Page 42 of Ruthless Beasts

“I truly doubt you can.” But I crossed my arms in front of my chest anyway, waiting for whatever explanation he pulled out of his ass that would never be sufficient. Nothing ever would. “Go on, I’m waiting.”

He swallowed hard, his energy waning as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse he thought would be worthy enough to forgive him. “I needed an alliance. I’ve got men… a lot of them turning up dead and I don’t know why.”

“And your daughter was worth the alliance?” I growled.

“Everyone has a part to play in the life we lead, you know that.” The look he gave me spoke of more, that he thought my family’s death was all part of a greater scheme and he was okay with the sacrifice. Before I could cut his tongue out of his mouthfor merely thinking about it, he continued. “Take you. If your life didn’t turn to shit, you’d not be nearly as ruthless. You were soft, and we both know it. Businessmen like us aren’t meant for softness. If Accardo didn’t do it, it would have happened some other way. You’ve been smuggling drugs through your casino for years, tampering with other people's suppliers and ambitions. Do you think that wouldn’t have its consequences?”

“Other people’s ambitions are of no concern to me,” I fumed. “I’m the stronger player, the better man.”

“For now, but how long do you think that will hold? Accardo has always wanted a piece of the territory you control. You think the minor threats you issue phase him?” Vinnie laughed. “He doesn’t even tremble.”

“You think I’ve been issuing threats?” This time, it was my laughter that filled the room. “I’ve hardly blown in their direction. I’m a patient man. I would think you would realize that. After all, did it not take me five years to take something from Accardo in return for what he took from me?”

“Are you going after his wife?”

“Worse.” I lowered my voice. “So much worse.”

I didn’t hurt women, even if they were caught in the crossfire of our lives. But I had no problem destroying everything he’d worked for his entire life. It’s time. I let five years slip away without revenge, and in those five years, I’d barely survived. But now, now I was ready to live.

“Why did you do it?” I asked, not needing to clarify. He knew exactly what I was asking. Why would he sell his daughter for an alliance in such a harsh and brutal way? What type of monster was he?

“I didn’t have a choice.” He chuckled. “But even if I did, I’d probably do it again. You lost a wife; you know how that is. If it wasn’t for Bellamy, mine would still be here. She took everything from me, and I still had to act like I cared. I didn’t. I despised herexistence. The only reason I even tried to stop you from hurting her in that church was the audience that expected me to do so. Had we been alone, she could have died at the altar with her intended.”

That dusty organ inside of me, some would call a heart, ached for the girl upstairs in my bed. She didn’t deserve this, none of it. She deserved better, deserved to be worshiped, deserved to be loved. I doubted I would be the one to give her those things, but damn it, that’s what Ace and Mercer were for. We could do better for her.

I set the electricity to low voltage and left it on, let him twitch as I strolled to a set of drawers in the corner. Reaching in, I pulled out a scalpel. When I turned back, his body was beyond his own control. I smirked. “Seems like you pissed yourself. Disgusting.” I took out my phone, taking a photo. “I’ll be sure to share this out, so the men who followed you can see just how little it took to break you, to make you lose control. You know, I am always accepting recruits, in case any of them will need jobs.”

“Fuck off.” The hatred in his voice soothed me.

“I don’t think I will.” I closed in on him, twirling the scalpel, making him guess what was coming next. When I was close enough, I turned off the electricity. “Care to tell me what the alliance was about?”

“I already told you.” He was squirming as he watched the blade twirl in front of him. “My men were being picked off. I needed to strengthen myself.”

“Or you had plans to go after one of your biggest competitors. Me,” I stated, because it wasn’t a secret. It was facts. In the five years that I took myself out of the game, I kept my head down, building strength, taking over slowly while their heads were turned.

“Taking you out was a benefit. I won’t lie. But it wasn’t my primary goal.” I brought the scalpel to his bicep, carving a B while listening to him wail. I added an E before talking again.

“It’s ironic, don’t you think?” I pondered out loud. “The world had been calling us beasts long before Accardo made me one.”

Vinnie moaned. “You’ve never cared about what the world called you. If you had, maybe you’d be more discrete with your actions. Accardo never would have attacked if you didn’t set fire to his warehouses.”

The A slid into his flesh easy enough, followed by the S. The blood flowing down his arm lubed up my blade. “I never would have set fire to his warehouses if he hadn’t hijacked my shipment and murdered a boat of men.”

He howled, and I stopped, waiting for him to finish. “You didn’t try hard to save her. I know it was an act, but… did you ever care a little? Ever?”

“Her mother would be disappointed,” he finally stated, his voice weak from the screaming, “with what I did to her, how I let her go.”

“I’m not going to argue with you there.” I dug the scalpel into his skin to the hilt, putting more pressure than necessary as I formed the T. “But she’d be proud of her girl for getting past the dark part of her life living with you. Just so you know, I’d never do that to our child.” I leaned in. “And it is mine now. Don’t question that for a second.”

“He’s going to come for?—“

I moved before he could register my palm tight around his throat, cutting off his air. The scalpel dug into his chest as I carved through his flesh, seeking his heart. As I tore into the skin, ignoring the bones, his body gave up the fight and his limbs went limp. His breathing grew shallow, his chest barely rising and falling as my hand refused to give him air. And right beforehe took his last breath, seconds before his life faded to nothing, I used my scalpel, shoving the sharp tool forward, slicing his heart in two.

“Let him come. He’ll never take my family twice.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MERCER

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