” I took one step toward them and the young, tattooed man flinched. I laughed. “I won’t drag it out.”
I glanced behind myself at my men. There were at least ten of them, ready to lay their lives on the line for me.
Doherty leaned against the wall to my right, arms crossed and eyes dark as he stared at the men he’d tied to the faucets earlier.
I’d given him the job to retrieve them, and he hadn’t failed.
He never did, even outside of these walls.
“Watch the door,” I said, even though I knew Taffart and one of the other officers on our payroll were outside guarding the showers.
A couple of men moved closer to the entrance while I closed the distance between me and my current playthings. They struggled against their bonds, and I grinned meanly at them.
I waved at my naked body. “Don’t mind me, gentlemen, but I don’t want to get any blood on my clothes. You understand. Better to keep the evidence of your murders off me.”
McAroy said something, but it was muffled by the gag—which happened to be a pair of stained underwear. I didn’t know who they belonged to.
I shushed him and shook my head. “Nothing you say will change this. You agreed to kill me for Hanson.”
I crouched in front of the young man and tapped the shiv against his nose, and he sobbed, fat blobs of tears falling down his cheeks. He stared at me pleadingly, as if it would help.
It wouldn’t.
I lowered the tip of the shiv down to the base of his neck and pressed in, blood beading at first, then growing in intensity as I dug the sharp end deeper into his vulnerable flesh.
His whimpering grew louder and more tears spilled. He cried something behind the gag, and I grinned widely as I began to drag the shiv down.
“This is going to hurt,” I whispered. “Scream, little boy. Scream.”
And scream he did, but the satisfaction of the sound was lost to his gag. I took my time, slicing down his chest and stomach until he trembled so hard it messed with my artwork. Boredom set in when he finally passed out, so I slit his throat, and he gurgled before slumping against his bonds.
I turned to McAroy and smiled, pleased with myself. “Your turn.”
By the time I was done with McAroy, he was sliced up as well, with Hanson’s name carved into his chest. He slumped forward, his head drooping and a shiv sticking out of his throat.
I washed off the blood in the shower closest to them before I grabbed my clothes from Gallagher with a sharp nod and dressed.
Taffart strode in and winced at the sight. “Damn, Boss. You weren’t kidding when you said you were going to send Hanson a message.”
I smirked, pleased with my work now that some of my anxieties were soothed. I might be confined in jail, but I still had a point to prove. I was Sloan Killough. No one could threaten me and get away with it.
“Make sure Hanson is the one to find them.” I patted Taffart on the shoulder as I strode past.
Outside, the second officer—Kelly, who happened to be some relation to Father Shay and Oisin Kelly—straightened when he saw me.
He led my men back to our cells in the darkness of the night, though there were eyes watching us.
They knew the drill. If they wanted to live, they needed to keep their mouths shut.
When Kelly locked me in my cell, I fell onto the bed and sighed, scrubbing my hands over my face. I dug under my pillow and pulled out the phone. I found Conall’s name and called him.
It took a few seconds before he answered.
He was panting a little too hard. “Sloan?”
“Pet, what’s wrong?” I sat up, my heart accelerating at his breathless, timid voice. This wasn’t my pet. He sounded scared.
He laughed, but it was quiet and heartbroken. “Nothing. I miss you.”
I didn’t believe a word he’d said. Fionn had been keeping me up to date with everything happening, and I knew for a fact there was something wrong with Conall. Fionn suspected he was depressed or anxious.
“Are you torturing yourself, Pet?” I growled out. “Because I will not accept that. You need to take care of yourself. This is an order, Conall.”
“It’s stress. That’s all. I swear, Boss. I’m fine.”
He sounded anything but okay. His voice shook and there was an underlying exhaustion in his tone that had a spike of worry streaking through me. Conall was shutting down.
I needed to get out of here. Fast.
“Did Fionn send you the pictures of his wedding? Here, I’ll message them to you.”
Usually, I wouldn’t accept his change of topic, but the phone buzzed, and I pulled it away from my ear, placing him on speaker so I could check the screen.
Three photos of Fionn and Daire at a courthouse blazed to life.
Fionn was wearing a deep violet three-piece suit, while Daire matched him in a dark blue.
They stood in front of the judge, Conall at Fionn’s side while Aodhan, Daire’s brother, was at his.
My heart gave a painful throb. I should’ve been there for my nephew.
While Fionn had promised they’d have a bigger, more eventful wedding after I got out, it didn’t hurt any less.
