Page 40

PSYCHO

Bones is supposed to be working on finding her, even though he thought she needed to be killed. Even if I would allow that shit, my mother wouldn’t. Killing Hadley would break Mama beyond repair. Losing my dad was hard enough for her, but Hadley, at the hands of her son? She’d never get over that. It wasn’t happening anyway. When we say someone is under our protection, we fucking mean it. Bones knew my meaning. If it came down to it, I’d fight my brothers. Every fucking one of them.

I walk into Lollipop, Jimmy’s strip club, determined to find him, so I can find her. They will give me answers, or everybody dies.

Malcolm eyes me skeptically when I walk in, and I instantly decide he knows something. I lock the door behind me; nobody is getting in or out, until I have Hadley.

“Walk slowly to the main room. Don’t try me, Malcolm. I’m pissed. Very. Fucking. Pissed.”

When we make it into the room with stripper poles, and a bar, I nod for him to sit at the table. I pull my gun out and aim at the bar, shooting their top shelf selection. I don’t use my gun often, but it gets attention better than a knife. People don’t pay any mind to a blade until it’s cutting into them. It’s an underrated weapon.

All it takes is one gunshot and people start screaming, and running back and forth, like a chicken with its head cut off.

I growl, “Everybody shut the fuck up, or I’ll start spilling blood, real quick.”

I point to the far side of the room. “Ladies, over there, grab a table, and don’t fucking think about doing anything stupid. No purses. No cell phones. The men are on this side, same rules.”

Motioning to the two dancers on stages, I tell them, “You too. Everybody.”

While I’m not feeling particularly patient, I give them a few minutes to do as they were told.

“Now, this is how it’s going to go. I’m going to count to ten, and if someone does not tell me where to find Jimmy Valentine, someone dies. I’m going to start with the men, before moving to the women. Mark my words, ladies, I will fucking kill a woman, so you are not safe.”

I ignore the worried glances, and begin counting.

“One.”

The whimpers sound out across the room, men and women alike, but no one speaks up.

“Two.”

Gripping the back of Malcolm’s hair, I yank his head back.

“Where the fuck is he?”

He mouths off, “I don’t fucking know. I’m not his goddamn keeper.”

“Oh, Malcolm,” I coo sarcastically, “Bad fucking day to piss me off, you see, I’m a man on edge, and you know how I am. I’m a goddamn psycho.”

He holds his hands up in defense, as if he has one.

“Look, man, I’m sorry, alright. I don’t know where he is. He said he’d be gone for a week, to take care of a wayward whore.”

Malcolm realizes the error of his words far too late. I put my gun back in my holster, pull my knife out, move behind him, and pull his head back again, while pressing the knife to his throat.

“Last chance, Malcolm. Jimmy took what belongs to me. I want her back. Where the fuck is he?”

“I don’t-” he gets out, a second before I cut his throat, to the sounds of so many screams it makes me smile.

I wipe his blood from my knife on his shirt, and take a cleansing breath, as his body slumps back onto the table behind him. His dead eyes stare up at me and a smile crosses my lips.

“Alright, let’s try this again.”

Moving to one of the other men in the club; another bouncer, Patrick, I tilt my head as I grin at him sadistically. He trembles, so I know it has the desired effect. The club is quiet, with only hushed whispers, that I’m choosing to ignore.

“One.”

“Fuck,” he says under his breath, knowing what’s about to happen.

“Two.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know where he is. Psycho, come on, don’t punish innocent people.”

These fuckers are far from innocent. They are involved in a lot of illegal activity. Drugs, illegal gambling, trafficking, and anything else they can make money from. Mostly things that my family does as well, only better. Except for trafficking. I swallow hard at that thought, and get back to work, because I have to find her before... I can’t even finish the thought without bile rising in my throat.

I cut his throat, the same way I did Malcolm’s, as a round of ‘oh my god’ breaks out.

Now they know I’m fucking serious.

Sixteen dead bodies later, I’m covered in blood, and I still don’t have any answers. I’m losing my grip. Hell, maybe I already lost it. Where the fuck is she? I will wipe out the entire fucking state if I have to. No one is safe, until Hadley is in my arms where she belongs.

I walk over to the tables where the women sit, trembling, and wide eyed. When I speak, my voice sounds as crazy as I fucking feel.

“I didn’t want to hurt anybody here tonight. He took her, and I can’t stop until I have her again. You understand, right?”

The woman beside me is a young blonde, with pretty blue eyes, although a little hazy right now, with the sobbing.

“What’s your name?”

I have no idea why I ask, but when she answers me, my chest cracks wide open with so much pain, I think someone is ripping my heart from my chest.

“Hadley,” she answers softly between hiccups, and I just shake my head.

Such a fucking unusual name, and here it is.

Pulling out my phone, I dial Chief Roberts’ number.

“There’s a bloodbath at Lollipop. Sixteen dead bodies, and a bunch of women that I suspect may be trafficking victims. As always, send your trusted.”

I disconnect the call, and put my phone in my pocket.

“Stay here. The police will be here soon.”