Page 78 of Wretched Soul

“No, I’m good,” I say, although there is a tightness around my chest that’s either a heart attack or explosive rage. “Just send her over. I’ll be at the location in an hour, and I’ll meet her there.”

“Her?” Jake asks. “You don’t want me to send Mac?”

“No. It has to be a female.” I don’t want to subject Lily to another strange man’s touch. I don’t think I could deal with it either. “And make sure she’s someone with experience of date rape drugs.”

“Do you know what drug was used?”

I stop at a door being guarded by one of Calder’s men. “Not yet, but it was slipped into a drink.”

“I’m on it.” I can already hear him tapping away at a keyboard.

This is why it’s easier to call Jake in an emergency. It doesn’t matter what I throw at him, he remains professional and gets the job done. He doesn’t judge and he doesn’t make crass comments like my brothers would.

“And the other address?” he asks.

“It’s a nightclub in River North. I need a clean-up operation. One body.”

Jake isn’t fazed when he asks, “How messy?”

I blow out a breath. “I haven’t decided yet.”

And now Jake breaks character and gives a low chuckle. “Just remember we pay these guys by the hour and it’s getting late. They have families to get home to.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Have fun,” Jake replies. He’s about to cut the call when he adds, “Do your brothers need to know?”

“It’s not urgent. I’ll talk to Ash tomorrow.”

When I cut the call, I take a deep breath, but it’s no good. It doesn’t calm me. There’s only one way to release this tension.

Toby cowers in the corner of a room, wedged between two sections of racking stacked high with archive boxes. The cardboard is porous, which is going to be a nightmare to clean.

“Sorry,” Simon says when he notices me scan the room. “It was the best I could do at short notice without involving the owners. They’re the kind of people who’d expect a favor in return.”

“For what?” Toby asks, looking from me to Simon, and back again. “What are you going to do to me?”

I crouch down next to the sniveling wretch. He has a graze on his cheek suggesting he hadn’t gone willingly with Simon, but he’s not fighting back now. He simply watches as I run my finger down the barrel of the gun I’m holding casually in my hand. He’s shaking and I’m not even aiming it at him.

“The last person who touched my woman ended up with two broken arms,” I say. “But you were going to do more than touch her, weren’t you, Toby?”

“I don’t know what–”

I move fast, pressing the gun barrel to the center of his forehead. He stills.

“Tell me another fucking lie, and I will blow your brains out. But only after breaking every bone in your body,” I say slowly and calmly. “What did you give Lily?”

“Rohypnol. Here, look.” He moves carefully to take a small bag from his inside pocket.

I check the contents before slipping it into my pocket. The tablets have already been crushed ready for use. “How much did you give her?”

His face creases as if dosing, or overdosing his victims, isn’t something he’d spent too much time thinking about. “Not much, half my normal dose. And she didn’t finish her beer.”

Needing to take a moment, I keep the gun planted firmly on his forehead as I glance over my shoulder at Simon. I don’t think he can believe what the guy’s just said either.

Toby quakes when I face him again. “Yournormaldose? How many women have you drugged and raped, Toby?”

He doesn’t reply so I press the gun hard enough that his head is trapped between the barrel and the wall behind him.