7. Leo
LEO
If it had been up to me, I would’ve ripped this scumbag's tongue out before dragging him out of the trunk. But apparently he had information we needed.
So instead, I yanked him out of the trunk and gripped his ziptied hands.
I let his body smack against the metal body of his junker car, fine with him getting the shit beat out of him.
Once he was on the ground, he tried to kick his tied legs, squirming in the dirt like a pig. Except that was an insult to pigs.
Ignoring his pleas for help, I dragged his flailing body across the dirt and toward the warehouse door.
Fucker clearly hit his poor dog. Fucking piece of shit.
We’d get The Oracle’s information out of him. One way or another.
And there might just be some satisfaction in tearing this woman and animal abuser limb from limb.
Jaw tensed, I looked over my shoulder at my Kiera. Her arms were crossed tight over her chest. Not from the cold, but from her discomfort.
I could only hope and pray she’d never seen this kind of violence. But whatever that haunting backstory was, the tale she wouldn’t tell, I knew that was unlikely given that she hadn’t run yet.
As I pulled the dude’s body, I tried to smile at her and give Kiera a gentle nod. Just something for her to know it would all be alright. I’d already failed to prepare her for the Gauntlet. I couldn’t do that again. Couldn’t have her look at me like I was some monster again.
Behind us, his shitbox car was being driven away. The headlights left us in darkness as we approached the warehouse door. The rest of the Violence were hustling around the parking lot, gathering forces to tail the car and dump it somewhere.
We had lots of places like this, between VV and The Oracle. Locations to dump cars and bodies, somewhere to tie up a bastard and leave him for days. Every once in a while we needed to borrow Laniidae’s barrels.
Once we got to the door, Spencer threw it open from the inside, holding it for us as I dragged the fuckhead over the threshold. Spence wrapped an arm around Kiera — a pang of jealousy coursing through me as I wished desperately to be her comfort in this moment.
As we got to the center of the warehouse, where a cheap, metal chair sat directly under one, bright overhead light, I tossed the guy the last few feet. He’d had some road burn, some scrapes and cuts from the gravel. And hopefully, some new bruises by the time we tied him up.
Over my shoulder, I watched Kiera look around the huge warehouse. It was mostly empty, barring a few empty pallet shelves at the far end. As far as I knew, the place had been empty longer than I’d been alive.
Just waiting for the Violence to revitalize it with blood.
This was just the beginning for my little princess. There was a whole world for her to discover, and I’d be by her side for every moment of it.
After tonight, she’d be bound to Valemont Violence, to us — to me. Forever.
As the dirtbag squirmed at the center of the room, I reached down and picked him up. I tossed him down into the cheap chair, letting the metal legs clatter against the worn concrete floors.
Kiera jumped at the sound.
And another pang of jealousy went through me. Those early days… man, the fear and the anxiety of not knowing what was next. The excitement.
My service had given me a look, a look at that violence. But it wasn’t full of thrills. No, more terror, horror, disgust for what we were being asked to do.
This, this was real Justice.
And Kiera was going to get her first taste of it. True, violent, Justice
My mind came back to the mission at hand, our scumbag squirming at the center of the room. With each desperate thrash, the chair slammed into the concrete floors. The chain that tied it to the metal pillar behind it clanked against the steel — echoing off of the stone warehouse walls.
My chest heaved as I moved behind the guy, grabbing his arms and cutting the first zip tie. I lived for the moment of relief in their eyes, the way they thought I might just let them get away. They had yet to learn what the Violence were about, how we punished men like him.
It wasn’t until I gripped his wrists, twisting his arms behind his back and re-tying them to the metal chair that his eyes saw some clarity.
“Ow!” He yelped as he thrashed.
The plastic of the zip tie was digging into the skin of his wrists, the flesh already raw and red under the tight grip of restraints. And his attempts at escape weren’t helping.
Looking over my shoulder as I secured the fucker’s ankles, I checked in on my girl. Her eyes were still wide, like she’d not blinked since she woke up that morning.
