Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Riley
I sit on a chair placed by the door in Cohen’s apartment, Levi standing to my right like a babysitter.
Zeke instructed him to protect me at all costs and to not let anyone or anything touch a hair on my head.
I’m not sure how I feel about the control Zeke has over me, but I wasn’t going to stay behind in the car while he and Malachi dealt with Cohen.
It was hard enough to agree to staying silent. I need to hear what Cohen has to say and if he knows where Mia is. Even though a part of me wishes to be the one interrogating him right now because I can come up with at least three ways of breaking his nose and wiping that smug look off his face.
“I’m going to ask one more time,” Zeke is circling around Cohen, who is also seated in a chair, but unlike me, he’s in the middle of the room on top of a rug. I try not to think why they needed him to be on a rug. “What did you do with the girls?”
When Cohen refuses to speak, Zeke grabs him by the neck, his strong arm lifting Cohen in the air even though he’s tied to the chair.
The fingers on Zeke’s hand go completely white as he chokes Cohen until his face goes entirely red.
Then he drops him back down, the chair making a loud noise when it hits the floor and Cohen coughs, desperately for air.
My chest squeezes so tight I can barely draw breath, my eyes locked on the rise and fall of Cohen’s shoulders as he wheezes.
The sheer, effortless power Zeke just displayed makes something primal and terrified flutter in my stomach.
I know Zeke is dangerous and I’ve seen him torture a guy before, but watching him command a room like this, with a cold, systematic violence, is entirely different.
And the most terrifying part is how calm he is while doing it.
Zeke doesn’t give Cohen time to recover. He steps back, slowly wiping his palm as if Cohen’s skin contaminated him. “You have five seconds before I start stripping away parts of you that you’ll miss,” Zeke’s voice is a low, dark promise that cuts right through my bones.
Cohen proceeds to prove once again how much he lacks intelligence, and instead of answering, he spits in front of Zeke, a disturbing laugh filling the air. “It’s not like you’re not going to kill me anyway.”
“Yeah,” Zeke leans forward so his eyes are on the same level as Cohen’s. “But it depends on what that mouth of yours has to say on how much it’s going to hurt.”
“Fuck. You.”
I hate Cohen with my whole heart, but a part of me still wishes he’d chosen the easier way out. The less painful death.
Zeke doesn’t wait. His fist slams so hard into Cohen’s ribs, the chair almost falls back.
Malachi arrives just in time to prevent the chair from hitting the floor.
Once they stabilize Cohen in one place, Malachi grabs his face on both sides, tilting his head backwards so he looks at the ceiling.
I shake off a shiver as I watch Zeke pull out a pocketknife and step closer to Cohen.
In one elegant move, he opens it, his back turned to me as he leans over Cohen. I can’t see what he’s doing to Cohen’s face, but the scream that fills the room is enough to get an idea of how painful it must be.
“O—” Cohen tries to speak. “Ah… Okay…”
“What did you say?” Zeke stops, lifting the blade in the air and I notice the amount of blood dripping from it.
“We can still wait in the car,” Levi’s voice next to me sounds distant and all I can do is shake my head.
“He deserves this.” I don’t need to look at Levi to see the way his eyes widen with surprise at my response.
“I…,” Cohen’ croaks, the sound pathetic.
As Zeke steps to the side, I can see his face clearly now.
Zeke cut off his mouth, leaving him to look like a pathetic Joker-wannabe.
He blinks through swollen eyelids, looking up at Zeke with pure terror.
“The money was good and Devlin offered solid protection.” His words come out strange, and I don’t even want to imagine how much the cuts on his cheeks must hurt.
“How pathetic,” Levi lets out a laugh.
“It was easy,” Cohen continues when Zeke leans over him all over again, knowing that Zeke doesn’t bluff. “The dancers and the waitresses were an easy target. They trusted… me, underestimated me, and often confided in me.”
“Do you realize how big of an asshole you are hearing your own words?” Malachi asks in a calm tone.
