38
Thoughts of Mallory had filled my dreams and I’d woken with mixed feelings of frustration and denial, and a horrific headache. Why did she kiss me, and why did I find myself craving her blood-stained lips on mine again?
No. I didn’t want her. Nothing had changed, it was just another physical reaction because, yeah, she’s kinda hot. That was all there was to it.
I sat up in my bed and stretched, groaning at the relief at the cracking sensation that ran down the centre of my spine. I headed to the bathroom in search of painkillers.
I’d left the mansion shortly after arriving back there last night. A ride would have helped to clear my head, but stupidly I had given Mallory my bike when she’d fled the gala. I knew it had been the right thing to do, she needed to escape, and not having her around would make things so much easier for me. But I wished that she had just hotwired some random car instead.
I’d had to take my car when I left Lorenzo’s. I pushed it to its very limit, but the thrill that I was seeking, so desperate to get out of my own head, wasn’t there. So I had come here, to my apartment above the tailors, and had drunk myself to sleep instead.
I found a bottle of aspirin in the back of the medicine cabinet and swallowed a couple down before climbing into the shower. Once I felt slightly more human, I pulled on a black shirt and trousers from the small closet and got my things together. I wouldn’t stay here, mostly because I needed coffee, and I hadn’t stocked up in a while. So I slipped on my black leather loafers and headed out of the door, getting into my car and speeding off on autopilot. Only realising where I was going when I arrived.
The bubbly woman handed over my coffee and baguette without instruction, having remembered my order from my previous visits, and I made my way around the lake to my escape.
The bench was empty, as usual, and I sat and gazed across the water. My mind travelled back to the time that Mallory had turned up here and had tried to take this place from me. How had she even known about this place? I’d not seen her here since though, so I presumed she’d happened upon me by accident and was just being a royal bitch.
The buzz of my phone ringing in my pocket dragged me out of my calm state and I cursed as I looked at the screen. What now?
“Come home, Don. It’s important,” Lorenzo commanded, then hung up before I could utter a single word. I wanted to protest, needing more space away from him, I hadn’t agreed with his behaviour last night and I wasn’t sure If I could look at him without wanting to hit him. But his command was clear, the boss had spoken.
Clive pointed me towards the gym when I arrived back at the house, and I found Lorenzo and Grey tangled up in each other’s arms on the floor.
“There are plenty of beds in this place you know. You don’t have to fuck on the gym floor,” I said with a raised brow, needing to lighten my own mood.
“Hilarious,” Grey said breathlessly from underneath Lorenzo. I wondered if he had let Lorenzo win? Or was dear old stepdaddy actually able to hold his own without a weapon? I wasn’t sure why, but the idea that he could shocked me. Up until this moment I had never imagined Lorenzo getting down and dirty in a fight. I was half tempted to go and change into some gym wear and find out how brutal he might be for myself, but I was here for a reason, and I needed to find out what it was.
“What was so important then, boss.” I folded my arms and leaned against the treadmill as I waited for Lorenzo to get up.
“Drop the attitude, Adonis,” he said flatly as he moved across the home gym and sat down on a bench, snatching up a bottle of water. “I have a treat for you, not that you deserve it.”
He glared across at me. I kept my mouth shut but rolled my eyes and raised my brows at him.
“Keep this shit up and I’ll send Grey to do this instead,” he warned, and I glanced at Grey who was doing press-ups and pretending not to listen to us.
I unfolded my arms and crossed the room to sit next to Lorenzo. “Okay, what’s my treat.”
His face lit up with a cruel smile. “I have just been informed that your mother’s killer has a son,” he offered, and every muscle in my body stiffened.
“You know who did it then? Tell me who killed her, and where I can find him,” I said slowly, attempting to hide my anger over him keeping this from me, because, well I knew that I was on thin ice.
“No, Don, I don’t want you going after him. Your target is the son.”
“Why? The bastard killed my mother. That has nothing to do with his son, does it?”
“If you go after his son, he will know how you felt. Kill his son, and it will hurt him so much more than if you went straight for him. You want him to suffer, don’t you?” So he did understand that killing someone’s close family member was a hurtful thing to do. Interesting.
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “He deserves to feel pain.”
“Then I’ll torture him before I kill him. I can cause him pain and suffering,” I argued, desperate to get my hands on the man who took her from me.
“I know you want him dead, but trust me, take away the people that he loves first. Make his life so miserable that he practically begs for death. Don’t give it to him so easily, Don. Start with the son.” He squeezed my shoulder then stood up and made his way over to join Grey, who was now doing sit-ups.
I thought his words over for a moment. An eye for an eye, except I wouldn’t stop at just one. He had stolen away the only person who had ever mattered to me. Lorenzo was right, I needed to take away everything that mattered to him. Except…
“I won’t hurt a child,” I said quickly, and Lorenzo twisted around to face me.
