14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Maddox
T he traitor hangs from the ceiling as I slowly drag my blade down his back, the blood dripping in a line down his spine. I haven’t hurt him too badly…yet. But that will change rather quickly if this motherfucker doesn’t open his mouth and explain what the fuck happened to Raena. And even then…he’s not leaving my playroom alive.
We already know he’s defected. We found him at one of King's safehouses. Stryker let us know his location yesterday. After talking it over, everyone agreed with King out for us now, the safest option was to let Ronan and Dax collect the traitor, and they were more than happy to oblige.
He’s lucky I didn’t kill him on sight when they told us they found him sleeping like he didn’t have a care in the world under King’s protection before they tranquilized him in his sleep. It’s late afternoon now, and he is starting to come around, hanging from the hooks in the playroom like a slab of meat, waiting for me to carve out my pound of flesh for his transgressions.
Ronan and Dax are now upstairs with Snow, checking on our little hideaways in White Harbor and giving me room to work. Royal and Alek are here, watching from the shadows. They won’t disturb my interrogation unless they have to step in– if I lose it and go too far before I get the information we need.
“Wh-what the fuck? Where am I?” he asks, the lingering drugs in his system making him groggy as his restrained hands rattle the chains above him.
“There you are,” I say, smiling like a lunatic– and let’s be honest, I am.
“Who are you?” He asks, blinking his eyes like he will suddenly know my face even though he’s never seen me without my mask. “I didn’t do anything. Let me go.”
“Ah-ah-ah. See, that’s where you're wrong. You’ve done plenty, Aaron ,” I say mockingly. He might not know my name, but the Shadows make it their business to know who we have working for us. They are all vetted, so I don’t know why this idiot would side with King. I know what happened to his family at King's command. Unless he has something else on him?
“What could have possibly possessed you to betray the Shadows and side with King?” I snap at him through gritted teeth, pressing my knife into his throat as I move into his space.
“I... ah... Wait. Okay! Stop.”
“I won’t ask again.” My blade pierces his delicate skin, and he goes still, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows slowly. Blood trickles down the column of his exposed throat, a line straight down his bare chest. It’s not enough. I need more– more blood, more answers.
“Okay. I- uh- I needed the money, man. I fucked up,” he sputters, taking a deep breath when I release the knife at his throat and let the tip follow the blood trail down his body, smearing it as I cock my head to the side, mesmerized.
“Fucked up, how?” I ask, keeping my gaze on his bloody chest.
“I was getting close to the Kingsmen to gather intel for the Shadows. But I got in too deep. Lost a lot of money at a couple of their poker games. He was going to kill me, man.”
“And how did owing him money turn into you helping him kidnap our girl?” My blade digs into his chest, starting above his left pectoral muscle and moving across in a straight line to the right one. The blood runs down in rivulets like ribbons.
“I didn’t know anything was going down when you called me in for protection detail. When they showed up, they saw me and assumed King had sent me. I didn’t know what to do. They would have killed me on the spot if I didn’t go along with them.”
“And you decided– what? You needed King's protection more than ours?” In the center of the first line I cut, I drag my blade down to his navel, branding him what he truly is– a traitor.
His anguished cries infiltrate my ears, bouncing around the playroom like a classical symphony, but I ignore them as he tries to plead for his pathetic life.
“I didn’t tell them anything about the Shadows. No one knows I’m connected to you at all. Think about it. This can work in your favor. I can tell you what I’ve learned, and you can take him down. Come on, man. Let me fix this.”
“Where is our girl, Aaron?” Digging the sharp tip into his cock through his pants, I apply just enough pressure.
“Fuck! Stop! A warehouse! I followed the woman to one of his old warehouses.”
“What woman?”
“The one calling the shots at Twisted. She had King's men with her. I think they called her Ava. She drugged your girl and handed her off to me for transport.”
“You better tell me where that warehouse is right the fuck now, or I’m going to gut you like a goddamn fish and feed you your innards,” I growl, my voice not sounding like my own as my blood pounds in my ears.
Who the fuck is Ava?
When he sputters out the location, Royal and Alek step out of the shadows like two angels of death waiting to claim their next soul from this plane. Their faces are chiseled from emotionless stone, but the anger rolling off them screams danger as they stalk forward into the light.
Royal grabs his hair, snatching his head backward as he sneers into his face. “You better hope we find her quickly before you bleed out.”
His eyes snap to mine, and a single nod is all the direction I need. My blade sinks deep into his thigh, close enough that I might have nicked his cock– not that I care. He won’t be keeping that very long anyway. His screams fill the playroom as we turn and walk away from him, taking the steps two at a time, my brothers right on my heels.
“Let’s go get our Queen.”