Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
J axon
The rope around my wrists burns every time I try to move my hands, and the rag in my mouth to keep me from talking is about to make me puke. The asshole who pulled me from my car and left Tia for dead paces back and forth in front of me like he thinks I’m about to jump up from the chair I’m tied to and try to put up a fight.
I’m bound here, shithead. The only thing I’m doing until someone fucking unties me is plotting out your goddamned death with exquisite detail.
On top of the fact that I’m completely immobilized is the other fact that the motherfucker is huge. He’s got to be twice my size. What does he think I’m going to do even if my hands aren’t tied together?
Without a gun, I’d be like a kid spitting at a damn mountain. I’m ballsy, but that would be downright stupid.
I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I’m guessing a few hours. That Victor hasn’t come to see me yet means he’s either playing one of his silly mind games or doesn’t know what to do now that he has me.
Since my uncle isn’t a great thinker, I’m torn between which it could be. He does like to try to fuck with people’s heads, but that kind of shit only works on people who are afraid of him.
I’m not. Sure, he’ll fuck me up pretty bad, but I don’t see him killing me. He admires my skills too much, and offing family members is not something he likes to do.
In Ryker, I think that’s a character flaw and shows weakness. In Victor, I applaud it since I think it’s one of the few reasons I’ll be able to walk out of here alive.
Well, walk might be too optimistic a description of how I’ll be getting out of here, but I’m not thinking he’s going to kill me. Just a little torture between uncle and nephew.
For the third time in the past fifteen minutes or so, I try to talk, but all that comes out is muffled gibberish because of the goddamned rag this asshole stuffed into my mouth. I’ve tried to spit it out, but the bastard wedged it in there so hard I’m thinking I’m going to be shitting out pieces of blue fabric for the next week.
The giant in charge of watching over me stops his pacing directly in front of where I’m sitting and glares down at me. “Stop making noise or I’ll give you something to cry about.”
Although he can’t understand me, I say, “Smooth. Generally, somebody has to be crying to make another person threaten to give them something to cry about, but you do you, shithead.”
I may have been mistaken when I thought he couldn’t understand me because when I finish talking, he cocks his arm back and slams his fist into my left cheek so fucking hard I see stars. Mental note to self. Don’t call this asshole names out loud unless I’m ready to get another beat down like the one he gave me when we first got here.
Good to know he can understand something, though.
Armed with that little nugget of knowledge, I say through the gag, “Is my uncle planning on just having me sit here and be bored to death? Is that how this is going to work?”
The stupid guy Victor employs to watch over me at the moment frowns and shakes his head before walking away. Maybe he only understands when people insult him. Odd talent, but I’m sure there are stranger things people can say are their claim to fame.
Well, I guess I’m going to have to take another one on the chin to get something to happen here. Bracing myself for this guy’s fist to connect with my face once more, I say, “Hey, shithead! I asked you if my uncle was planning to just wait until I get bored to death here.”
Right on cue, the guy spins around and practically throws daggers at me as he marches back to where I’m waiting. I try to let my facial muscles go as slack as possible to avoid helping him to break my jaw, but this time he goes for my stomach, landing a punch so fucking hard he knocks the wind out of me.
So much for being creative in trying to get some answers here.
“Now shut the fuck up before I have to show you what’s really up.”
This guy is the worst at one liners, for sure, but he’s got a hell of a punch. Thankfully, I haven’t had anything to eat for so long that there was nothing to dislodge when his fist slammed into my body. Too bad, though. I would have liked to have covered him in some projectile puke.
I sit imaging the gag flying out of my mouth followed by vomit covering this douchebag for a few minutes, content to at least have that fantasy to sustain myself with for the time being. It’s better than thinking about Tia.
Did the ambulance find her in time? Jesus, I hope to God the EMTs got to her before it was too late. She’s tough. She doesn’t think so, but she’s dealt with me, so she can get through anything.
As thoughts of her resting comfortably in some hospital somewhere make me happy, I hear the door behind me open. Is it another jackass underling like the one who’s been pacing across the room for the past hour, or has Victor Varens finally decided to grace me with his presence?
I get my answer a few seconds later when my uncle’s face comes into view as he walks around the chair and stops in front of me. Jesus, he looks like shit. Like the poster child for some fucking sexually transmitted disease. I guess that’s what your face turns into when your entire family has abandoned you. And fuck, he’s gotten fat. Too much good living for him has made him look like goddamned Humpty Dumpty.
Wait until I tell Ryker and Cason about this.
He just stares at me for a long time, so to get the ball rolling, I tilt my chin up to remind him I’m still gagged and say, “If you’ve come to talk, how about removing this thing first?”
