30. Killian
Maverick Hope has always been a thorn in my backside, one that Franco never got rid of. For once, I understand where the old man was coming from. Those thorns have their purpose.
Franco, as did the other alliance heads, allowed this so-called journalist to be as much of a pain in the ass as he dared without giving him the power to discover jackshit.
However, I no longer see Maverick Hope as a pawn to use to my advantage. He was my woman’s boss. He knew where she was and kept quiet.
I know I can, and maybe I should also show my anger to the others who betrayed me, namely Julian, Ronen, and especially Raven. But they’re part of the family my little girl has made for herself, so I’ll hold off on that, at least for now.
Maverick, however, is not part of that family. Not that I’m aware, and I refuse to accept he could be.
“What are you doing here?” Maricela asks him with blatant hatred.
Well, this is new.Maricela always protected him from my wrath, maybe not with words, but with her desire to become someone like him.
“Maricela, that’s no way to talk to your boss. Especially one who knows so much about you and was there for you when you needed it the most.”
I look from Maricela to Maverick and back again but don’t have the time to react because Maricela slaps him. Hard. So hard that I’m fairly certain his fair skin will bruise. Good.
“Say one more time that you were by my side, try to blackmail me one more time, and you’ll see what happens. I know things too, Mav baby.”
“Why is he blackmailing you? And why do you call him that?”
“He knows about my past, okay? He knows everything that can destroy me in your eyes and make you hate me forever because, as he said, he was there in the worst moments of my life, and I didn’t do anything to kick him away. He’s Ronen’s lover,” she adds, nearly spitting the words.
I knew that, of course. According to the man I had following Maverick, Ronen isn’t the only man he’s fucking.
“Shut up.” Maverick takes a menacing step toward Maricela, who scoffs.
“I won’t shut up. I won’t shut up, just like you won’t shut up. So go ahead, tell Killian everything you know. Destroy me.”
When will this woman understand that nothing can take me away from her?
I step between them. “He won’t tell me anything because it shouldn’t come from him,” I bark, knowing what she says is true. I could have gone to Maverick weeks ago. I didn’t.
“I’m here because there was a murder. I came to investigate.”
“There was a suicide by a person who was mentally ill. He threatened Maricela, and when my brother chased him, he decided to chew on some shit that blew his head off.”
Maverick chuckles. “Oh, you mean the new bad boy of the Fierro family, Franco’s secret son? Not so secret, of course, since you made him part of F.K.B.L. by adding his last name to the company.”
“Who is this clown?” Maddox asks, appearing out of nowhere as if summoned.
Last I knew, he had retreated to his office, saying he was bored after the police took the body away.
“This is Maricela’s photography teacher from university. He currently owns most of the shares of the NCW Company,” I explain, and Maddox stares down at the man.
“The wannabe newspaper?”
Maverick ignores Maddox’s verbal jab, replying with one of his own. “You’re bisexual, aren’t you?”
I want to punch this asshole. He will not touch my brother.
“And that’s a problem because?”
“Because it’s not acceptable in the environment you came from. Or is it?”
“Environment?” Maddox laughs. “I’m a fellow Italian, not an alien. Well, half-Italian, anyway. My mother’s of German descent. I think. I can ask her.”
“You failed,” Maricela says as if talking to herself.
“Why do men always fall for this tactic?”
I love it when she gets like this because this woman is the woman I knew. The one who championed women and people with low incomes in our country. She’s all about those who are having a hard time without falling into politics.
“What did I do?” Maddox asks her, like a little boy being chastised by his mother.
“You gave him details about your life because he insulted you,” I tell him and thump the side of his head with my thumb. He massages the spot while glaring at me.
Rolling my eyes, I turn my attention back to Maverick. “As you can see, you have no story. You have nothing to look for here, so you can leave now.”
“Don’t you want to know all my secrets about your woman?”
“My woman will tell me everything herself in her own time. Now get out of my sight,” I bark, cutting the niceties.
“It’s not easy for victims to talk about sexual abuse, but if that’s what you prefer.”
As Maverick turns on his heels and leaves, Maddox blinks and looks at Maricela as if another bomb just went off.
“What did he say?” Maddox asks her, speaking for me because right now, I’m doing everything I can to not chase after that son of a bitch and beat him to death if he doesn’t take that back. What he said can’t be true.
But you knew it was true. You’ve seen how she reacts, just like Isabella. You know the signs. You’ve seen rape victims. You didn’t want to believe the truth. You didn’t want to know. Because then you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself.
“I have to go,” she chirps in the smallest voice I’ve ever heard from her.
Even when she faced what Santino did to her sister, she never sounded like that because it’s the truth.
I want to go after her. After him. I want to kill him. To obliterate him.
Liam takes hold of my arm. “Come on. You need to get it out before you face her.”
I didn’t even notice Liam had come in, but now I see that all of them heard. Liam, Kai, Madd, Bertha, and even one of the nameless secretaries whose name I don’t recall. And worst of all, Lila heard. She stands there as if shocked by this revelation, and for once, no venom comes from her red lips.
“Maverick Hope is a dead man.”
“He wasn’t the rapist, and you know it.” Liam urges me toward my office, holding me by one arm while Kai has me by the other.
“I wasn’t there. I left her alone. She was hurt. She was scared.”
“You had no way of being there, remember? Come, she can’t see you in this state. Bertha,” Maddox calls, and I glance to the side just to see Lila staring at me, tears gathering in her eyes.
“You!”
Lila jumps when I point to her. Good.
“You won’t repeat a word of what you just heard. Do you understand?”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
Maddox shoves himself into her personal space.
“As if what you did to her wasn’t enough, you plastic doll. You know very well that you put that woman through hell, and you still come here every day to remind her you’re supposed to be marrying her man.”
