Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Your ex won’t allow that. He’s always considered you to be his. That hasn’t changed.” No matter with how much compassion she delivers the statement, it still feels like a punch in the face. “I don’t think it ever will.”
That’s the thing about the truth. It always hits you the hardest.
Chapter
Twelve
Dante
* * *
The stench of blood, piss, charred flesh, and fear fills the warehouse situated on the outskirts of Boston. The carcass hanging on a hook from the ceiling is unrecognizable. You can barely guess it belonged to the homo sapiens species.
The door opens. Bright sunlight and a breath of clean, fresh air spill into the gloomy interior. Sav steps over the threshold and quietly closes the door behind him. He didn’t have to come, but he flew in from New York City anyway, using the opportunity to check on the money laundering business we run at a nearby cement factory.
He nods at Kent, who stands aside with his hands folded in front of him, and slowly walks over, inspecting the piece of meat dangling under the bare lightbulb.
He doesn’t as much as blink, but he flinches when he moves his gaze over me. “Jesus, Dante.”
I don’t have to look in a mirror to know I’m soaked in blood. It’s all over my face and has drenched my clothes and shoes. Many men in our circles believe the reason I can chop off body parts without showing a stitch of reaction is because I lack emotions.
That’s not true.
I experience feelings with overwhelming intensity. I just know which ones matter to me and which ones are worth my energy. The rest doesn’t faze me.
Take this piece of scum I turned into carpaccio, for instance. Now him I cared nothing about. His screams and pleas did nothing for me except bring me great satisfaction. What I did have strong feelings about was what he’d done to Tatiana. Those emotions were powerful enough for me to snuff out his life slowly and painfully, until he told me everything I wanted to know.
Admittedly, he did confess quickly. He wasn’t a loyal man working for someone he wanted to protect. He was just a lowlife fucker operating for money. The fact that his tongue loosened at the first swipe of my blade didn’t stop me from working on him through the night, torturing him to his last filthy breath.
I was planning on prolonging his suffering for a month or longer, for exactly as long as Tatiana took to heal after he hit her in the face, but the coward gave out quickly. Sadly, despite resuscitating him several times, his heart finally failed. The bastard I caught in Detroit didn’t last much longer either.
Sav exhales slowly. “Did you find out what you wanted to know?”
I smile. “More than I was bargaining on.”
He juts his chin at the corpse. “Mercenary?”
“Freelancer. And not a very good one at that. Figures, considering how cheap his rates were.”
Sav shoves a hand in his pocket. “Teszner? He seems like a man who can’t afford proper rates.”
“Exactly.” I grind my molars together. “Same goes for the man I took down in Detroit.”
Sav considers that for a moment. “I assume he didn’t want his sister back because he missed her.”
“He promised he’d give the first man to return her to him a million from the money the necklace would’ve brought.”
Sav chuckles. “Definitely cheap, considering.”
Yeah. That necklace is worth hundreds of millions.
He looks at me. “What now?”
“Now I know what I’m up against.”
“Teszner will do everything in his power to get his sister back in his clutches.”
“He won’t succeed.”
“If you care about her, he better not.” He seems mildly intrigued. “How did they find her when your bounty hunters failed? Aren’t those men you hired supposed to be the best?”
“They are. Teszner must’ve had a hunch that Tatiana was going to run. The motherfucker knew she was pregnant.” He knew all these years, yet he didn’t tell me. He’ll pay not only for what he did to Lee but also for hiding that knowledge from me and for sending these men after Tatiana. “He bugged a stuffed toy Tatiana’s mother had bought for the baby.” I bet my life it’s that dinosaur. “The idiot put a tracker chip that works without a battery in one of the eyes. He obviously didn’t think his plan through because the chip recharged with kinetic energy like the ones wildlife conservationists use for tracking animals. A stuffed toy isn’t something an adult moves constantly. It’s something that sits on a bed or that a baby sleeps with. A child who’s old enough to walk may carry it around the house, but it’s inevitably going to be stationary for longer periods. Maybe that’s why the tracker signal was unstable.” I wave at the corpse. “They only managed to get a signal a couple of times. It vanished completely two years ago. The bug either died or got destroyed.”