Chapter 6
Chapter Six
NOAH
I toss the finger to the side, the sound of the spy's screams music to my ears. It's like coming home at the end of a long day and finally getting to relax. I don't have to worry about anything other than making his death as slow and painful as possible.
The only feeling better than this is having my fingers on Summer's wet folds.
"My name is Emilio. I have two children at home. You're not going to do this to a father, are you? You're not that big of a monster?"
I chuckle and grab his hand, forcing it down against the arm of the chair, not caring about the blood that stains my skin as I press the knife to another one of his fingers.
"I don't know what kind of monster you think I am, but you're wrong.
I'm much worse than the man you've concocted in your mind. "
Emilio grits his teeth, his head turning to the side. There's a green tinge to his skin as I slice the knife down to the bone before stopping.
His agonized cry is worth the mess.
"Now, who do you work for?"
"Fuck yourself." Emilio spits at me.
So, there is some fight in him after all.
I'm going to have fun breaking him. "Now, now, I thought we were going to play nice with each other. You were going to tell me everything I wanted to know, and in return, I was going to let you go back to your family."
His jaw tightens, and he glares at me.
I roll my eyes. "Hostages always have to make things difficult."
I don't think there's ever been more than a handful of times that the person being tortured doesn't talk, though. It's hard to think clearly and keep secrets to yourself when layers of your skin are being peeled off one by one.
As the man works his way to what I'm guessing is going to be another cuss thrown my way, I drive the knife through the rest of his finger.
He screams, his head falling back against the chair.
"How do you want to die?" I step back, crossing my arms, blood smearing against my skin and clothing.
"Don't know why you're bothering with me. Family so pathetic that you don't even have enforcers now?" He grins through the pain, though it looks more like he's trying to bare his teeth.
"How. Do. You. Want. To. Die?"
"Fuck. You." He laughs and shakes his head, but the corners of his eyes are crinkled. He's fighting through the pain.
It's not going to be long now until he gives up and tells me something I can use.
Sighing, I head over to the rest of my tools, grabbing the bucket of water. I move behind Emilio, yanking his head back. I put him in a headlock, prying open his mouth, and then I start to pour.
He sputters and coughs, thrashing against his restraints.
I keep pouring until there's nothing left of the water.
The second I let him go, he's leaning forward and coughing. Not that it's going to do much good.
I toss the bucket to the side, letting it clatter against the floor before I move to crouch in front of him.
"Who do you work for? I don't want to hurt you, you know that.
I want to make sure that your death is quick, but you're making it a little difficult for me.
If you just tell me what I want to know, this will all be easier. "
He spits at me again; this time it lands just shy of me.
"Well, I guess I have my answer."
I grab another knife, running my thumbnail along the edge and testing how sharp it is. Perfect for cutting away skin.
He thrashes until the blade presses against his cheek, right below his eye.
"Be a shame if I cut out your eye this early. You wouldn't get to see all the other things I'm going to do with you."
Emilio swallows hard, not saying anything.
I move the knife long enough to cut away the shoulder of his shirt, and sure enough, just at the top of his shoulder blade is the mark of the Lynde family.
He's been working for them. Spying for them. They've had someone in my inner circle—because though I feign not knowing who he is, I've seen him at every meeting for the last couple of months.
My phone starts ringing before I have the chance to cut his skin off.
I wipe the blood on Emilio's shirt before pulling it out.
"Aiden, what the fuck do you want, and how the fuck did you get this number?" I mutter, looking at the caller ID as I let the phone ring and ring.
Emilio stiffens. Confirmation that he's definitely working for them. Fuck knows how long he's been feeding them information.
I'm going to have to change plans now.
I don't want to have to change more plans. But it's unavoidable.
And Robert is going to have a little conversation with me about how he allowed this man to get promoted when there's a visible fucking tattoo on his skin.
The phone doesn't stop ringing.
I slide my thumb across the screen. "You'd think a criminal wouldn't have caller ID. What kind of fucking dumbass are you?"
"Give me back Summer."
"Not happening." I pace to the door, stepping out of the room and motioning for one of the guards to go in and keep an eye on Emilio. I can't have him killing himself before I use him to send a message.
