Page 26

CHAPTER 26

Ford

T orture. Not my usual method, but today, I’m willingly participating. I want and need the release. Unfortunately for this poor bastard, he’ll be my outlet.

Henry Fall is tied to a chair, his average-sized frame quivering in fear. It didn’t take us long to track him down, break into his home, and drag him into the car—willingly, of course. At least that’s what we made it look like in case any neighbors were awake.

“Look, man, I don’t know anything,” he begins. Eli is pacing back and forth, amused by the situation. The fucker always gets off on this type of work. I stand behind Henry, waiting for the order, praying for it like a well-trained dog about to be told to fetch.

“Hmm. I don’t believe that,” Eli says and gives me a nod.

I internally grin, the release feeding through my soul as I step to the side and tower over Henry. His eyes grow wide, and his bottom lip trembles. He begins to beg, but I ignore it. Any person who tries to hurt our boss will meet a very uncomfortable demise, and I’m more than happy to be the one to end them.

With one clean swipe, I bring down the crowbar and crush his hand. He screams, and I revel in the sound, imagining it’s someone else in his place. Fucking Matthew.

I tolerated him and thought he was a decent guy before he set his sights on Billie. I know I set this up myself by forcing Billie to end things between us, but it doesn’t make me hate him any less.

Blood splatters, Henry’s hand an obliterated mess. Hawke is watching me carefully. He’s usually the one with the bloodlust, and when I get in these moods, he’s always wary of me. But I don’t give a fuck. If he can use violence to satiate his cravings, then so can I.

Henry looks like he’s about to pass out, but I step behind him and wrap the crowbar around his throat, jerking it up so he’s forced to look at Eli. Again, like a well-trained pet, I wait until I’m allowed to bite. Our relationship with Eli makes me think much of the way River trained his dogs. We’re at his beck and call, and for the longest time, I made sure not to allow myself to want anything. And I certainly wouldn’t beg.

Billie is unattainable, however. She’s not made for someone like me, and yet every one of my hackles rise at the thought of another man touching her. Especially fucking Matthew because I know he’s probably better suited for her. But fuck that. It doesn’t give him a right to her.

“You seem to be one of the few who weren’t there the night Laurence Tate and his team were wiped out. You escaped the wrath of my two men here.” Eli gestures to me and Hawke. “How lucky for you. Well, at the time, that is. Were you looking for vengeance?”

Henry’s sobbing. I always find it interesting to cut open a man and see what his undoing is. Pain is an easy way to break someone, but sometimes, a little more is required. Some weaknesses aren’t physical but emotional. Not in this case, though.

“I was only with him for a few months. I don’t give a shit what happened to him. I quit working for him two nights before you got to him. I don’t deserve this!” he screams.

Eli rolls his eyes, bored. “Unfortunately, I’m not the only enemy you made. It’s a crime by association, you know that. You’re going to die slowly and painfully unless you tell me more about the poison that seems to be circulating around my men. That might pique my interest.”

Henry spits on the ground near Eli’s feet, and my knuckles whiten over the crowbar at the disrespect. I don’t make a move until Eli looks at me. I hook my other elbow around the crowbar and choke the man from behind, enjoying the way he struggles. I wait until he looks like he’s about to pass out, his body going limp before I release my hold. He weakly gasps and is barely conscious, so I step to his side and smash the crowbar into his right knee.

He screams, startled back to life. Eli watches me carefully, and I retake my spot behind Henry. I don’t look at Hawke, but I can tell he’s monitoring me. I don’t give a shit. I have the right to manage my shit in my own way.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I swear! Please. Please, I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll work for you. I’ll die for you. Please, just let me go,” he whimpers.

Eli is looking at his phone, most likely reviewing the profile on Henry. He hums to himself. “I wonder if your sister has anything to do with this. Are you two close?”

“My sister?” Henry blanches. “No, she’s a good girl! Don’t you dare drag her into this!” he screams, and I can share his sentiment regarding his sibling. I would do anything for Hawke. I would definitely die for him.

“I’m bored with this. Maybe a few days of ‘discussion’ might jog your memory,” Eli says as he adjusts his suit. “I will have it known I’m not a patient man, and my men aren’t always obedient. Sometimes, they get carried away. Sometimes, they go on the hunt for fresh meat. I wonder if they might have to make a visit to your sister.”

