Page 84 of Lethal Vengeance

He frowns. “It sounded like laughter.”

“Could it have been a hyena or coyote?”

“Maybe,” he offers, although I hear the doubt in his tone.

Tense, we wait in the dark, listening to the sounds of the night.

Cruz appears beside me, and I clamp a hand over my mouth to muffle my scream.

“I didn’t see anyone, but someone is out there. I feel him. We’ll have to wait and see if he makes any moves.” He keeps his voice low as he steps over to the window. “Somewhere in that direction, I think, but he could have moved by now.”

“If he makes a move, come get me. My mind is clear and calm. It’s time I finished this,” I state firmly.

I leave them standing guard and head to the bathroom to get ready.

When I enter that room, the only thing I want to think about is what I need to do. The fewer distractions, the better. I scrape my hair back and secure it in a bun, then pull on the clothes I picked out. Blood can be distracting. Black hides it well.

The last thing I do is swipe through the pictures on my phone. The sight of her destroys me. Knowing why only makes it worse. I breathe in and out, concentrating on each detail.

My body becomes colder and colder, as if death himself is possessing me.

It’s time to pay your dues, Armando.

* * *

When I enter the basement,I’m not surprised to see him awake.

“Welcome to my house. It’s not quite as grand as yours, but you should embrace it. This is the last place you’ll ever see.”

He looks around and raises an eyebrow. “It’s better than the house I was born in.” The blood stains on the floor captures his attention. “Is this where you killed Julio?”

“No.” I roll out the tools I’d chosen specifically for the two brothers. An array of scalpels, knives, hooks, a cautery pen, and a few other items. I plug the pen up to the machine to charge.

“Well, where did you kill him?”

“Where did you kill my sister?”

He contemplates answering for a brief second. “In my house. My study. The one you were in last night.”

I freeze. The last time she had been alive was in that room.

He sighs dramatically. “It made such a mess I had to remodel the entire room.” A malicious smile crosses his face.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about making a mess here. As you can see, several people have met their end in this basement. It makes you wonder who previously lived here, doesn’t it?” A note of curiosity in my voice.

I pick up the scissors and cut off his clothes.

Once naked, he tenses for a microsecond. “I won’t beg you for forgiveness… or mercy, no matter what you do to me.” He eyes the tools. “Where are you going to start?”

“You can tell me where you started with Sophia, or I can pick based on the pictures I have of her body. Which do you prefer?”

I pick up my phone and hold it up as I swipe through the pictures. Each image is more brutal than the last.

His brother cried when he saw the pictures. Knowing what I know now, I can see Julio cared for Sophia. Maybe he even loved her. I hope so. She deserved to know love before she died.

Armando’s laugh brings me back to the present. “Some of my best work.” His eyes glint with anger. “It’s hard for me to remember. Did I start off hitting or fucking her?”

I carefully put the phone down on the table and pull on black latex gloves. “I’ll take it easy on you. We’ll start with the hitting first.” My fingers walk along the line of tools until I come to the miniature bat. I grab it.