Page 140 of Misdeeds of a Billionaire

“This time they worked alone. Maybe they thought the senator would give you a heads-up.”

The sad part was that I didn’t think he would have.

“What do you want to do with those two idiots?” I wanted to make them suffer. Kill them, slowly and painfully. Peel the skin off their flesh and listen to both of them scream. My brother must have read my thoughts, because he added, “I can make it happen, you know.”

Fuck, I was tempted. More than anything, I wanted to make them pay. Marco stole years of my son’s life from me. I should murder Marco and his wife—instead, I’d make them regret ever crossing me. Marco and Nicki would regret the day they laid eyes on my wife. In truth, I wanted to kill them. See the light in their eyes extinguished.

I shook my head. If I went down that path, there’d be no stopping. It was too easy to let the lines between right and wrong blur.

“I want to press charges,” I finally said, hoping it was the right decision. “But first, I want to rough them up. Then, they’ll suffer being locked away for attempted kidnapping and murder.”

Chapter57

Byron

Idescended the basement steps to where the head of the Maryland mafia conducted most of his interrogations. The location belonged to Nico Morrelli. Alessio’s friend. As well as mine. The lines between our worlds had been blurring with each passing day.

Odette was sound asleep in the hospital, and I planned on taking her home as soon as she was released. Kristoff and his wife were keeping an eye on her and would send me a message as soon as she woke up.

A strange kind of calm washed over me. It was the kind of detachment I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Not since I was in the military.

Nico and his right-hand man were leaning against the stone, their eyes meeting mine.

“Any problems?” Alessio asked while my eyes found the woman and man who dared come after my wife.

“None.” Nico’s cold voice and even colder gaze sent whimpers through our two guests. “Though I have to say, these two take the cake on all my past prisoners. They are bigger cowards than my infant son.”

Grinning, I neared our two prisoners. Nicki’s face was smeared with tears, her makeup running down her cheeks. Her hair was a tangled mess. Marco, on the other hand, was quiet, his face a mask of indifference, but stank of piss.

They were both tied to a chair, but neither of them gagged.

I grabbed a chair and pulled it over, letting the grinding of its legs screech over the floor. I sat facing them and clicked my tongue.

“So I hear you planned on impregnating my wife?” I tsked my tongue, barely holding on to my cool. The thought of that fucking bastard touching my wife had the blood in my veins boiling. “How were you planning on doing that, Marco? By raping her.”

“No!”

I shook my head. “In over a decade that you’ve known her, she didn’t want you. What makes you think she would today?”

“She’s confused. You got between us six years ago and now again. She’s my whore, not yours.”

He wanted to make me angry. To make me lash out. But I intended to draw this out and take my sweet time making him scream in pain.

“She is my wife, mother of my child, which means she’s off-limits. She’s mine today and she was mine six years ago. I let your wife off easily for lying to me about the baby. She’ll only lose her medical license, but you, Marco… You will suffer for what you have done.”

“You already ruined my career.”

I scoffed at that. “What career? The one where you prance around in your skimpy bathing suit shorts?”

He sneered at me. “She’ll never be yours again. Your father ruined anything she had for you. I should have made my wife abort your bastard while she was unconscious.”

I didn’t think, just lunged. My fist swung out and I punched him in the mouth, then his eye. Marco’s lip was split open and blood coated his chin.

“Your wife is lucky she didn’t or she’d be here.” I turned my attention to Nicki. “And you have crossed my path for the last time. I warned you last time you approached my wife. You didn’t heed the warning. Now, you’ll pay the consequences.”

“What are you going to do, huh?” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Not that it would do her any good. These walls were thicker than medieval castle walls. “You're going to beat the shit out of me. The great Byron Ashford, beating a defenseless woman.” I wouldn’t beat her. I wouldn’t torture her, but I’d make her pay by using her vanity against her.

Glancing behind me, I called out to my brother. “Let’s give her a proper haircut and prepare her for her long stay in prison where she’ll meet a lovely crowd. Shall we?”