It’s an intimidation tactic. Eli isn’t above killing women, but he avoids it as much as possible and draws the line at killing children.

“Please,” Henry sobs. “I don’t know anything about poison.”

“How about the snooping you did in my club and around my cargo ships, then?” Eli questions.

Henry turns paler, and unfortunately for him, even if he isn’t associated with the poison, he tried to sway some personal deals himself. He might’ve thought he was smart by stepping out from Laurence Tate’s shadow, but that was not at all the case. The poisonings, however, still run too high a risk, and I’m sure they are somehow connected to this man.

“Hawke, you’re to watch over him tonight. I don’t want him dead yet. We’ll give him some time to reconsider his options.”

Henry growls—a last-ditch effort to keep his dignity—and I’m impressed by his balls.

“You piece of shit. You’re going to kill me anyway, aren’t you? Whoever’s poisoning your men, I hope they target your wife next. I hope?—”

Eli’s on him within seconds, holding him by the throat and raising him with one hand. He has a sadistic smile on his lips, and the monster has come alive. I take a step back, knowing too well what’s about to happen. Any mention of, or threat toward, Jewel will trigger Eli. She’s his everything, and her life is something he won’t mess with, even when trying to gather intel.

“Stupid boy,” Eli purrs as he lifts his hand to Henry’s face. I sigh and turn my back, disappointed that my fun has been taken away from me. Henry’s scream ricochets through the room as Eli gouges out his eye.

I walk over to Hawke as the unhinged level of torture begins, Eli dismantling the man.

“Want to tell me what’s happening lately?” Hawke asks. I stand beside him, placing my crowbar on the counter next to its twin.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” Hawke growls. “You’ve been more distant lately. Something’s up.”

“Nothing is up. I just needed a release tonight, that’s all.”

Hawke folds his arms over his chest, and his almost black eyes, the same as mine, stare at me. We remain like that for a long time, screams echoing around us as Eli begins to laugh like a madman.

“Are you—” Hawke wets his lips. “Are you using again?” he whispers.

“Excuse me?” I growl in warning.

“I don’t think you are,” he’s quick to clarify. “But something is up with you.”

“Fuck you,” I snarl, turning away. He grabs my arm, preventing my escape. I swing, clocking him in the side of the face. He stumbles only for a second before he jumps on me.

We’re rolling on the floor, throwing fist for fist, my heart pounding as the adrenaline fuels me, and I finally get what I want—a release. I kick at his stomach to push him off me.

Hawke might be bigger than me, but it makes him slower. He wipes his mouth, blood trickling over his bottom lip, and a deranged smile takes over his face. I smile back.

He pounces again, tackling me back to the floor. I block his fists, his full weight pinning me down. I hook my leg around his, using momentum from one of his punches to flip him to his back and strike back.

I break through his forearm block, hitting his face again. My head is pounding, a dizzy spell rattling my head.

I go to hit him again, but the click of a gun behind my head stops me. My hands raise in the air as I sense another predator behind me.

“I think not,” Eli says. “I’m all for bloodshed, but do it on your own time.”

I want to punch Hawke again and again and again. But I know it’s not him I’m angry with. It’s not him I want hurt. I’m heaving in deep breaths, my sadism in full swing, as I lean back into the barrel of Eli’s gun, relishing the thrill.

I’m exhausted. Defeated in some ways. I stare at the ceiling and smile, looking like a madman, as the realization hits me that I’m already too late. Because Billie is in my blood, and after only hours of denying myself of her, I’m nothing but a rabid dog.

“Get up, dickhead,” Hawke says, calling me back into the room. I look at him, unfazed by the gun pointed at my head.

“I think perhaps you should have the rest of the night off,” Eli tells me, but it’s actually a command.

I spit blood on the floor, my face swelling from a good punch Hawke got in. I stand slowly, holding out my hand. Hawke grabs it, and I pull him up as Eli lowers his gun.

Without another word, I grab my crowbars and walk out the door. I glance in the direction of the bloody mess on the floor that was once Henry Fall.

And part of me wonders if it would be bliss, being free of this world. No longer a victim to the demons that constantly gnaw at me.

The need.

The impulses.

Billie Taylor has turned into my addiction.

And I have no fucking clue how to get her out of my system.