"You're going to give her back to me, or I'm going to take her."
"By the time I'm done with her, you're never going to be able to find her body."
I end the call and whip the phone against the wall, the glass screen shattering. Though it's not as satisfying as slamming the phone back on the cradle in the middle of someone talking, it's enough for now.
Fucking Aiden. He's been alive for too long.
And I think it's time I start sending him some messages. Getting ready to end this all before he gets any funny ideas.
I turn to Robert as he passes me in the hall. "Aiden is going to attack. I doubt it's going to be the house because he won't want to risk hurting his sister, but the storehouses are likely going to be hit."
"You want me to start moving everything out of there?"
Shaking my head, I continue down the hall and to the stairs. "No. He's going to be on his way there if he didn't have people stationed and waiting to begin with. I want you to prepare a counterattack. There's a brothel he owns in the rich part of town."
Robert nods, looking grim. "I know the house."
"Kill everyone in it."
Without a word, he turns and walks away, already pulling out his phone.
I climb the stairs, taking them two at a time before shoving open the door to Summer's room.
She glares at me from the bed, her hair tied back and a loose dress fluttering around her.
It looks like she's finally opened the closet and seen how well I stocked it.
If I'm going to keep her here, I may as well have something sexy to look at until I get rid of her.
"What do you want?" She gets up from the bed and crosses her arms, pushing her tits up higher.
Smirking, I lean against the door, my gaze raking up and down her long legs, lingering on the deep V of her dress.
It's a shame she's a Lynde. I'm not going to make the same mistakes my family seems to keep making. Sticking my dick in their gene pool isn't going to happen.
"I've got a visitor for you." I push off the door, stalking closer to her, my cock hardening when she takes a step back.
Maybe I should turn her loose outside and hunt her down. Have her begging for her life when I finally catch her.
Summer's eyebrows climb, suspicion in her gaze. "Who?"
"Well, I'm hoping you could tell me."
She moves faster than I'm anticipating, grabbing the pillow from the bed and whipping it at me hard.
It collides with the side of my face.
She brushes against me as she tries to scramble by.
I'm not going to let her go that easily, though.
The pillow falls to the ground as I whip around and grab her by the hair, her scream making me hard as a rock as I haul her against me.
Summer writhes and wiggles, and it does nothing to help the problem in my pants.
I might not be thinking about doing anything right now, but my cock seems to have other ideas.
Summer drives an elbow hard into my side and stomps on my foot.
Sighing, I keep my grip on her hair, the other arm banding around her waist.
Wrestling her out the door is nearly impossible, but I manage to get her to the edge of the stairs.
I press my mouth closer to her ear. "You're either going to cooperate, or I'm going to throw you down them. You won't like what's going to happen once you hit the bottom."
She stops struggling, her body stiff as a board.
I ease my arm, hand still in her hair as a reminder that it would be nothing to toss her down the stairs right now. I keep her walking until we reach the door to the room Emilio's in.
The door opens, and the guard steps out.
I shove her inside, enjoying her shocked gasp.
My hand slips out of her hair as the door shuts behind us.
She could try and get to the weapons before me, but I don't think she's stupid enough to try it. Not when I'm paying attention to her and what she's doing.
"Emilio?" Summer rushes over to him, her hands cupping his sweaty face.
Interesting.
I resist the urge to pull her away from him, instead leaning against the wall and crossing my arms, wanting to see where this is going.
She taps his cheeks. "Emilio. Come on. It's me."
His eyes open, and a small smile pulls at his lips.
Looks like the blood loss is starting to get to him. Shame. I'm going to have to arrange for a transfusion so we can keep the fun going.
"Didn't think I was going to see you again." Emilio forces a smile.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, don't be dramatic. I only cut two fingers off. You're not bleeding out that badly. Just wait until I get to the rest of you."
Summer whips around and glares at me. "You're not going to put another hand on him. I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing, but it's not going to be this. He doesn't deserve this."
I stalk around the room, glancing at the chains hanging from the ceiling. In a flash, I grab her and haul her over to them.
She fights me, but I pin her to the wall with my body.
"I'm going to fucking kill you," Summer says, venom in her voice as I wrench one hand above her head.