“Of course not, he is not a child.”
I nodded sharply. “Good, okay. I’ll do it, just tell me where and when?”
Grey paused and looked up at me. “I have an address, he’s at home right now.”
I exhaled slowly, smiled, and cracked my neck. “I better get going then.”
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The front door to the building had been propped open with a woman’s shoe and I took that as a sign of good luck. I didn’t need to force my way in or tell some elaborate story to one of the bastard’s neighbours. I walked straight inside and began my journey up the stairs.
Apartment eleven didn’t take long to find. I shrugged my jacket off and slung it on the bannister on the landing, then rolled my shirt sleeves up. I had left my gun in the car for this, I doubted I’d need it. Instead, I pulled a shiny new butterfly blade from my pocket. It had been a little treat that I’d given to myself when I had completed my initiation, I’d not used it yet, and now felt like the perfect time to christen it.
I pounded my fist into the door manically until I heard his voice approaching the door.
“Calm down little one, keep your panties on,” he said as he swung the door open.
His smile dropped the instant he saw me. There was something vaguely familiar about his face, but I couldn’t place him. Not that it really mattered, he was still going to die at my hands within the next ten minutes. Five, if he didn’t fight back too much.
I raked my gaze over him, slightly taller than me, broad, shirtless, showing off heavily tattooed golden skin. Pretty, but not in the same way that Cooper was, no, this guy was a rough rugged kind of pretty. I would bet the way he looked was all for show though, medically enhanced with no skills. But a small part of me hoped that I was wrong, that he was as strong as he looked. A fair fight would make this even more satisfying.
“Little one?” I asked in a voice like ice. “Hardly.” I smirked and advanced towards him.
He pushed the door closed on me, but he wasn’t fast enough. My foot was already inside his apartment, and the rest of me followed. I smashed the door into the wall behind it and he shot away from me at an unexpected speed, stopping in a kitchen area and rummaging in a drawer. I prowled slowly towards him, enjoying the way his eyes widened in fear as he fumbled, unable to find whatever he was searching for.
I raised my hand with the blade in it and pounced, aiming to sink it into his bare arm. His arm shot up and deflected my attack, knocking my hand away as he grabbed a random item from the drawer and slammed it into the side of my head. I stumbled on impact and let out a low groan as pain shot through my head. He let out a shaky laugh with a half-smile on his lips as he examined the cheese grater in his hand. I winced and lifted my hand to my head. My fingers came away with specks of blood on them, and I smeared it between them as my eyes narrowed and locked on his. I expected him to shit himself, but the fear had left him and all that I saw staring back at me was a mirror of my own expression.
“Who are you?” he asked with a deep growl.
“I am death.” I smirked, and he laughed, it was a loud booming noise that mocked and sent a fresh bolt of rage through me.
“I’m going to carve up that pretty face so badly that your daddy won’t ever sleep again for fear of it haunting his dreams.”
His face twisted with confusion then he sighed heavily. “So you want to send a message to the big bad Wolf? He disowned me; this won’t mean shit to him,” he said in a tired voice, his words feeling rehearsed. Whoever his dad was, he had trained him to say this. Smart man, trying to protect his son, except I could see straight through it. And what I was going to do would hurt his dad even more than I had initially realised.
“Bullshit,” I snapped and lunged at him.
He was prepared though. His fist flew into my chest as my blade slashed across his stomach. He threw me to the floor and held me down. I thrashed around beneath him, striking out with my arms and legs until I managed to free myself. I pulled myself to my feet as he did the same. Blood was trickling down to his waistband, but he didn’t seem to notice. I sliced towards him again, this time with more precision. My blade connected with his cheek and dragged down. He cried out. But he came back strong. His hand caught my wrist, and he twisted me around, pressing my chest onto the kitchen counter. I released my knife and it clattered against the hardwood floor. His hand fisted into my short hair, and he yanked my head back sharply. Before he could slam my face down onto the counter I kicked out and his legs buckled beneath him. He wobbled and lost his grip on me, I shot beneath him to where my knife had landed, grabbed it and plunged it deep into his thigh. He yelled and fell to his knees. I pulled the blade from his flesh, scratched a thin, shallow line from his collarbone to his navel, and then thrust the blood-coated knife deep into his stomach.
I pushed him to the floor, my knife still buried in his stomach, and rose to my feet. Standing over his shaking body, I sneered down at him. “This is for my mother.”
“What. The. Fuck.” A furious voice came from behind me. A voice I knew all to well.
Before I could turn to face her, she was on my back, her thighs gripped around my waist and her hands on my neck, squeezing tight and blurring my vision.
It was only when I choked out two words that she released me. “Cara, stop.”