Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Sage and I stealthily enter the warehouse.
There is a small outer office before the rest of the warehouse opens up.
It isn’t large, just big enough to store all the ingredients the chemist needs and a workstation.
It’s also kept dry by an impressive exhaust system, since humidity can fuck with the product, or so Sage tells me.
There are no windows, but the warehouse is well lit.
“I’m pretty sure if we go barging in there, that guy is going to start shooting willy-nilly, and that would not be good around all those chemicals,” Sage cautions me, putting a hand on my arm to stop me from doing exactly that.
“So what do you suggest?” I ask, praying for patience. I really was going to go in guns blazing, so I’m glad he stopped me.
“How about we flick the breaker on the lights? The box is just there.” He points out the circuit breakers on the wall. “Anthony will come out to check it, and I can capture him while you sneak in under the cover of darkness and get the other guy.”
“They won’t be suspicious?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“No, he called me the other day, telling me the grid has been unstable, and I promised to get him some generators, which should be arriving tomorrow. He needs stable electricity so the cooking process doesn’t get interrupted.”
“Do it,” I agree. “Just knock Anthony out. I want to question him before we kill him.”
Sage moves quietly over to the box, opens it, and flicks the breaker.
We are plunged into darkness. I hear him move toward the door, preparing to ambush Anthony when he leaves.
I do the same thing so I can slip out behind him and take care of the other guy.
Do I want to question him too? I think I have all the information I need from him from the video feed.
Excitement starts to rush through my veins as I pull my knife out and open it.
The door leading into the warehouse opens, and Anthony comes out, cursing up a storm.
I trust Sage to take care of him, so I creep into the warehouse.
I move around the perimeter of the building, hugging the walls and weaving in and out of barrels of chemicals and shelves.
“Hurry up, I don’t have all day,” Maricuso’s man calls to our slimy chemist.
Luckily for me, he is looking at his phone, and the light from it shows me exactly where he is standing. I creep forward, thankful for the rubber soles on my heels, until I’m directly behind the guy.
He must feel my movement, because at the last moment, he starts to spin around, but it’s too late.
I whip out my hand and draw my knife across his throat, pushing down hard.
His shout turns into a gurgle, and he drops his phone, clasping his neck just as the lights turn back on.
I watch with satisfaction as blood coats his hands as he tries to stem the flow.
It’s no use, I made sure to cut deeply and get all the necessary vessels to make his death quick and painful.
He sinks to his knees, his eyes wide with panic as he gasps for help, but I just watch with immense satisfaction before pulling out my phone and sending a message to Dean, asking him to send the cleanup crew to the warehouse in an hour. That will give me plenty of time to deal with Anthony.
Sage comes in carrying an unconscious Anthony over his shoulder. He slams his dead weight into a chair and ties his hands behind him with a couple of zip ties before doing the same to his legs, making escape difficult.
Sage looks down at the enemy, whose gasps for breath get shorter as his blood spills all over the pristine white floor.
“Cleaning that up is going to suck,” he comments as the two of us wait for the final bit of life to leave the man. “I’m glad we have someone to do it for us.” He leans against the metal counter that holds some scientific equipment.
“Ugh, I should probably give the team a bonus. They’ve had to deal with two of my messes in the last week or so.”
Sage puts his arm around me and pulls me against his chest, giving me a hug and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Don’t be silly. That’s why you employ them, and you pay them enough for discretion as it is.”
“I’ll comp the team a weekend stay at the Lucky Diamond. Happy employees equal loyal ones, or so Dad used to tell me. That doesn’t explain this asshole.” I kick Anthony’s leg and pull away from Sage as he starts to come around. He was being paid very well for his services, and he still betrayed us.
Sage crosses his arms and glares at his former friend while I step behind him so he can’t see me when he comes around. I love the element of surprise and seeing them just about shit their pants when they realize that I’m personally seeing to their torture.
“Sage?” Anthony sounds groggy, and he struggles with his bonds, but my man has him locked down tight. He might not enjoy torture like I do, but he can lock a body down like a champ.
I look over my surroundings, cataloguing the tools I have to work with, which is limited compared to my usual workspace, but I’m nothing if not practical.
