JAX
“Wha—?”
He didn’t have time to react, short of gripping the towel around his waist, an unconscious clutch for safety as he was set upon by masked strangers.
The fact that he was naked was a point in our favor.
Not that I particularly enjoyed seeing his flaccid cock bounce around as we forced him to his knees, but it made him more compliant.
More vulnerable. His hair was still wet, slicked back from his paling face.
His eyes bounced fearfully between us, then landed on me with fervent desperation. “W-Who are you?”
I stood over him, grinning behind my mask. “I’m nobody. Answer our questions, and I’ll stay nobody.”
His tongue darted out across his lips. His chest heaved, droplets still clinging to his flushed skin.
He didn’t look much older than me. He was well-groomed, lightly toned, with the kind of douchebag haircut that Nate called the ‘frat boy freshie’.
He’d been sporting one himself when he joined our crew.
“W-What do you want to know?” He spluttered out. His hands clutched valiantly at his towel, trying to preserve his modesty. He was shaking all over. That was good. That meant he would break easily.
“Let’s start with a name.”
“K-Kane.”
“Last name.”
“S-Smith—”
My fist struck before he finished stuttering. His head whipped back, my knuckles throbbing from his jawbone. He fell back gracelessly, towel forgotten, and moaned as he stared wide-eyed up at the ceiling. Beside me, Madoc twitched. I didn’t dare look at him.
“Every time you lie, I deliver another blow.” I held up my fist, then my gun. Naturally, his eyes fixated on the gun. “I won’t use this,” I said. “Yet.”
“Please, man. What the fuck?” He cried, anguished as he rubbed his jaw and tried to sit up. I noticed the pile of clothes on the bed and gave Callum a nod. He stepped over the quivering man and began picking through the pockets until he struck gold.
I caught the wallet he tossed me, followed by the cellphone. I flipped through the wallet carelessly. “Kane Davies. Twenty-seven years old. Lives at Forty-Nine Baker Street, Newark.”
His eyes bulged in panic as he scrambled onto his knees.
Callum moved instantly, grabbing his arms and pinning them hard behind his back, causing him to buck, but he was no match for Callum.
Realizing he was wildly outnumbered and overpowered, he started to babble: “Listen, man, whatever it is you want, just take it. I won’t tell anyone, I swear to god. ”
I flashed the phone at his face so it unlocked with facial recognition. Then I scoured his call log, finding mostly local numbers, including a recent one with a London area code.
I tossed the phone over to Nate. “Go through his camera roll.”
“Bet I’ll find a million dick pics,” Nate muttered, settling into the task. He gurgled in laughter not a minute later. “Called it.”
“Please.” Kane thrashed. “Whatever you want. Just don’t fucking kill me, man.”
“I want to know everything,” I said. I took a menacing step toward him and inwardly preened at the way he instinctively recoiled into Callum. Between two predators, he feared me the most. “Starting with what’s in the safe.”
He opened his mouth, and I lifted my fist, causing him to choke in fear. “Don’t lie.”
“Nothing, man,” he blurted out. “Just some fucking—I don’t know—documents, the usual stuff. Man, it’s nothing. Its—oof!”
The cartilage of his nose cracked under my knuckles. Callum, in the firing line, didn’t so much as wince as blood splattered across his face, some beading in his eyebrow. For a second, I worried I hit Kane too hard—his body flopped, then spasmed as he fell back in a limp daze, groaning loudly.
“I warned you about lying.”
“I wasn’t—okay, wait!” His body thrashed wildly. “Okay, shit, alright.” His voice was thick and nasally, his nose crooked. “It’s just a book, man. People sign it when they visit so that the old man can keep a record. That’s it, I swear.”
That was far from it. He knew it as well, judging by the nervous flick of his eyes to my hands, expecting my fist.
“Why?” I asked.
He hesitated, then his tongue lashed out and licked at the blood gushing over his top lip. “It’s n-nothing. He’s just a quirky old dude, you know. I don’t get how he thinks.”
“Another lie.”
His whole body trembled, sweat beading over his brow and joining the blood that was already messing up his face. It was a gruesome sight, but it clearly wasn’t enough. Whatever secret he was guarding had apparently worse consequences than getting the shit beat out of him.
That meant we had to take it up a notch.
“Bathroom,” I grunted.
Callum wrapped his burly arms around our hostage, who flailed in confusion as we moved our party into the bathroom.
It was still steamy and damp, faintly floral from expensive shampoos.
Our boots squelched against wet tiles as we maneuvered into the space.