Fucking Reyes. This was all his fault. Killing him wasn’t an option, though.
He had his own men in here, and I owed him one for showing up at the right moment. I hated owing anyone a favor.
“They look good.”
“They do,” Conall whispered, his voice echoing gently around my cell. “Fionn was really happy when he became Daire’s husband. I’m so proud of him.”
I smiled, despite the annoyance churning in my stomach. “Me too, Pet. He’s become a mature young man over these last few months.”
He snorted. “Now, now. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
I laughed quietly.
“He’s still not playing nice with Lor, yet. Which reminds me, I’m kind of worried about him, too. I don’t think I told you. He turned up to the fight with a shaved head. All his hair was just gone. You know how he loves to dye it. The whole thing was weird.”
I heaved a sigh. Damn it. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Lor, and I certainly hadn’t divulged the truth to him about his blood connection to me.
He was a good man, and since I’d told Fionn, through Conall, to make Lor his heir, I hadn’t heard much about the situation.
I wasn’t sure if Fionn had even told him about the position.
“Fuck.” I rubbed a palm over my face. I didn’t need any more issues right now.
Conall exhaled. “What? Do you know what’s wrong with him?”
“No, but that doesn’t matter right now. Listen to me, Pet, you’re changing the topic.” I’d talk to Fionn later and figure out what he knew. “You need to let Rory check on you.”
He sighed dramatically. “Sloan—”
“No. This isn’t a suggestion. It’s a command. Fionn told me you keep promising to see Rory, but you haven’t. Take care of yourself. You are important to me. No more buts.”
“What if it’s my butt we’re talking about?” There he was. The mischievousness I missed.
“It’s a nice butt, not the kind we’re talking about.”
He groaned. “You’re so bossy.”
“Yes, and you love it, Pet.”
“I do,” he whispered. “So fucking much—language, I know. You don’t need to say it.”
I lay back down on the thin mattress and smiled up at the ceiling, taking him off speaker so I could slide the phone to my ear again. “Tell me about this courthouse wedding.”
He did. He told me everything, and I listened intently, listing all the things in my head I was going to do for a real wedding for Fionn and Daire. No Killough had a simple marriage at a courthouse, especially not my nephew. No cost would be spared for what I was planning.
When we finished, I hid the phone again and went to sleep with my mind full of ideas of what I was going to do when I finally left this place.
By the time morning came, it was another normal day. We had breakfast, but it was during this time that an alarm rang out, signaling lockdown. Hanson or someone else had found the bodies.
It became a tedious day of the warden giving speeches about snitches—not his words—coming forward if they knew anything about the dead men.
Then, there were interviews. I could tell by the warden’s expression he knew I’d done it, but he had no proof and neither did the investigators who came in.
There was too much DNA in the showers already and Taffart had destroyed the shiv.
Then, the afternoon approached and the lockdown was retracted. Hanson came to get me because my lawyer was here for a meeting.
Hanson led me toward the meeting room, eyeing me with a simmering anger that had me smirking. “I know it was you, Killough.”
I shrugged. “You have to prove it first, Officer.”
His nostrils flared and his jaw tensed. This was just the beginning with him. He started this and I was going to finish it.
When we got inside the room, Hanson left again, slamming the door shut.
Cashmore raised his eyebrows from where he sat at the square table in the middle of the room. His tweed brown suit reminded me of Vail and strangely, I missed that weird man as well. He’d fit into our family like a lost puzzle piece and he made my loyal men happy. “Piss him off, sir?”
I chuckled. “Taught him a lesson.” I strode over to the seat on the opposite side and took it. “What do you have for me?”
Cashmore grinned smugly and spread his hands. “You hired me to do a job, sir, and I did it. We have a court appearance in two days.”
“What?” I sat up straight in the chair and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “What do you mean?”
“They’ve been dragging the arraignment out, so I went to the judge yesterday and fought for one.
I used the missing evidence as incompetence and the lack of arraignment as a civil rights violation.
Your . . . generosity toward his bank account helped.
He arranged the court session for two days.
I had planned on coming to tell you about it this morning, but I wasn’t allowed in. ”
“We were in lockdown,” I said, not quite believing what he was telling me.
Well, I did pay him the big bucks for a reason.
It also helped that we had the ear of some powerful players who helped control the judges of New York.
I grinned, pleased. “Did you organize this little trip and do you have a suit for me?”
Cashmore’s mouth twisted into a sly smile. “Always, sir.”