Page 38 of Madness
“Rodney.” I warned.
“It doesn’t matter if I talk. I’m dying either way.” He coughed, and more blood dripped down his chin. The steady flow from his body pooling on the floor.
“That’s true.” There was no reason to lie. “But your mother doesn’t have to.”
His battered body tensed beneath my touch. Everyone had a weakness. It had taken no time at all to find his. He supported his eighty-year-old mother, who lived an hour away.
“It would be a shame if her house suddenly caught fire. An older woman like that living alone, she’d never make it out in time. Especially if the doors were mysteriously nailed shut.”
“You fucking bastard.” He whispered. There was no fight left in him.
“True.” I laughed. “So, about those videos.”
I circled around, retaking my seat. “They’re in my office. I never showed anyone the footage. Only sold the information I overheard.”
That was good. There was a chance he didn’t even know half of what was said. The right person would be able to interpret everything. And that meant no one else had seen what I’d done to Kincaid in that room.
“Who did you sell it to?” I tapped my knife against my thigh, his blood soiling my ruined suit.
“The Gallos.”
More confirmation that they were looking to start a war. It wasn’t a few isolated incidents. It was an all-out attack on our power.
Carmine Gallo had always been ruthless. Few knew what he’d done to get the throne he sat on. It was my business to know these things. Until now, I’d kept it to myself. It might be time to play that card. I’d have to bring this to Leif and my father; the decision was theirs.
“Anything else you’d like to say before you die?” I glanced at Tristan behind him, inclining my head with the order to kill Rodney.
“All this over some low-class pussy.” He spit blood at my feet. “I should’ve raped the bitch sooner.”
A red haze filled my vision. I was no longer seeing the man in front of me. Instead, I saw porcelain skin covered in bruises. I saw white blonde hair sprawled on the ground. I saw violence inflicted on her. The blood roared in my ears until it was a loud buzz filling my senses.
Gunshots echoed around the walls bringing me back to reality. I blinked as I looked at the gun in my hand. Rodney’s body slumped in the chair. I didn’t remember grabbing the gun. Pulling the trigger. I felt no satisfaction from his death. All I felt was a need to protect Kincaid. No one would hurt her.
Except me.
“We’ve got a problem.” Bash’s voice came from the entrance. I turned, shaking away the last of my fog. He was holding a young guy by the back of his neck. “I found him lurking outside. He saw everything.”
He had long scraggly blonde hair that needed a wash. His clothes were ripped and covered in so much filth I couldn’t tell what color they were supposed to be. His face was pale, but I didn’t think it was from fear. I didn’t feel that from him. His eyes were hard, like he’d resigned himself to his fate.
“There’s no problem.” Tristan strode toward them, his gun outstretched.
“Wait.” I said as he pressed the barrel into the kid’s head. “What’s your name?”
He tapped his fingers on his pants like he was considering not answering, but he was smart enough to know that wasn’t an option. “Henry.”
“What are you doing here, Henry?” I tucked my gun away before walking toward Rodney’s lifeless body. I wiped my bloody blade on his pants before tucking that away as well.
“Just looking for a dry place to sleep.” He shrugged but didn’t flinch at the gun Tristan still had pointed at him.
“MettiloVia.” Put it away.I ordered. Tristan’s shoved the gun into Henry’s skin before letting it rest at his side. “You going to tell the police what you saw?”
Henry shrugged. “Why bother? You probably have them paid off.”
I couldn’t stop the chuckle from escaping. I liked this kid. He was smart. And he was distracting me from my need for revenge. I ended Rodney’s life too soon.
“And it sounded like he deserved it.” Henry said. “I don’t know who she is to you, but I’d do the same thing if someone threatened to rape a girl I cared about.”
“You want a job, Henry?”