Of course, he doesn’t understand what I say since the fucking rag is in the way, but unlike his minion who’s standing on the other side of the room now, he doesn’t require me to insult him before he yanks the damn thing from between my lips. Thrilled I can finally take a deep breath in, I open my mouth wide and fill my lungs, letting it out slowly so as to not aggravate my ribs after that jackass probably bruised a few.
“Good to see you again, Jaxon. Life been treating you well?” Victor asks, acting like we’re at some fucking cocktail party and we need to catch up.
“I’d say the same to you, but I’d rather be anywhere else but right here looking up at your ugly mug. Dude, what the fuck has happened to you? Is this what my future looks like? Because if it is, I’m going fucking vegan as of this very moment.”
My uncle has always liked my smartass attitude, so I’m not surprised when he simply smiles and pulls up a chair to sit down in front of me. Victor is a dick of the highest order, but he appreciates the way I am.
He shrugs, but the smile never leaves his face. “Life is something you have to wear on the outside, Jaxon. Wait until you’re my age. You’ll get old, just like everyone else. Nothing you can do about that.”
“Well, I do like a good New York strip from time to time, so I guess I’ll be bagging that whole vegan thing.”
“So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?” he asks, and all I can think is nobody uses the word shall anymore. Or brass tacks.
I don’t bother telling him that, though, and nod my agreement since sitting here with my hands tied behind my back is getting old. “Yes, let’s.”
“That brother of mine seems to think he should take over the family business. Don’t bother pretending that isn’t what he’s thinking. I know Ryker far too well to not see the signs.”
Again, I nod. “True.”
“What baffles me is why he hasn’t made a move yet. Can you explain that to me? Because if it was me, I would have taken care of business the moment the idea to take over popped into my head.”
He’s full of shit, and he knows it as well as I do. If that were truly the case, he would have put a hit out on Ryker by now and he would have had his own son killed. He can’t be okay knowing Cason is working with the man who wants to see him gone from this world.
Now’s not the moment to discuss that, though.
“You know Ryker. He’s all about family.”
Victor smiles before rolling his eyes. “It always was his weakness. How’s that woman and the baby doing for him? I thought he’d be single forever, to be honest. Good to see him finally doing what he should have years ago.”
“They’re fine. He’s all about that little boy. A son. You know how it is.”
I watch as a darkness passes over his expression for a brief moment before disappearing. Of course, he knows. He had two sons. Michael’s dead, and Cason now works with his enemy. Not exactly the track record of a great father.
“And Cason? How is he?”
“Good. He and Lily are expecting their second kid to give Lukas a brother or sister.”
Why he’s asking me these questions is beyond me since he must know the answers. It’s not like he doesn’t have people watching us like we have watching him.
“Hmmm. Not sure I like the idea of being a grandfather again, but I guess I don’t get a say in that,” Victor says in a voice full of what sounds like regret.
For what, I have no idea. He’s done some pretty shitty stuff in his life, so I can’t think being a grandfather is that bad.
My uncle strokes his chin and purses his lips like he’s deep in thought. Since this is Victor Varens in front of me, that’s highly unlikely. He doesn’t have morons working for him out of chance. He collects these jackholes because he sees something of himself in them.
I wait, assuming what he’s about to say is going to be something either incredibly stupid or stupendously ridiculous. Either way, I’m not pulling any punches with him. I don’t believe he’s going to kill me, so a little more torture from his flunky over there won’t be too much for me to handle.
Finally, he sighs loudly, and I know he’s figured out what he wants from me.
“So, tough luck about that girlfriend of yours, huh?”
He watches me closely to monitor my reaction so he can see if he’s hit a nerve. It’s almost insulting that he doesn’t think I know what he’s doing. The fucker was the one who taught me the job. Does he think Tweedle Dum over there beat my memories out of me?
“You’re wasting your time, Victor. If all you have is dangling my girlfriend’s death in front of me to see if you can get a reaction, you better go back to the drawing board and figure out a better tactic.”
Merely saying the words my girlfriend’s death makes my chest hurt, but I don’t let him see that. If he notices even a tiny twitch in my expression, he’ll exploit it for all he’s got. I know how this works. Fuck, I’ve done the same thing myself. You’d think he’d remember that.
See, that’s the problem with this guy. It’s where Ryker has it all over him in spades. Yes, Ryker is a softer touch when it comes to business, but killing everyone who pisses you off is no way to run things. Being civilized never hurts a man, but Victor here didn’t get that memo, so he’s still living like it’s the goddamned stone age.
He hums for a moment, processing my answer and wondering if it’s simply bravado, no doubt. Then he says, “I thought you cared about that girl. I know Michael did. At least for a little while until I made him see he had a world to conquer and one sweet piece of ass wasn’t going to be enough for the future head of the Varens family.”
I smile, trying not to laugh when I say, “How’d that work out for him?”
