Page 38 of Ruthless Beasts

My breathing picked up as my father scooped me up. It became nearly unmanageable when he handed me off to someone like I was trash. Mercer reached over, pausing it. “Do you want us to continue?”

I nodded my head, and Adam reached over, brushing a tear I hadn’t known I let fall from my cheek. “Play it.”

The order held no joy. He didn’t want me to see what was coming, but I suspected he knew it was something I needed to watch, even if it was near impossible for me to comprehend.

“No.” I covered my mouth with a gasp as I was handed, unconscious, to Joseph Accardo and his men. He wouldn’t. He was my father, and though he was a terrible parent, I was still his daughter. He wouldn’t do this to me. Except the proof played out in front of me, a reel of the pitiful truth, taunting me.

I watched it to the very end. Every second of the horrid details, filling in the blank of my memory that I thought I had just forgotten. And when the video ended, and I was dizzy with despair, Adam reached in front of me, ending the feed.

“I’m showing this because you need to know.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to kill your father. And after that, I’ll end Accardo too.”

Not a question, just casual information. He was going to kill him and I… I felt nothing. Not after that. Not a single defense for the man who shared my genetics. Not after this.

I nodded, trying to get words out, trying to tell him that my father deserved everything he got and more. He wasn’t a good person. He’d done some awful things to me over the years, but this, this had to be the worst of the worst. Except, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. My heart was pounding so fast, my body shaking, I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the feeling consuming me. I wished Ace were here. He’d know what to do,but he wasn’t, and the panic was taking over. The panic was consuming me. Gnawing at me from the inside, scratching at every surface inside of me.

“Are you okay?” Mercer's voice was funneled, barely audible.

“Fuck,” Adam growled, “grab her.”

And right as my vision funneled, turning black, four hands took hold, encompassing me with security before I fell into a void.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ACE

You would have thought a man like Vinnie Crusiaux would be hard to get my hands on. He wasn’t. Vinnie was a creature of habit. He should have known better, yet, like clockwork, he still attended his weekly poker game at the same location he’d attended for nearly ten years.

We’d done our research; we always do on our enemies. Then we held it tight to our chest, biding our time so that we could be ready for attack. Today was the day, unfortunately, for Vinnie. When I got the order from Adam, I was desperate to know why, but I held my questions at bay, not willing to compromise the pending attack. I’d had my eyes on this scum for a while, long before his daughter slept in the room across from mine.

He was a pedophile.

A trafficker.

Morals worse than any I’d seen, and I’d struggled to figure out how this man and Bellamy were from the same family. She was meek and sweet. She fought to get out her thoughts, but when the backbone surfaced, I hated to admit it made me hard.Fuck, it was Adam’s wife, but sometimes watching her was too much for a single man to handle.

We’d been taking shifts, keeping an eye on her, worried about her safety. During that time, I’d learned a little about the little mouse. She likes books, the smuttier the better, though she tries to hide them. She has a weakness for anything peanut butter, and if asked if she needs anything, she always says no, even if you know that isn’t true. Hell, half the time we have to remind her to eat three full meals a day.

She seems to enjoy spending time with Mercer the most, but I suspect that’s because I’m guarded and Adam makes himself scarce. I should change that. I want to change that. I just don’t know how, and even if I did, would it be deemed inappropriate to make time for someone else’s wife?

“Do not let a single man out of these doors,” I ordered my men, right before I used a rope to scale my way to the roof.

The poker building was practically windowless, a safety future I suspect they had implemented to avoid being spied on. But I was never a man afraid of heights. A little breeze as I enjoyed the roof top skylight was a perfect way to spend my evening. The suction clung to the window like they were cemented together, making it easy for me to cut out a space big enough for a gun.

Six.

Six men were simple enough. Though I knew by kill number three, they’d try to run. Try to escape the cage they put themselves into so fucking willingly, but it would be too late. There would be no escaping. Not when all their exits were surrounded and their only fate was death. We’d bring Vinnie alive, of course. He deserved a death more than a simple gunshot to the head, but the rest, they’d go quick.

I glanced over at Max, who Adam had sent with Drew to help, giving him a hand signal, counting down with my fingers beforemy first shot. With each finger I pushed down, he relayed over the side of the building until my fist was closed and the fuckers had run out of time.

My first shot was flawless. The silencer made it impossible for them to detect until the player's head was face down in his cards, blood pooling over the green felt of the card table. The moment it registered, the second was down. His body pushed backwards as he rose from his chair. By the third shot, chaos had gripped the group, shouting orders and demands as if that would save them. It wouldn’t. Salvation was beyond their hold when you lived a life like ours.

Shockingly, no one dared to look up. Maybe because they knew where I was, or from fear that if we made eye contact, they’d be the next one to go. Still, the remaining men split, pushing at each other as they fought their way to the exits. Had they thought we were dumb enough not to have men outside those doors waiting? Had they not cared? And Vinnie? He was the one who fought the hardest, pushed the most, gave in to his instincts to run and damn anyone in his path.

I turned to Max. “Piece of fucking cake.”

A slow smile formed as he peered down, taking in the chaos at the door. “I could use some cake.”

“Always about the food,” I chuckled.

---