Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
“Okay,” she agreed. “But save the last bullet for me.”
I didn’t respond, gently pushing her in the direction of a room on the opposite side of the warehouse from where all of the men had exited. Once she was out of earshot, I faced Nic.
“Keep her away, but make sure no one sees her. As far as anyone else knows, Carly did the deed.” He nodded and followed after her.
When Nic first decided the situation would be best resolved with Carly stepping into her father’s shoes, I wanted to tell him no fucking way. It went against all of my instincts to allow her to have a permanent target on her back. However, my woman was strong, determined, and stubborn as fuck. I couldn’t argue the fact that she would be able to earn her place and with our backing, we would be able to control the rapidly deteriorating structure of the O’Reillys. It was a volatile situation, and if she didn’t take the helm quickly, it was likely to implode and we’d be left with a shit storm to clean up.
As long as this was the road we were on, I would do everything I could to support her and protect her. And, that meant doing the dirty work. The families would give Carly the credit, but she wouldn’t carry the stains on her hands, and if the cops ever decided to come after her, it would be my prints on the weapons, my DNA on the bodies.
I meandered over to Pat, who sat in his chair trying to look brave and unconcerned. Too bad his eyes gave away the truth, he was scared shitless.
“You know, O’Reilly,” I spat, “I’d love nothing more than to spend months putting you through everything Carly endured at your hands. Unfortunately, we haven’t got that kind of time, so we are going to have to go for the condensed version.” My arm swung back and my fist smashed into his face with a satisfying crunch. He screamed as his broken nose streamed blood, but the sound was muffled by the gag.
“All the years you beat the shit out of her, and there was no one to hear her scream, no one to stop you, or help her.” My words served to add gasoline to the rage inside me. The next punch broke his jaw and his chair flipped back, crashing to the ground. “Let’s see,” I mused, rubbing at my thin beard. “Ah, yes.” I strolled over to a tall cabinet where I kept all of my ... tools. I snatched another scrap of fabric and additional rope.
I righted his chair and used the fabric to blindfold him. Then I slowly wound the extra rope around him. “How about every time you threw her into a dark, tight space. No way to move, only fear paralyzing her. I imagine it became harder and harder to breathe. Like it is for you, right now.” He was wheezing as the rope tightened around his chest, constricting his ability to take a deep breath.
Returning to my cabinet, I grabbed a few items and brought them to the table beside him. “I don’t have time to starve you, so I’ll have to settle for imitating the sharp pains of hunger.” I picked up a six-inch knife and stabbed it right into his large, fleshy gut. It was a fatal wound, but it was a slow bleed, leaving me plenty of time. Even more so, since I left the blade in and moved on.
I spent the next hour torturing him in retaliation for all of the suffering Carly had endured growing up. I removed his gag and his screams of agony were music to my ears, each one metaphorically washing away some of her pain. I also extracted the names of his contacts in human trafficking and the location of the next auction.
At last, I took off the blindfold, carelessly listening to his blubbering as he begged for his life. Removing Carly’s pistol from the holster under my jacket, I pointed it in the center of his forehead, staring into the soulless bastard’s green eyes. “Did she beg for you to stop, motherfucker?” I taunted. The tiniest flicker of guilt in his eyes told me all I needed to know.
The crack of the gunshot rang out in the silence of the warehouse.
After a minute, Carly came tearing into the room, stopping dead in her tracks when she spotted the hole in her father’s forehead. Her eyes darted to mine, a shadow of betrayal lurking in their depths.
Nic walked in behind her at a more sedate pace, unsurmised at the scene before him. “I’ll give you two a few minutes, then send in some guys to clean up.”
“You’ll start spreading the word?” I confirmed.
“Yes, it’ll be common knowledge in our circles by tomorrow night.”