There was a teak artisanal-style bathtub in the corner, raised on a step like a stage.
For our next act, Callum dumped our hostage into the tub, his naked body smacking and sliding wetly along the sides.
He whimpered and cupped his nose, his eyes wild and horse-like.
We stood around him, masked pillars to his humiliation. The steam dampened my hair, and when I swiped it back, I knew I smeared blood on my forehead. It didn’t bother me, since we were about to get a whole lot messier.
“Last chance,” I said. He jerked and stared up at me fearfully. “Tell me the truth. What is really going on here?”
“N-nothing, man. I swear.”
“Boss.” Nate motioned over at me, then thrust the phone in front of my face.
My stomach dropped like a stone. A couple was posed on a sagging couch, both of them grinning and saluting the camera with red cups.
Without all the blood and sweat, our man Kane was effortlessly handsome, with his douchey hair and thousand-watt smile, but it was the girl who stole my attention.
The long blonde hair, the achingly familiar gray-blue eyes.
My vision went hazy, and the drip-drip of water from the leaking showerheads suddenly deafened my ears. A dull ache in my knuckles tugged me back to earth, where I was clenching my fists at my sides, the gun strangled in my grip.
It wasn’t Olivia. I had to repeat it to myself three times before I could unclench. It wasn’t her.
It was Molly.
Snatching the phone from Nate, I stepped up to the bath edge and snarled. “Who is this?” I shoved the phone in his face. He squinted at it blearily, uncomprehending.
“Wha—I don’t know, man. Just s-some chick I met at a party.”
“When?”
“Couple years ago. What the fuck is the big deal?” He scrambled up, as if prepared to fight his way out of the tub. My fist knocked him back, hitting his temple and causing him to slide back into the tub.
The sight didn’t alleviate my fury. It was beyond me, consuming me. My body felt too tight, my muscles bunched up with tension, like I could snap at any moment.
“Sparrow,” I heard myself grunt hoarsely. It sounded like a plea—it was—but it was also a threat. Madoc, who’d been a silent observer until now, snapped his gaze toward me. Green eyes were bright and lucid, unblinking, waiting. “Make him talk.”
Like a snake uncoiling, Madoc moved with deadly precision, stepping up to the tub and looking down at his prey with hungry curiosity.
I could stomach a lot of things, but Madoc had a particular talent for brutality.
Kane looked up at him with the same blank panic, and it wasn’t until I stepped back and gave Madoc center stage that it dawned on him: Madoc was the real predator.
Kane blanched, turning white, and went very still.
“Hi,” Madoc purred softly. “This is going to hurt very much.”
“Wait.” Kane looked over at me desperately. “Alright, it’s—it’s not my thing, okay? I’m just the scout. I wanted out a long time ago, I swear to God.”
Madoc didn’t move, but there was a distinct click sound, and I saw Olivia’s switchblade appear in his hand by his thigh. Kane clocked it and paled even more.
“Who are you scouting?” Madoc asked in the same soft, silky voice. I purposely ignored the shiver that went up my spine at the sound of it. It should be terrifying, and it was, but it was also fucking mesmerizing. Like pillow talk.
I wondered if Madoc sounded like that during a good fuc—
Stop. I wrenched my mind to a halt, refusing to let my demons win. I needed to stay in the moment. Keep a tight lid on my control so I didn’t snap and kill him.
Kane choked for a moment, fear clogging up his windpipe. He couldn’t see Madoc’s smile behind his rose bandana, but I could. I knew it intimately, the slow, deadly shape of it, the promise.
“It was just—they wanted—I never.”
“You sound like you are missing your tongue.” Madoc raised the knife, his grip loose, almost playful. “Try to find it before I remove it.”
Kane trembled, his knuckles bleached on the edges of the tub. “Girls!” he exploded in a desperate burst. “I find girls.”
“Why?”
“I—it’s just—we pay them. L-Like an escort service. It’s all legit, I swear.”
“Legit, he says. Why don’t I believe you?” Madoc pressed the tip of the blade to his thumb, testing the sharpness. “Ah, well.”
Quick as a viper strike, he gripped Kane’s hair in one hand, gave it a sharp yank so Kane’s face was tilted up toward him, then pressed the knife into the mangled cartilage of his broken nose. Kane went still as death, then seized up in terror. The acidic stench of piss permeated the air.
“P-Please.”
“Walk me through it,” Madoc purred. “Slowly.”
Kane jerked, and that small movement caused the blade to slip into his wound and blood to gush down his face.