The fact that he’s dead and conquering nobody answers that question.
“The same way it’s going to work out for you, son.”
Shaking my head, I work to keep my temper under control. “I’m not your son. I’m your nephew, and to be honest, someone who’s tired of these fucking games you’re trying to play with me. If you’re going to do something, fucking do it. Stop pissing around.”
I probably let out a little too much of my emotions in that little speech, but to hell with him. I don’t believe for a goddamned second that Tia is dead, so whatever he thinks he’s going to do to me by claiming she is means nothing. And bringing up his son who happened to date her before me is bullshit, and he knows it.
Victor leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest. “Direct and to the point. I like that. Fine, here’s how it’s going to work. No, I don’t want to kill you. I want you to kill someone for me. And no, not my brother or Cason.”
I’m intrigued. He wants me to be his killer but not for the two people I thought were top on his list. Who does he want taken care of?
He stands and points at the shithead across the room. “Dickie here will give you all the details. Do what I want, and you’ll be free from me for the rest of your life.”
I’m barely listening after hearing my tormentor for the past few hours was a guy named Dickie. “Are you serious? Dickie? So I guess I wasn’t wrong when I was thinking he was a dick.”
“Funny. Just do as I want and you’re free and clear.”
My uncle begins to walk away, but I say, “That makes no sense. You know what’s going to happen, Victor. Letting me go isn’t going to stop that. What are you doing?”
“I have a job for you to do. You want to do this to stay alive. It’s that simple. So do it and move on with your life. Find a new girl. Have some kids. Buy a house and get a nice lawnmower to take care of the grass. You seem like the kind of guy who thinks that’s the type of life you want, so I’m giving you a free pass to go get it. Just kill this one person and you’re out.”
None of what he’s saying makes sense. I’m sure when I hear the name it’s going to be Ryker or someone else in my family I care about.
“And if I refuse?”
Victor smiles. “Then I’m going to let you walk out of this house, and by the time you get to the street, Dickie here is going to put a bullet into the back of your head. And before you say you know I don’t want to kill you, that’s true. I don’t. But I will if you don’t do what I want.”
Typical Victor. He won’t kill me because of how much he loved my father, but he’ll have someone else do it so he can feel like he had no part in my death.
“Fine. Who is it you want me to take care of?”
He walks back to stand in front of me and gives me one of those crocodile smiles I know so well from him. I swear to God this guy gets off on this shit.
“Well, since your girlfriend is dead, you won’t have any problem killing her father for me now, will you? Remember, this is your ticket to freedom, Jaxon. That’s what you want, isn’t it? It’s why you walked away from that pretty girl from North Carolina. You can’t have her, unfortunately, but you can have another one, and let’s be honest here, man to man. One woman is as good as another. They’re all the fucking same when they’re on their backs with their legs in the air.”
My emotions begin to get all tangled up inside me, threatening to expose how I truly feel about the possibility of Tia truly being gone and my killing her father as a favor for this fuck. I can’t let him see any of this bothers me, so I shrug and put on my best expression of disinterest I can muster.
“Fine, but don’t you have your own people to do this for you? I recall hearing you had a whole new group of guys working for you now,” I say as casually as possible, looking over at the idiot Dickie to make my point.
Strangely, my uncle can’t seem to control his own emotions and rage practically explodes out of him when he answers me. “I did, but the people who I assigned to kill your girlfriend’s father couldn’t handle the job. Too bad. They would have had a future in my organization. Now all they have is a mouthful of fucking dirt where I had the two of them buried.”
Too bad for Dash. Poor fuck. I only met him that one time in Ryker’s office, but he seemed okay. I didn’t know the other one, but that’s what happens when you get mixed up with the likes of Victor Varens.
“So do I have Dickie put a bullet in your fucking brain, or are you going to man up and do this one last job for me so you can go live the bucolic life full of gardens and playdates for future rugrats? The choice is yours, Jaxon.”
For a few seconds, I wonder if I can kill Tia’s father. If she’s gone, then her parents will be despondent. Maybe it would be a favor to them and put them out of their misery. It’s not like I’d have to look hard to find them either. They’re still in Italy on my dime.
“Okay. I’ll do it. I have to say, Victor. I feel like you’ve gotten soft in your old age. Going after nine-to-fivers now? What happened to aiming for the big fish in our world?”
He stares down at me and smiles. “You mean like my brother? It’s not something I even consider lightly, believe it or not. Family is off limits, usually. For Ryker, though, I may have to make an exception.”
Fucking Ryker should have killed this motherfucker months ago. If he had, I wouldn’t be sitting here with the tang of my own blood in my mouth and Tia’s father’s life wouldn’t be in danger.
But most of all, Tia would still be alive and mine.