Page 78 of They Break Beauty

“He still will if he learns where you’ve hidden yourself, this new identity you’ve used as a smokescreen. All his accomplices from the kidnapping were supposed to be annihilated. But two of you survived and scurried underground like the rats that you are.”

“Don’t… don’t out me. I’ll… whatever you want… it’s yours. I swear.”

“The name.”

“Name?”

I twisted my knife, making him squeal again. “The name of the reincarnated version of Lynch Corp, you fuck!” I needed it to be able to move forward with my investigation, to take it the last leg.

I’d known that would require insider intel only those closest to that motherfucker would be privy to. While Royce was that person through and through, he wasn’t as easy to approach—not singlehandedly at least—as Kyle was. And, fortunately, I knew Royce would keep his old buddy abreast of all intel concerning Malcolm for his own safety.

Kyle Trass was the weak link.

I shifted my grip, fisted my hand in the back of his hair, then used the hold to smash his face into the hard wood of the desk.

A satisfying crack sounded as it shattered his nose, blood spurting, as a nasally cry tore from his throat.

“Name! Now!”

When he still resisted, I wrenched the knife from his hand, enjoying his screams.

They evolved to pleas all too quickly when I shoved the flat of the blade between his legs.

“No! All right, fuck! Please! I’ll tell you! I’ll fucking tell you!”

I pushed harder so he could really feel the cool metal against his balls. “Still not hearing a name.”

“Osiris!” he called out frantically. “That’s it, I swear!”

I frowned, taking it in.

“You believe me, right?” he asked, worriedly.

According to Ancient Egyptian mythology, Osiris was the ruler of the dead and underworld, their judge as well. Definitely fit with Malcolm Lynch.

I released him roughly and pocketed the bloodied knife.

“Nice doing business with you,” I seethed, as I strode to the door.

“You pursue this and you’re a dead man,” he warned. “You won’t get the closure you need, he’ll never allow it. You’ll just end up suffering even more than you and the girl already did.”

I paused at the door.

“I’m not that little boy anymore. He needs to fear me. It’s time for a motherfucking reckoning.”

With that, I threw open the door and walked out, leaving that pussy reeling with the damage I’d inflicted.

The only reason it had been limited and he was still breathing was because he could prove useful as a source of intel down the road with my crusade.

Once that stopped being true, however, and he’d outlived his usefulness, he’d suffer the fate he’d long deserved.

Extermination.

18

~Colton~

My Mercedes screeched to a halt outside Frat Row—what we called the block that housed three of the five fraternity houses of Stonewell University.

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