He quivered and groaned, his words thick and stilted.
“T-they pay me to f-find girls to bring to the island. M-most of them are willing, I s-swear. They k-know what’s g-going to happen, some even want to come back! ”
Madoc’s bicep flexed, and the blade dug in just enough to make Kane scream. My heart palpitated at his admission. My fingers twitched on my gun.
“And the others?” Madoc asked.
“W-What?”
“The unwilling ones.”
Kane balked, his naked legs flailing out, slippery with blood and piss. “T-They a-always come around. O-Once I explain it to them.”
I stepped forward, my voice guttural. “Explain what?”
“The r-rules.” Kane’s eyes wheedled to mine, watery and pain-hazed. “I-I don’t m-make the rules. T-They do. I just b-bring them here.”
“Why?” Madoc asked softly. At Kane’s hesitation, he twisted the blade like a screwdriver, straight into the bloody lump of his nose.
Kane screamed again, the sound echoing from the tiles, likely traveling through the mansion.
My thoughts drifted briefly to Olivia before I dismissed them. She had no place here.
“Say it,” Madoc urged when Kane’s voice grew hoarse and whimpering. “Why do you bring them here?”
Kane sobbed wetly. He was so pale, he looked almost alien in the wooden tub, an unsightly creature. “T-T-They…”
“Yes?”
“T-They t-take turns…w-with them.”
My gut rolled and my vision wavered. Everything became dreamlike for a second.
I knew the details were important—we owed the victims that much—but the more Kane spoke, the more detached I felt, and the harder it was to resist putting a bullet between his eyes.
I’d only ever killed two people in my life, both of them in self-defense, but I knew I was more than capable of acting out in anger.
Sensitive, my old man would say, right as he drove his fists into my ribs.
I was drawn back to Madoc, who, aside from the faint sheen of sweat on the back of his neck and shoulders, appeared utterly unbothered.
Not even Callum achieved such stoicism; the larger man squinted every few seconds as sweat dripped into his eyes.
Nate was vibrating against my shoulder, muttering “dogs” under his breath.
The bitter tang of blood and piss and sweat became unbearable, even through our face masks.
Finally, when Kane regained consciousness after briefly passing out from shock and pain, Madoc yanked his head back at an unnatural angle and pressed the blade under his jaw. “Where does the old man sleep?”
The question was odd, so much so that Callum and I exchanged a quick, puzzled look. “I-I don’t know. P-Probably downstairs,” Kane gasped out.
“Why?”
“I-I don’t know, man.” Kane started to wail. “P-Please. I-I’m nobody. D-Don’t kill me.”
Madoc sneered and jabbed the knife harder into his tender jugular. “Did you join in?” Kane blanched as Madoc started to twist. “Don’t lie.”
“I-I didn’t w-want to, I swear.”
“Tsk.” The blade pierced the skin, a rivulet of fresh blood streaking down Kane’s chest.
My tongue was thick and uncooperative. “Wait.”
Immediately, Madoc released him and stepped back, causing Kane to sag in weeping relief.
For a split second, I almost pitied him.
He looked ruined, his face mangled, his blood pooling in the tub and dripping slowly down the drain.
Then I thought about Olivia, who was likely the same age Molly had been when Kane “scouted” her.
I wondered if Kane would recognize Olivia.
Then I wondered if Kane had his turn with Molly, and I saw fucking red.
“Where did he keep the girls?” I asked, trying and failing to remain as cold as Madoc, but I was burning up from the inside. “You said downstairs. Where?”
Kane hiccupped wetly, his eyes shooting fearfully to Madoc. “The basement.”
Madoc didn’t react, but Callum shook his head. “The git’s lying.”
“N-No, wait!” Kane frantically thrust up his hands toward Madoc, who wouldn’t move an inch unless I told him to. “I’m not—I’m not lying. There is a door in the basement, behind the wine racks. I—if you let me go, I’ll show you.”
Madoc’s eyes flashed to mine. I considered him with stones in my chest, then turned to Callum and then Nate, who were wordlessly waiting for my call.
There was no doubt we had to check out the basement. We were in too deep now. Holstering my gun in my waistband, Kane released a premature sob of relief, then choked on it soundlessly when I leaned menacingly over the tub.
“Do not mistake me,” I drawled in a low voice. “You are going to die. How long it will take, how much it will hurt, will depend on what we find.”
The way Kane’s eyes widened and then fluttered in fear told me everything I needed to know.
We headed down to the basement.