Page 4 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

EZRA

“ T ara, call my three o’clock and tell them we have to reschedule and cancel any meetings I have after that and reschedule them as well,” I told my secretary through the intercom.

“Yes, Mr. Tavarez, but what about the consultation with the new client seeking counsel?” My jaw ticked and I ran my hand down my mouth, releasing a sigh.

“Pass her to Melvin. I won’t be back to the office after I leave the courthouse.”

“And what about?—”

“Tara!” I cut her off, losing patience. “I won’t be back in the office after court. Forward all my calls to voicemail or take a message. Any meetings, cancel and reschedule them.”

She was silent for a moment before replying, “Yes, Mr. Tavarez.”

Turning the intercom off, I brought my attention back to the paper laid out on my desk.

Last night I followed Ziora to a house in a wealthy suburban area not too far from where I lived.

When a guy opened the door, let her in, and embraced her, heat rushed through my body, my pulse raced, and my hand twitched to grab Wilma.

She was in the house for forty-five minutes before finally coming out.

When I texted her, the urge to kick down the door and drag her out grew stronger each minute I had to wait.

I had been watching her for going on a month and the need to have her grew stronger each day.

Seeing her with another man caused my blood to boil and my muscles to tense.

While waiting for Ziora to come out of the house, I called Emmet and had him pull up the house I was at.

It belonged to a James Russell, divorced, no kids, and a highly sought out plastic surgeon.

Not stopping there I made Emmet do a deep dive into his life.

He couldn’t find out how James knew Ziora but that didn’t matter to me.

All that mattered was him touching something that didn’t belong to him and needing to be taught a lesson.

A smile split my face when I thought about Ziora coming out of the house looking confused and unnerved. The way her eyes searched around trying to locate me caused my dick to harden. Even now, just thinking about it had me pushing it down as it threatened to rise.

I scanned the documents and checked the clock on my desk.

I had an hour before I needed to leave for the courthouse for my meeting with the judge.

One of my clients was being charged with felonious assault, kidnapping, and attempted murder with a deadly weapon.

Some of the evidence obtained wasn’t on the up and up and I was motioning to get it thrown out.

I moved the documents about James and reached for the other file on my desk.

I had Emmet do a deep dive on not only my client but the accuser as well.

Having a brother who didn’t have to stay in between the lines like my firm’s researcher was beneficial.

I succeeded at my job because I made sure to cross all Ts and dot all Is.

My winning rate was high, above ninety percent, and I didn’t plan on that changing anytime soon.

____

I tapped the metal head of Wilma against my hand as I paced back and forth in front of James who was tied to a chair in the center of The Barn.

Plastic rested under the chair. The main lights were off and instead I had a standing lamp turned on behind him, giving limited light.

It was quiet outside of James’s heavy breathing.

His eyes widened with fear as he watched me which caused excitement to rush through me.

“Look, man, I don’t know who you are, but you got the wrong guy. If you let me go I promise I won’t say anything.”

Pausing, I turned to face him. The corners of my mouth lifted.

I cocked my head to the side and scanned him.

He shook with fright. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

I watched him for two days before I snatched him.

It wasn’t hard. James didn’t have any security cameras around his house, only an alarm on the inside and a doorbell camera I had Emmet take offline.

My face was covered when I drugged him and carried him to the truck of the throw away Emmet often used when he was on a case.

It took some convincing to get Emmet to let me use it, but eventually he agreed if I promised to leave him be.

“You don’t know me, but you do know her?” I walked to the table of various weapons and grabbed the picture I set there. Walking back to James I lifted the picture in front of him. His eyes widened and shot up to my face.

“What does Ashley have to do with anything? She never told me she had a boyfriend now!” he rushed out.

I turned the picture and studied it. It was a random one I took when she was leaving her house one morning.

Her face was easily visible. Her phone was to her ear and she was mid-laugh.

If I was being honest, I was envious about who was on the other end of the phone because I should be the only person to own her laughs and the only one who caused them.

“If I knew she had a boyfriend, I wouldn’t have suggested we go out of town or take things further.” I stilled and dropped my eyes to him. My jaw ticked and I stretched my neck to crack it.

“You wanted to take her out of town? Just the two of you.”

He blinked rapidly. His mouth opened and shut a few times.

Spinning around I went to the table and laid the picture down. Till now I hadn’t touched James. I brought him here and tied him to the chair then waited for him to wake up. Different ways to punish him ran through my mind.

“Did you sleep with her?” I kept my back to him and my eyes locked on her picture.

“Excuse me?”

I licked my lips and gripped Wilma tighter.

