Page 6 of Fool Me Twice
Cane rolled his eyes outwardly, even though he felt the burn of rage deep in his chest. A cowardly traitor and fucking slow too. The worst combination.
“You have one more chance.” Cane shrugged. “I don’t know who’s on the other side, but I’m willing to bet I can do much, much worse than they can.”
“But—”
“So the way I see it—” Cane turned his back on Jones, shooing his enforcer out of the room and rolling up his sleeves. “—your options are limited to who can kill you more.”
“That doesn’t even make sense!”
“I don’t have to make sense.” Cane walked over to the corner of the room and gripped the leather straps of his bag of wonders. He pulled the bag into the middle of the room, shitty light bouncing off the worn-out surface of it.
“W-what’s that?” Jones asked.
Cane crouched next to the bag, his legs spread and elbows resting on top of them. He laced his fingers together between his knees, balancing on the balls of his feet. Jones’s eyes were wild as he looked around the room, searching for any possibility of hope or escape. There was none.
“All of my favorite things,” Cane said. “You’ve probably heard the rumors, right? And you’ve definitely heard the one about what happens to people who betray me.”
Jones bit his bloody lips. “Cane, you have to believe me. I don’t know what happened.”
Cane hummed. “I’m feeling generous today, so I’m gonna give you one more chance to tell me who’s behind this. Just one name and you never have to see what’s in the bag.”
“Please, please,” Jones whimpered. “I just found myself there. It was like I woke up from a bad dream, and then I didn’t know what to do so I just went along with her. I couldn’t get out of it!”
Cane’s head whipped up.
“Her?” he asked, smirking. Just one person came to mind who identified as a female that had it out for him. “Gloria.”
Whatever color had remained in the guy’s face drained completely. Terror took over in a split second, and Cane reveled in it. Fear had a smell. Rancid and uncomfortable when it entered your nose, but Cane loved it. Especially when it meant he was right.
“No…no, please, she said she’d kill me if I said anything!” Jones shook his head wildly, eyes wide and snot dripping down toward his lips to mix with the blood. “It was just some information. That’s all! I didn’t do anything else. She was going to kill me if I didn’t keep giving her something. Once she gets a hold on you, she won’t let go! I didn’t mean to cross you, Cane. Please…”
“Oh, I know you didn’t.” Cane reached for the zipper and pulled it open, the metallic sound loud in the small space. “But I find it offensive that you seem to be more scared of Gloria than me. It hurts my feelings.”
“I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean to…” Jones repeated, a pathetic little sound breaking from his trembling lips when Cane pulled out a set of pliers and set them on the ground. “It was already done before I could stop myself.”
The excuses were getting tired, and so was Cane.
“You should have given me a name at the start. I would have made this quick and easy.”
“I’m sorry,” Jones cried, shaking his head and watching in horror as item after item appeared from Cane’s bag to join the pliers on the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Cane picked up a small metal hammer, the handle custom carved just for him. Not a lot of people knew, but it carried the same intricate design as the tattoo on his calf—one of the first ones he’d ever got. Wildflowers and bones.
The hammer was infused with caster magic. Paid for handsomely to make sure it broke bone every time it was used.
He gripped it before standing and walking toward the man, then paused.
Cane blew a breath out through his nose as he watched Jones’s squirming, blubbering figure begging him under his breath.
The night hadn’t exactly gone as planned, that was for sure. But he’d found out where the leak was.
Gloria’s pathetic attempts to take over his business and territory by using a guy who knew next to nothing weren’t going to be solved by Cane offing him. There would be no satisfaction gained from it. Only more work.
Cane growled and stashed the hammer in his back pocket before bridging the rest of the distance. Jones curled up as much as he could in defense, squeezing his eyes shut.
Cane pulled out a switchblade and released his bonds.
Jones blinked.