Page 1 of Grim

Prologue

“Funny thing about the carotid.” I pressed the sharp end of my blade against his throat. “Once it’s severed, it only takes a couple of minutes for you to bleed out.”

“WAIT! STOP!” he pleaded. “Just tell me what you want.”

“I want to know who came up with the idea.”

“What are you talking about, man?”

“Amy.” It had been months, but the simple sound of her name still made my blood boil. Amy was Beckett’s girl, and she was caught off guard when Deshawn and his buddies barged into her home. She was just letting her damn dog out and had no clue that these men were about to do what they did. “You know, the girl you and your buddies raped and murdered.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about, you piece of shit.”

Getting Deshawn alone hadn’t been easy. Seemed like he was always with his crew or at work or at some corner dealing with a couple of his boys. But I’d watched and waited, waited and watched, and tonight, luck was on my side. I spotted him making a deal in an alley right outside of his apartment. Once it was done and the coast was clear, I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed him up and slammed him into the back of the building, dazing him right before beating the hell out of him.

He was a tall, lanky dude, so it didn’t take much to rough him up. Hell, I didn’t even break a sweat, and he was bruised and bloody, pleading for me to stop. I needed him alive, so I stopped and pinned him against the building. I could feel his pulse quicken beneath my fingertips when I growled, “Lying is only gonna make it worse, kid.”

“I was just going along... I didn’t know.”

“That didn’t stop you from fucking her, now did it?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh? What was it like then?”

“They were watching me.” His breaths came in shallow gasps as the cold steel of the knife dug into his skin, reminding him of the imminent danger he was in. “I had to.”

“You didn’t have to do shit. You chose to rape and kill that girl, and now, you’re gonna pay for that shit.”

I sliced his throat ever-so-slightly, but it was enough to send him into a panic. “It was Ruben! It was his idea.”

“Keep talking.”

His eyes darted frantically, searching for a way out, but there was none to be found. “Ruben had a thing for her, but she blew him off. He’s the one. It was him! All him!”

“What about Jimmy and Clayborn?”

“They came along for the ride. T-Ride and Macon, too.”

“Good boy.”

I took hold of his shirt and gave him a hard shove towards the back parking lot. “Whoa. Where we going?”

“Gonna take us a little ride.”

“But where? Why?” I unlocked the back of the SUV and opened the back hatch, revealing a layer of thick plastic sheeting and the ominous large pine crate resting on top. “Ah, shit. What the fuck is that?”

“That’s for you.” I gripped the edges of the crate before giving Deshawn a hard shove. “Get inside.”

“Please, man. Don’t do this.”

His words were a desperate plea for mercy, but I had no mercy to give. I put the barrel of my Glock against his temple and demanded, “Get inside.”

A sense of foreboding hung heavy in the air as Deshawn did as I ordered and crawled up into the back of my SUV. As he got into the crate, I warned, “You can scream and knock around all you want, but it’s not going to do you any good. No one’s coming for you, and your screaming is just gonna piss me the fuck off. So, do us both a favor and keep your trap shut.”

“Please, man. Don’t do...”

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