Page 73 of Wicked Games
“Deverish has proven loyal to you, not me. I can’t keep someone on my payroll I don’t trust, and I can’t afford to let him walk away.”
“You sick fuck. What do you want from me?”
“It hurts to lose people you care about, doesn’t it?” Banks asked. “Keep watching. I promise you it will happen so fast theyprobablywon’t feel it.”
“I won’t watch,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Stavros,” Banks yelled. A door behind me opened, and heavy thuds sounded as one of his thugs entered the study. “Lucky doesn’t want to watch his friends get their brains splattered on the headboard, but I really want him to see it.”
A large hand yanked my head up while a finger poked painfully in the soft tissue beneath my left eye. “Open your eyes, or I’ll fucking replace my finger with something much sharper and cut one of them out of your head.” He either had a knife on him or had access to one close by.
I opened my eyes to comply and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when the assailant on the live feed entered the bedroom only to find the bed empty except for a pile of electronics and various vibrators in the center. The man picked up a note lying on top of a hot pink laptop that could only belong to Percy. Through the night-vision goggles, I read: FUCK YOU, BANKS! In case you don’t know how, we left you some helpful devices. It wasn’t like we were going to risk taking them with us in case they were bugged. XOXO, P.
“You’ve got to love Percy’s flair,” I said.
Banks turned on me with narrowed eyes. “You think I won’t find them?”
“I think you’ll try.”
“Stavros,” Banks said in a deadly tone.
The big man released my hair and walked around to stand in front of me. He was the same man who drove me here, which meant it was just the three of us, or Banks was waiting to spring the others on me. I did a quick survey to check for weapons and saw a knife sheathed on his belt. Stavros cracked his big knuckles then delivered a hard blow to my solar plexus. Even though I’d been prepared, I felt it reverberating throughout my body. Rather than cower, I gave him a look that said: is that the best you got? Stavros wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge, and Banks would get off on seeing me take a beating. I just hoped my cavalry would arrive before things went too far.
The second blow snapped my head back when his meaty fist connected with my right eye. The fucker was wearing a ring, and the skin beneath the outer corner of my eyebrow busted open, and blood trickled down the side of my face.
“Not so pretty looking now,” Banks said, sneering as he leaned against his desk.
“You thought I was pret—” The air whooshed out of me when Stavros punched me again in the stomach then followed it up with three more quick jabs, not letting me recover between the blows. One final solid punch and I felt my ribs on the right side of my body crack. I never tore my eyes away from Banks or allowed the smirk to fall from my face. He would not get the best of me, even if he put a bullet in my brain.
“Did you think that daughter of a whore was powerful enough to beat me at my own games? Once again, you’ve chose to ally yourself with the wrong person, and it will cost you everything.”
Yes, I did think it, but I chose to keep my mouth shut. It was better to let Banks ramble on like most villains were prone to do. If he were bragging about his masterful plan, he wouldn’t command his thug to hit me. I could work on freeing my hands from the ropes. On second thought, step one was going to be painful, and I probably couldn’t pull it off without at least a grimace.
“Carmen Santiago is better at everything than you’ll ever be, you child-raping pervert.”
As predicted, Banks commanded Stavros to strike me. The big man was slowing down a little which changed up his reaction time and caused him to telegraph his moves. I braced myself for the impact and dislocated my left thumb at the same time his fist plowed into my mouth. I had a busted, bleeding mouth but my dangling thumb made it possible for me to slip my left hand free of my bindings. I rotated my right wrist and firmly gripped my left thumb. I just needed one more blow to masquerade the source of pain once more. Stavros landed the punch to the left side of my rib cage, and I snapped my thumb back into place, grunting and swearing. Stavros smiled, thinking he was getting the best of me.
“Carmen is weak. She takes in the strays no one else wants, expecting them to be loyal to her. What she failed to realize is that it was only a matter of time before one of those mutts would turn on her. It’s their nature to do so, and she didn’t respect it.”
My blood ran cold. Did Banks have a mole inside Carmen’s operation? Was Ryder in danger? I took a calming breath and realized he was either bluffing, or he only thought he had a mole in her organization. Otherwise, he would’ve known Dev and Percy weren’t in their hotel room. “Nice try,” I said. “You’re the one wasting energy, Banks. This all ends tonight, and you need to accept it.”
“The only thing ending tonight is your life, Lucky.”
Stavros went to town on me then, alternating between my face, stomach, and ribs. My left eye was swollen shut, blood blurred the vision in my right eye, and my mouth had multiple cuts—inside and out. My breathing became labored, but I didn’t think the damage to my ribs was severe enough to have punctured my lung. There was no doubt my injuries would slow me down once I received my signal to move, but I wasn’t out of the fight. Not by a long shot. My chances would improve greatly if I could get Banks to start talking again.
“Why me, asshole?” I asked. “Will you at least tell me how I ever ended up on your radar?”
“I was recruiting Hiram Chandio and stumbled across you in the process. A homosexual with his connections was a perfect candidate.”
“Recruiting? Is that what you call it?”
“I guess it depends on your perspective.”
“You were going to use those photos toblackmailHiram in to working for you?” I asked.
“Yes, but then I decided I wanted you instead.” His creepy tone of voice made me shiver.
“How did you know I’d go along with it?”