Page 95 of Ruthless Beasts

The car door had barely shut before Drew stepped forward, his hand on his gun at his hip. “He was found a little over an hour ago when they were doing rounds on the property.” He used his chin to gesture to a few of the guards off to the side.

“Thank you.”

Drew continued on, “We kept it as quiet as possible. There are still some stragglers in the area from the Gala. This isn’t something you’d want out.”

“Appreciate it.” Mercer’s eyes were fixed on the lump of our former employee, lifeless and empty on the ground. “Have you called it in to our body removal service?”

He was referring to the man we paid an extra penny to turn our men’s bodies to ash, so the family had something to hold on to. “No. I thought you might want to see him first.”

“Good.” I nodded before patting my friend on the shoulder. “Call it in for us.”

Drew stepped away to make his call while Max walked with us over to the body. I ignored the roll of my stomach at the sight of a man I had known for years lying mutated and dead. He didn’t deserve this. None of our men did. They were good people, surviving and providing for their families, and we provided employment to do so. We knew everyone; we were friends with everyone. Hell, we even sent his wife a gift and flowers at the birth of their son.

And now he was dead, his body rapidly cooling as he lay still in a puddle of his blood. His eyes were carved out and placed on the ground beside him without care. His throat was slashed, his tongue removed, and there was so much blood on his uniform that I knew they carved him up and made him suffer.

“Shit,” Mercer mumbled as he covered his mouth with both his hands. “We can’t return him to Anita like this. If not for his fucking name tag, I’d never have realized it was him.”

“No fucking way,” I agreed. God, his wife. His children. It wasn’t fucking fair. Security last night should have been an easy job. We didn’t expect trouble. It was more of a precaution.

“We weren’t prepared for him to show up last night,” Mercer whispered.

“No one thought he’d be that stupid and careless.”

“Who was the careless one now?” he growled.

Us. Undeniably us. We were careless and arrogant to not anticipate this move, and that cost a man his life. How had he slipped past every guard? Was there a leak in our security? How did we not anticipate a move like this when he’s already demonstrated his willingness to do anything.

“We didn’t touch him,” Max added to our conversation. “Not like that would make a difference. We wanted you to see the body first.”

“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and inhaled. The metallic scent was unmistakable.

“He was a good guy,” Max added. “I… I would like to be a part of seeking revenge.”

“It could be dangerous,” I reminded him.

“Everything about this life is dangerous, but I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m not the one here with a family. I’d rather it be me than Shawn over there with twin girls just entering kindergarten or Jose with his daughter about to choose a college.”

I fucking hated that he had a point. But fuck, we’d been friends for so long, I would hate to see anything happen to him. He was a part of my family. “Then you’ll be included. But Max…”

“Yeah?”

“You know you’re part of my family, right? It’s why you’re trusted alone with Bellamy.”

He didn’t respond, only offered a slight nod before he walked to the side of the parking garage and peered down. For a moment, he contemplated what it would be like to hit the groundbelow. I knew the look. There was a time I’d wondered the same thing too.

“He better not do something reckless,” Mercer sighed.

“Can’t protect them all.” I looked down at the body. “Clearly.”

“How the hell are we going to bring a child into this life, Ace? We’re going to fuck shit up.”

“The child would have been born into this life, regardless. I’m just thankful she’s being born to us, with love and protection.” I shut my eyes and fought off the possibility of what would happen if it weren’t us. What Belle would have gone through just to survive.

It was another forty-five minutes before Blaine’s body was scraped off the sidewalk. When they turned the body over, it was clear that every wound was deliberate, made to make him suffer. His back was sliced open, his organs falling out. His head was scalped, his body completely mutilated.

I was sick at the sight of it all. It took every ounce of control I had to not lose my grip and crumble into weakness. But this man deserved more respect than to have us deteriorate. Not when he so clearly held tight to his control until his very last breath.

We waited until his body was loaded before we got back into the sedan. Mercer was driving, and I was fucking thankful. My hands shook too bad to control the car anyway, so I used the time to communicate with Adam, giving him every gruesome detail about the findings until the image was ingrained for eternity in my mind.

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