“What the fuck, man?” Anthony sounds annoyed. “Fucking untie me,” he demands, and Sage makes a tutting sound.
“Anthony, man, you fucked up. So what did the Maricusos offer you to betray us? What was your life worth?” Sage sounds bored.
I guess Anthony must finally get his wits about him and catch sight of the dead body, because he starts babbling.
“Oh my god, you killed him. I can’t believe you killed him. I’m a dead man now.”
“Yes, you are, but I’m not going to be the one who kills you,” Sage says genially before nodding in my direction. “She is.”
I step into Anthony’s view, and his face turns an ashen shade as I tap the pair of forceps that I found against my palm. I’m not sure why they are in the lab, but they have a nice pointy end that has potential.
“I swear, Ms. Russo, I had no choice. They have my sister,” he pleads, tears welling in his eyes. “They threatened to kill her if I didn’t do what they told me.”
Sage scoffs. “What a load of shit. You’re an only fucking child—a spoiled rotten only child rebelling against two wonderful parents who would have gladly given you the world.”
The tears instantly dry up, replaced with a vicious scowl in Sage’s direction.
“Shut your fucking mouth, you freak,” he snarls.
I step forward and drive the forceps into the meaty part of Anthony’s thigh.
His thin, cotton scrub-like pants do nothing to protect him from being impaled, and his scream reverberates around the warehouse.
“I don’t like it when people call Sage names,” I remark conversationally.
“Aww, what do I keep saying? You are such a softy, Victoria Russo.” Sage blows me a kiss, and between his gasps for breath, Anthony starts spewing vitriol.
“She’s a fucking psychotic bitch who should have been put down years ago. Only thing she is good for is sucking or taking a cock. Thinks she’s something special now that her brother has turned into a fucking pussy and can’t run this family, but all she’s doing is making it ripe for takeover.”
“Ah, and that is the root of this very situation. Why were you making product for the enemy?” I ask, and he clamps his lips shut, a stubborn set to his jaw as his nostrils flare as he tries to breathe through the pain.
I grin at him gleefully. “Dude, you can be as stubborn as you like. It’s been a while since I have been allowed to torture someone, and you are giving me all the motivation I need.”
I lean forward and grab each side of the forceps before yanking them open. Inside the wound, the two ends dig through more flesh. He howls again. It’s music to my ears, and I feel my nipples pebble with excitement.
“Stop,” he rasps. “Please stop. Fuck, first I told him I wanted you.” He opens his eyes and looks at me with a mixture of hatred and lust. “Wanted to parade you in front of Sage, knowing I had you and he didn’t.
Wanted to fuck that pretty mouth and ass and make him watch while you screamed my name. ”
I raise my eyebrows at Sage. “I thought this guy was your friend. That doesn’t sound very friendly.”
Sage leans back against one of the benches and crosses his arms. “I did too. I guess I was wrong.”
“Why would I be friends with a gutter rat like you? You were useful in helping me with my chemistry career, but I am so far out of your league, it’s ridiculous.
” Anthony is nasty as fuck. Sage is a way better man than he will ever be, no matter where he came from.
Being well off doesn’t automatically make you a good person.
“So Lorenzo promised you me?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.
“No, unfortunately, you’ve been promised to someone else.
Then I asked him to make me a Russo like Sage.
” I can see a theme behind his requests.
“But Lorenzo said the Russo name should never have been given to someone not of Russo blood. You were not going to survive the takeover.” He grins at Sage with glee, so I pull back my fist and punch him in the face.
He starts to laugh, blood flowing from his nose.
“But the funniest thing is, both Lorenzo and Mario are plotting against one another. People forget the insignificant chemist is in the room and tend to talk about things they shouldn’t. Both of them have plans to take one another out. I can’t wait to see who will win.”
I tut sympathetically at him. “If you think you’re going to be around to see that, then you are delusional.”
I grab my blood encrusted knife from where I placed it on the countertop and walk a circle around the chemist, running the blade from the corner of his eye to the corner of his mouth.
I don’t cut him, but he gets the idea. “What should I take first? The tongue that spews such awful words, or the eyes that covet everything they shouldn’t?
” I ask Sage conversationally, and Anthony starts thrashing his head, almost impaling his own eye with his desperation.