“It’s not my choice. I have to marry a Fierro to get my money. You have to understand,” she says in a small voice. Gone is the pride of the Knight family name.
“And that’s all you care about, right?” Madd scolds her. “Your money. Your status, your long nails and red lips. That’s all you care about.”
“Maddox.”
“No. This is not about you. You’re not the victim here. You’ve thrown your tantrums for the last time, Lila Knight. Bertha, go see that Maricela isn’t alone, please. And call Raven and her friend, Julian. In fact, call the other one, too.”
At the mention of Ronen, his words come back to me. “You need to tell him the truth.” He knew.
“Ronen,” I say.
“Call Ronen. I know for sure he knows everything. She wouldn’t have told Raven. Maricela kept things like that from her so Raven wouldn’t know the truth. And call the men. Now!”
Many people see Liam Bourne as a traceless madman who enjoys the spectacle of other people’s blood, pain, and suffering.
And while all that is true, he’s also the most loyal person, not just to himself, but to his feelings.
He defines his feelings as obsessions. He thinks life is boring, and he thrives on living on the edge.
Kai’s impenetrable wall is cracking if the look on his face is anything to go by. And Liam’s ill expression says it all.
They want revenge. They want to find the son of a bitch who touched Maricela and take his cock off. Maybe as much as I do.
And I have no doubt Madd is right there with us. I can see he’s already planning what to do next as he approaches.
“You need to write Maricela a message. A message from you, so she knows she won’t lose you over this.”
“If you know the truth, it will destroy us both. You’ll never forgive me for this.” How many times has she said that? And does she really believe it? Does she believe I would blame the victim?
I see now that Maricela, the smartest woman I know, fell into the pit of self-blame. I remember our conversations on the roof about her belief that she was a terrible person.
That all the bad things that happened to her happened for a reason. They happened because she deserved it.
Fuck. Fuck! I left her alone.
“Calm down,” Maddox demands, giving me a shake. “not going to her now is the smartest thing. If you could see yourself now, you’d understand. We’re going to kill two birds with one stone. But first, talk to her. Send her a message.”
I pull out my phone and type.
“Little girl, I don’t hate you. This doesn’t destroy us. I promise. I’m sorry I’m not with you now. Give me time to handle a few things, and I will be there with you.”
that”s all I can give her now.
“Good, now come with me. We have people who need to die.”
The smell of urine, mold, and blood assaults my senses.
“Killian, this is our Sean. He’s one of the extras in the Irish mafia. A good, kind-hearted guy. He destroyed three of our assets with his fires. Our boy loves fires.”
Sean is anything but a boy. He’s a man in his forties, maybe a few years less if the smell of alcohol on him tells me anything about his lifestyle.
“But our lad has some other amazing qualities. Right, Sean?” Liam slaps the man on his cheek.
“Go fuck yourself.”
His Irish accent is thick as he spits the words into Liam’s face, who doesn’t flinch and cleans his face of the saliva and blood.
“Now, that’s not how we talk to friends. Right, Dear Sean?”
“What do you want?”
“First, we want information. How did you know about the cargo? Then maybe we’ll do to you what you did to those girls. How old were they, Seann?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“But pedophilia is John’s business. How old were those girls, Sean?”
“Thirteen. They weren’t kids anymore.” I study the man. Liam made it happen in two hours. Two birds with one stone, indeed.
“I’ve heard those excuses before. Long ago, it wasn’t unusual for girls that age to be mothers. But you know what the problem with that thinking is, Sean? You are a stinking pedophile. And I love hunting people like you. But let’s start with the first part. And this is going to be my role in this game. As for the rapes, you’ll answer to him,” Liam says, jerking a thumb in my direction. “You know him, right? You heard the rumors?”
If the tears in Sean’s eyes mean anything, he knows well who I am and what I’m capable of.
“I know nothing,” Sean starts, but the four of us have the right tools to read people, and he’s lying. He knows a lot.
Liam sees the same thing we all do because he lowers his fist to Sean’s jaw. “You start singing now, or we do it the fun way. Fun for us, that is.”
“I don’t know anything.” Blow. “I like to play with fire, that’s it.”
“And the bodies of helpless girls,” I shout, grabbing the collar of his shirt and jerking him forward.
Liam steps back as if waiting for me to let loose.
“You know why people talk about me? About my Irish name? Because I am no ‘little warrior.’ My love for violence goes much further than that.”
“I didn’t— I didn’t mean to,” Sean cries and pees his pants. Why is it always the most immoral and evil people who lose it so quickly?
“You meant it. You enjoy fucking them. Tell the truth.” I grab his cock through the cloth, wet from his urine, and squeeze hard enough to make him scream. His every cry, every squirm, and every shout of pain brings thoughts of those girls. Of Maricela. I see in my mind’s eye their desperation, the pain, and the hopelessness. Maricela’s. “Are you going to tell us everything?”
“Will he stop?”
“Listen, Ladd,” Liam begins in his diplomatic tone.
“You’re not going to get out of here, and we both know it. The question is how soon you’re going to meet the devil. It could take a few moments...”
Liam says with a dramatic pause. It’s a lie, but the guy doesn’t need to know that. “Or it could take forever. We’re good at punishing people like you.”
“It was Franco!” Sean cries. “It was his father.”
He looks at me, his eyes full of tears, his face is full of blood. Liam played with him before we got here.
“Again? He’s not on full guard?” Maddox is the one asking the question. Our guy looks more confused than anything. I don’t care about Franco now. I need to find out who hurt my woman and make him pay for it. I take one of the nails Liam always has here and bring the nail to Sean’s eye. “No, no... Please, no.”
“I promised you’d die, but I didn’t say it would be quick. Just that it wouldn’t take forever.”