Next to her, Spencer squeezed Kiera’s shoulder. It was the most reassurance we could offer. After all, this wasn’t going to be pretty and there was no point lying to her. I’d lied about far too much in my life to do that to her.
Couldn’t bring myself to.
The clatter of our medical tray drew Kiera and the bastard’s attention. It was Dom’s towering figure that made the man look up into the bright light over his head.
“No. No…” He shook his head, realizing what was about to happen to him.
But Kiera, innocent Kiera, simply scrunched her forehead.
Unlike the tools in my kit at the shop, these were rusted, dirty, and coated in a deep brown.
There was no point cleaning them, considering the state of the people we brought here.
Dom stepped into the light, letting her face illuminate. From the center of the circle of light, Kiera and Spencer’s faces were just obscured enough that if this motherfucker got away, he couldn’t ID them.
With a snarl, Dom crossed her arms. “We just have a few questions for you. And then we’ll have you on your merry way.”
She sauntered closer to him, reaching into his pockets as he wiggled, trying to use his hands to push her away. But instead, Dom slipped her hand into the pocket of his cheap trousers, grabbing his phone. “Name.”
“Grant.” I could tell from the look on his face that he hoped the name would humanize him, that it would be harder for us to go through with this if we knew he was a real person.
But unfortunately for him, we could tell just how human he was. All of the soft bits exposed and vulnerable.
“Passcode. Now.” Dom growled.
In another attempt at good will, Grant mumbled out his code. “3271.”
With a nod, Dom signalled to us that she was in.
Let the fun commence.
From the darkness, Spence stepped away from Kiera and paced around the border of the light. “Where were you bringing her?” Every few feet, the tip of Spencer’s combat boots would dip into the light.
Grant shook his head, swallowing hard. “To have some fun. I don’t know.”
Without a moment of hesitation, I lifted my clenched fist and threw it into his stomach. I wanted him to feel every blow, and if I started with his face — he’d become desensitized to everything else I had planned for him.
Behind him, I felt Kiera flinch at the blow.
Clenching my jaw, I leaned down. “ Where .”
He knew he was found out, that whoever we were, we wouldn’t buy his act. “I don’t know. The location changes. I hadn’t gotten mine yet.”
There were a hundred questions I wanted answers to. Happily throwing punches at every wrong answer. But there wasn’t time for that.
“Sent by who?” Spencer pushed, still circling like a hungry wolf around the edge of the light.
Grant only knew how to shake his head. “I don’t know his name.”
Rolling my eyes, I lifted my foot to his shin and drove a kick into the bone. Something crunched under the steel toe of my boot.
A little revenge from that woman and your poor fucking dog, prick.
Just as I was about to demand more, my eyes caught on Dom, lurking in the dark. Staring down at the guy’s phone, her face had paled. “What’s up, Dom?”
Tensing her jaw, Dom looked up. “All good.”
If we weren’t in the middle of something, I would’ve marched over there and searched her face for the truth. But my hands were a little full.
Still no answer from the fucker, Spencer stepped into the light and leapt on the guy fist first. Her knuckles slammed into his jaw, a loud crack reverberating through the warehouse.
“Fuck!” Grant yelped as his arms tried to go to the new wound.
From behind our prisoner, I watched Spencer’s chest heave with frustration.
Her lip lifted into a snarl before turning to look at Kiera whose shoulders had rolled back, her confidence returning despite what she was seeing.
Spencer licked her lips. “Maybe you’ll answer to the pretty one.”
With a tilt of her head, Spencer summoned Kiera forward. My heart dropped into my ass, fear coursing through me as Kiera stepped into the center of the light.
Behind her, Spencer grabbed a pair of rusty tweezers from the tray.
There would be no hiding now, Kiera would be IDed by this guy in a heartbeat. A face like that, who could ever forget it?
My heart pounded, aching to protect her from initiation. But now, Grant’s fate was sealed.
He would die tonight.
Because no one, and I meant no one would ever get the opportunity to hurt my princess ever again.