Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149148 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Trying to ignore the churning sensation inside his stomach at Olga’s unintended disclosure about Manolito Chavez’s appetite, Helios asked abruptly, “I need you to give it to me straight. Will anyone who is likely to attend the party possibly recognize you and therefore know I am not the real Thanato?”
She shook her head. “No one. I told you, I’ve always acted alone—”
“Pardon us if we do not believe you right away since it’s been proven you have a rather flexible meaning of the word ‘alone’.” In the case of one of her most recent victims, Olga had been alone, all right. She had been the lone instigator of the kidnapping and torture of an Irish immigrant to Greece, but she had many men accompanying her on that trip, and all of them had been given the privilege to beat and rape the poor girl.
“He’s different from me,” she insisted. “I never abused any kids. He...did.”
And there, Helios thought grimly, was his 32nd reason to kill Manolito Chavez. Someone who preyed on innocent children was the lowest of low, and Helios knew he could not be responsible for his actions if he was ever left alone with the Sicilian.
“What happens during parties like that? Is there something I should and shouldn’t do so I don’t give myself away?”
“Just know who belongs to whom, and do not touch the claimed ones without permission.”
“What about those unclaimed?”
“They’re for sport. Anyone can have them except for the new ones. Usually, it’s the master who does that and in this case, that would be...” her voice unconsciously lowered. “It would be Manolito Chavez, because I heard him saying he liked breaking a girl apart during her first time...over and over.”
Helios slowly came to his feet. “Do you like doing that, too?” he heard himself ask, thinking all the while that since he had succeeded in killing James Cartwright, perhaps he could kill the bitch sitting across him, too. It made him feel sick, knowing that the woman had gotten away with hurting and killing so many innocent women because of her position in the government.
Olga smirked. “What do you think?”
There wasn’t any answer. She looked up and screamed as Helios lunged for her over the desk. He would have strangled her outright if Kellion and Yuri hadn’t reacted right away, pulling him off the politician.
“Helios, dammit,” Andreus growled. “This isn’t what we agreed on.”
“Look at her,” Helios growled, straining against Yuri and Kellion’s hold. He wanted to fucking kill her, to snap her neck and rid the world of one of its greatest evils. “She has the gall to fucking think of happy memories, torturing girls, while MJ’s still lost—”
“You’ll be the one who’s dead if you react like this every time you meet the world’s greatest fuck-ups.”
Olga, still cowering behind the desk, watched as the most menacing-looking of the four came between her and Helios Andreadis. She didn’t even think of hitting the panic button under the desk, knowing it would be all over for her if this came out on the news. The combined hold of these men over the media was beyond even her power, and she knew the news of her darker proclivities would come out before she could have them arrested.
“I’ve met worse people than this bitch in my line of work for the club, Helios. Trust me – you cannot risk losing your head over this. If you kill a high-profile bitch like her, it won’t be good for you or the club. It won’t be good for MJ either, because then Chavez might know we have something planned.”
Helios struggled to listen to Andreus, knowing his friend was right. He had to concentrate on what mattered the most, and that was getting MJ out of whatever hellhole she was in – alive.
“I’m fine,” Helios said finally. And he was, for the moment. “We can leave this place now. We’ve gotten what we wanted.” Kellion and Yuri slowly let him go, but both were tense, waiting for any sign that their President might snap again.
Andreus moved only when Helios headed towards the door.
Helios heard Olga’s scream just as he stepped out of the room. His head snapped back, and his stunned gaze found Andreus wiping his blade clean while Olga was sobbing as she shakily reached for the phone with one missing finger.
Andreus dropped the severed finger into the wastebasket before closing the door behind him.
“Why the fuck did you do that?” Kellion demanded.
Andreus shrugged. “It is what I’ve always done for the club when people don’t want to pay.”
Helios could see it in the others’ faces - it wasn’t only to him that those words were news. “You never have to do something like that for Afxisi—”
Andreus’ smile didn’t reach his eyes. “On the contrary, President, I do. Afxisi is the only family I have. I’m not going to let any asshole fuck that up for us, and that includes making sure people clear their debts to us...one way or another.”