Page 36

35

MAEL

My hands balled into tight fists when I heard her getting sick inside the room.

I took in the bodies of the two fuckers who had touched my girl.

It wasn’t random that they were here.

They were sent here. And I fucking knew who had sent them. Had I not been blinded by murderous rage upon coming into the cabin and seeing the two sick fucks trying to take off my girl’s clothes, I would have been rational enough to keep at least one of them alive to torture and interrogate.

They were lucky their deaths had been quick.

But it had been in front of Lia.

I never wanted her to see me like this, but she had, and now she was scared.

I closed my eyes briefly.

It wasn’t like I had planned not to tell her anything.

I would have told her the truth, and perhaps it would be easier to swallow after seeing me like this.

I didn’t fucking know anymore.

The best thing to do now was to bury the bodies and clean up this mess.

But first…

I squatted down in front of one body, the bald fucker, and searched him.

He had two guns and one knife strapped to his boot. These could be useful. I didn’t know how many men Leo was planning on sending here to go after my girl, but I would fucking kill them all.

The quicker we left this cabin, the better.

I didn’t think Lia would be down with me getting her out of here and back to my apartment.

Fuck, how complicated everything had become.

I was about to stand and get to work on burying these fuckers when a flash of something colorful caught my eye.

I frowned, using the tip of the blade, and pulled out the rosary beads hanging around the fucker’s neck in all different colors.

The beads themselves should be insignificant if I didn’t know a lot of the members of the Sicilian mob liked to wear them and that there had been an unusually high number of sightings of the fuckers for the past several months now.

I didn’t usually bother with shit like this because it didn’t affect me. New York had seen many changes in the underground rulers. Sometimes, it was the Russians who took over. The Irish almost gained power nearly a decade back, but now it was a war between some of the most powerful Italian families nearby.

They were good at leaving me alone and only calling when they needed me to kill someone. I might have gotten my hands dirty by taking on the heads of some organizations at one point or another, but it could never be linked to me.

I thought back to our time at the building.

Those shitheads were Italians.

I used the blade I had gotten off the fucker and tore through each of their shirts. It took me longer than I would like to find the tattoo on the first fucker. A circle with a line slashed diagonally through from one end to the other. It was on the side of his body, near his back. The second fucker—the bald one—made it easier for me when I found the tattoo right away on the side of his neck.

And it confirmed everything I suspected.

Only question was, what the fuck was Briggs doing, getting into bed with the Sicilian mob?

* * *

It was past three in the morning, and Lia had gone to sleep.

Or at least, I hoped that was the case. I sat in the small nook by the window and looked out at the darkened sky.

I didn’t react when the front door opened, and Theo walked in.

He took in the small space of the cabin first, not saying anything, before moving over to me.

I handed him the wallets when he got close.

“What’s this?”

“Identification of the two men who tried to rape Lia in this fucking cabin.”

Theo didn’t react, but I knew he was surprised. “And you got here just in time?”

“They didn’t rape her,” I confirmed. But fuck, had I just been even a minute later… I quickly shook off the thought, not wanting to think about it. And they had touched her. Had terrified her. Had hurt her. I didn’t fucking miss the way she favored one side of her face. It was a fucking miracle they didn’t leave a mark, but I didn’t fucking know if they had hurt her anywhere else, and it wasn’t like she was going to be forthcoming with me about her injuries.

“You want me to look into them?” Theo asked.

“I want you to confirm for me that they are a part of the Cosa Nostra.”

“You mean they’re here in New York? Last I heard, it’s the Abbiati family that has control.”

“Dean Abbiati was found dead inside his car three days ago.”

“The heir? No shit?”

“And the police ruled it as no foul play, but we both know they only ruled it as such because of pressure from the Abbiati.”

“They want to investigate this on their own.”

I nodded. “And I have a feeling those Sicilian fuckers are the culprits.”

“What does this have to do with Lia?”

“Those fuckers were sent here by Briggs.”

“Are you sure?”

I pulled out the phone and showed Theo the text Briggs had sent an hour ago.

Briggs: And don’t interfere with me teaching my little Lia a lesson about not lying to me.

He wanted to teach her a lesson by having her raped.

I was going to fucking skin Briggs alive, one fucking inch of flesh at a time.

Theo nodded. He didn’t need any more from me. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

I didn’t look back at Theo as he walked away, just kept my eyes focused out at the darkness in front of me.

Now we knew who was backing Briggs. And I was going to fucking destroy the entire organization with my bare hands.