“Devlin is scary as fuck!” Cohen protests, but there is pure evil written all over his face now that he’s not trying to pretend that he’s a good guy.
“I never liked the guy,” Levi’s voice is a whisper. “Told Zeke not to hire him, but my brother doesn’t take advice kindly.”
“Same as Mia.” A part of me wants to get up from that chair and grab the pocketknife from Zeke, then scream at Cohen until he tells me where Mia is and if she’s alive.
“What else did you do for your boss?” Zeke asks.
“Nothing!” Cohen screams but I assume the look in Zeke’s eyes convinces him to spill the rest. “I just helped gather information about deals inside the Eden. We were offering the girls better jobs, while they went to meetings and were taken before being sold overseas.”
My heart stops at the last part realizing that’s exactly what he did to Mia, the horror of his words crashing over me.
They trusted him and he betrayed them like the rat he is, but on top of it, he seduced Mia, and she fell for him.
I swallow hard, trying to keep from crying out, my gaze shifting between the broken man on the chair and the monster standing over him.
Zeke’s jaw tightens, a single muscle ticking, the only giveaway of the fury burning inside of him.
“Where is Mia?” Zeke asks, the question a whisper, yet it fills the entire room.
The world turns into a blur and I barely distinguish the words that follow. All I can think about is my friend, how scared she must be and how much her heart must ache.
When Zeke turns to look over at me, the intensity in his gaze makes me shiver. I see my own thoughts reflected in his eyes, mixed with a silent validation of the horror we both feel for the girls.
I watch him turn back to face Cohen as he speaks. “Thank you for your honesty.”
Before Cohen can even process the words, Zeke’s hand moves with blinding speed. He draws the gun from his holster and without a trace of hesitation, he pulls the trigger, the bullet tearing through the center of Cohen’s forehead.
The body goes instantly limp, sagging against the ropes. My heart is hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
Zeke doesn’t even look at the body. He instantly turns to face me and in two long steps he’s standing in front of me. Or maybe there were more steps, I’m not sure. He squats in front of me, studying my face.
“We’ll get her,” he speaks, his voice soft compared to how he sounded just a minute earlier.
“I trust you,” I nod, wanting to throw my arms around him and ask him to hold me. But I can’t move.
“You need to go to the apartment now and wait there,” Zeke continues. “Levi will come with you and there will be security guards in the front.”
“So now I’m on babysitting duties?” Levi protests, but after Zeke gives him a look, he squirms.
“No,” I shake my head. “I’m not staying behind, not when Mia’s life is on the line.”
“Riley, I want you to be safe.”
“No, Zeke,” I insist. “I need to be there.”
“Fine,” His jaw tightens but he gives in, aware that we don’t have time to spare on arguing. “You’re not leaving my side and you don’t do anything without my approval. Either that or I’ll lock you up in my apartment myself,” His voice is cold. “Your choice.”
“Okay…”
Zeke cleans himself first, while Malachi calls someone to take care of the “mess”. When they finish, we head to the car and drive away to a secluded area where more of Zeke’s men are waiting for us.
“Could you reach Cain and Elijah?” Zeke turns to Levi, who’s been on his phone the entire time, making phone calls, while also keeping an eye on me.
“No,” Levi shakes his head slightly. “They’re still dealing with the police.”
“We can’t wait,” Malachi joins the conversation. “We have to find a way to do it with the men that are available.”
Zeke nods, agreeing. Everything is moving too fast for me to keep track of what they’re doing, especially in the state that my mind is in right now.
I notice there are a lot of cars around us, more weapons than I’ve ever seen in my life, and everyone is moving in a rush.
I watch Zeke organize his men outside. It’s impressive to see how much they respect him and the way they listen to him.
“Let’s go,” Zeke gets in one of the cars that his men drove. I see the automatic weapons on the back seat as I join him. As he turns the engine on, his eyes briefly meet mine and he gives me a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay.”
I smile back because I believe him.