“Did you sleep with her?”

“Look, I told you I didn’t know—” Hurriedly, I turned around and rushed toward him. Lifting Wilma, I swung her, slamming it against his left knee cap. She collided with his jeans and the sound of bones cracking filled my ears. He released a loud, ear piercing scream.

“Did you sleep with her?” This time I didn’t give him time to answer and swung Wilma again.

“Did you touch her?” His screams grew louder.

Tears rushed down his red and blotchy face.

I hit his left knee again before moving to the right one.

Using Wilma on unexpected victims always made my blood pump with adrenaline.

Hearing her solid steel head connect with the flesh and bones, crushing and destroying them, gave me a high as if I had been shot up with dopamine.

“Ple-please,” he stammered shakily.

“You know, James, I read about you.” I tapped Wilma against my hand again. “I know you’re a surgeon and the most important part of your body is your hands…the same hands that touched my Ziora.” I shot my eyes up to his face.

His tears mixed with snot as he cried. “No, pl-pl-please.” He gritted his teeth. “I’m, I’m sorry.”

Zip ties confined his wrists to the arms of the chair. He clenched his hands into tight fists.

My face went blank. “I don’t want your apologies.”

Turning to the table again, I walked over and laid Wilma down gently and ran my eyes over the different tools, pausing when I got to the machete.

A grin formed on my face. Picking it up, I slid my gloved hand over the silver metal and examined it.

Concluding this was the right choice, I turned back to face James. When I was back in front of him, he lifted his head slowly and his eyes widened when he saw the sharp tool in my hand.

“Now, as I said, those hands you value so much touched something they shouldn’t have and that resulted in us being here tonight.

” I eyed his hands. Images of them touching and caressing Ziora’s silky looking, high yellow skin filled my mind.

Anger bubbled inside me like boiling lava.

Red shadowed my sight. My teeth ground. Narrowing my eyes, I lifted the machete and dragged the blade down his arm from his elbow to his hand, causing him to whimper.

His skin split and blood seeped out the cut, dripping onto the plastic.

I went to repeat the motion when the sound of beeping and the doors to The Barn caught my attention. I paused and waited.

A few seconds went by before the sound of shoes against the stone floor of the barn sounded.

“Ez!” Nazai called from behind me.

“What can I do for you, big brother?”

“Help, help! Help me! Please!” James sputtered, his voice raspy and weak.

Nazai soon was next to me. Out the corner of my eye I saw his arms crossed and eyes focused on James.

“What are you doing here, big brother?” I grinned and faced him.

“The better question is what are you doing here? Who is this?”

“Someone who’s learning to keep his hands to himself.”

Nazai’s brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed.

“I didn’t assign you a case, so explain to me why there’s a random man bleeding and confined to a chair right now.

” From the tone of his voice, he was leaving no room for bullshit.

I guffawed under my breath. Nazai was starting to come into his role as head of the family.

“It’s not a job. This is personal.”

Nazai slid his eyes to the weeping man. His breathing was heavier. His skin pale. Tremors passed through his body.

Nazai ran a hand down his face. “This isn’t how we operate, Ezra. We don’t kill and hurt innocent people.”

My jaw twitched. “Sometimes there’s an exception to that rule.”

He pushed out a heavy breath. “Ez.”

I cut him off. “I hear you, big bro.” My mouth lifted in a snide grin. “Next time, before I punish a man for touching someone they shouldn’t, I’ll check to see if they have a rap sheet first.”

Nazai didn’t look amused by my sarcasm. “There won’t be a next time. I know you don’t operate like the rest of us all the time, but you know this is sloppy work and we don’t do sloppy. Since he’s seen our faces, unfortunately we can’t just let him go either.”

Lifting my hand, I waved him off then gave James my attention. “I hear what you’re saying, big bro.”

Nazai grumbled under his breath. “Hurry up then. I got a pregnant wife at home who likes to use her own knife when she’s upset and she’s craving fish sticks and peanut butter.”

“You can go. I got this.”

“No I can’t, not until you wrap this up.”

“Really?” I faced him and raised a brow.

He waved his hand and pulled his phone out. “It’s not like you’re going to change your mind and we can’t let him go now.”

The smile on my face broadened. “I got you, big bro.”

James’s body shook more when he realized Nazai wasn’t going to help him.

At first keeping track of Ziora had been because she kept writing lies about my family, mainly my father.

When I first saw her on the screen, everything else vanished around me and I knew she was meant to be mine.

Knowing this man tarnished her with his filthy hands woke a beast asleep in me and the only way to tame a beast was to put the threat to rest.