Page 3 of Corrupted

Gianni chuckled. "I wasn't going to, but it's not wrong." He snuggled in closer to me.

Silence fell for a few moments, broken by Damon's frustrated sigh. "Fine, what were you going to say?"

"I don't know," Gianni admitted. "I was going to say something off-the-cuff. Like, teams get shit done."

"I should have known better than to ask," Damon said. He scrubbed his face.

"You really should," Gianni agreed. "I think we've left our guest alone for long enough already. I should go and check on him, see if he's enjoying my music."

"I'll come with you," I said. "I want to see what this asshole has to say for himself."

I didn't need Reuben's permission, but I glanced over at him anyway.

"Keep me informed," was all he said.

He stayed out of the torturing of people as much as he could. Especially, from what I could gather, if Gianni had his music playing down in the basement.

Reuben was a badass in his own right, but he didn't deal well with loud noises like music and screaming. He was a complicated man, but I loved that about him.

"Will do, boss," Gianni said.

"Gianni can keep you informed too," Reuben said before I stood. "You don't have to face Graves if you don't want to."

"I want to," I insisted. "Ever since I heard him speak, bits and pieces of the past keep coming back to me. He mentioned Jase and Hammer. I can almost picture their faces. If Leon Graves knows where they are, I want him to tell me." I wanted to find Kurt more than I wanted to find them, but they were still a priority. Which reminded me.

"Do either of you know someone named Prior?"

"It rings a bell." Gianni cocked his head at me. "Why's that, sweetheart?"

"Leon mentioned someone by that name," I said, playing the scene back in my head. "Apparently he tried to stop Kurt from caging and hurting me. He said… Prior told Kurt he was fucked up. Kurt shot Prior for it. It was one of the reasons Leon did nothing to stop Kurt from doing what he did. He figured Kurt would shoot him too."

Which was no excuse, but he was paying for that decision now.

All three men frowned in thought.

"I'll look him up," Damon said. "If he's someone who used to work for us, there should be a record. We tend to keep those for a long time. Bear in mind though, we may never be able to find him to give him a decent burial."

Trust him to understand why I wanted to know what happened to the one person who stuck their neck out for me. He deserved better than a shallow grave, or to have been tossed in the harbour for the sharks to eat. Or incinerated, which was more likely.

I nodded. "I appreciate that." We could at least try.

"If we can't find him, we can do a nice memorial in the garden," Gianni said.

"I'll go and see to it, and a few other things," Damon said. He pushed himself off the door frame and disappeared in the direction of the stairs that led to the upper level.

"I don't know about you, but I'm ready to have some more fun with our friend." Gianni offered me his hand.

I took it and rose. "He's no friend of mine." Gianni's hand was warm in mine, large and reassuring. He got off on the fact I was an assassin and enjoyed killing, but he could be surprisingly gentle when he wanted to.

"To be completely fair, people like him rarely have friends," Gianni said. "So, he's not mine either. That's what makes it funny. It's ironic."

"It certainly is that," Reuben said. "I don't think anyone will miss him when you're finished with him." He rubbed a hand over his eyes and turned his attention back to his laptop screen.

"I will," Gianni said. "He's been a ton of fun already." He smiled happily and we walked to the door that led down to the basement.

CHAPTER 2

MINA