Page 45 of Fatal Attraction

That seemed to bring Crow back to his senses. When he stopped fighting, I released him, watching carefully as he strode back over to the barrel and sank down on it, though his lethal glare never left Leo’s grinning face.

And then Phoenix whirled, bashing Leo between the eyes in a brutal punch which immediately wiped the smile off the poor bastard’s face and had me stumbling back with my mouth hanging wide. Leo’s head spun like he was seeing stars.

I didn’t have time to think or form a verbal response before Phoenix moved to the left side of the shed, studying the weapons with his head cocked curiously to the side. My spine trembled when he grabbed a hammer and a box of nails. He passed the box over to Crow just before he took a single nail out, holding it in one hand with the other clasped tightly against the hammer.

“Who are you working for?”

Leo didn’t answer, and then faster than I could blink, Phoenix punctured the nail clean through Leo’s left palm.

He cried out, weeping harder as more snot spilled from his bloody nose.

“Who. Are. You. Working. For?”

“Please,” he begged, shaking his head desperately. “I have a family.”

I saw the hesitation on my partners’ face, his movement—how his jaw trembled, fighting back tears as he reached out to accept another nail from Crow’s outstretched hand. I started to demand Phoenix stop, that I’d do it so he wouldn’t have to, but it was already too late. With a ferocious swing, the hammer came down, lodging Leo’s right hand against the arm of the chair.

Jesus, fuck.

Leo’s wails tore through the building, and I swallowed hard, watching in horror as my partner tossed the hammer to the floor and then proceeded to grasp two of Leo’s fingers, snapping the bones in half. By the time he was finished, all ten of them had been broken into limp, sagging noodles.

“Stop,” I demanded as Phoenix turned away, chest heaving, and fetched a sledgehammer displayed on the wall. I couldn’t bear to watch either of them suffer like this any longer.

I marched over to him, snatched it out of his grip, then turned toward Leo who was sobbing, begging for mercy.

“Who do you work for?”

He responded by shaking his head, tears pouring from his battered eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said in a gentle, pleading tone, kneeling down so I was eye-to-eye with him. “If you want to make it out of this alive, you need to answer the question.”

“I-I can’t.”

“Bonecrusher,” Crow sneered, his teeth bared. “Finish the job.”

Phoenix made to take the sledgehammer from me, but I shoved him back with one hand and swung the weapon around to rest over my shoulder with the other.

It wasn’t until all the bones in Leo’s left foot were completely shattered that he broke, crying out for mercy again.

God, please forgive me.

“It’s the Ravens,” Leo screamed. “I’m working for the Ravens!”

“Son of a fucking BITCH,” Crow screeched, lunging from the barrel so fast that it toppled over.

Phoenix ran after him, just to fall to his knees a moment later, vomiting everywhere as he gripped his stomach, tears rolling down his cheeks. I was torn, unsure whether to help Phoenix or go after Crow, but my gut fucking screamed at me to question Crow.

I threw the weapon down and charged like a raging bull, tackling Crow’s stubborn ass to the ground before he could make it to the bar. I locked my legs around his and was lucky enough to get my arms around in time to put the fucker in a headlock. Whether he liked it or not, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Talk, Crow. Fucking talk, or I snap your neck here and now.”

Crow fought against me, straining to breathe, and then slapped three hard times against my arm, begging for air.

I eased my grip, ignoring him when he called me a bastard under his sputtering breath.

“The Raven are new,” Crow explained, his voice a weak rasp. “Emerged nearly a year ago. Their President is called Augustus.”

“Last name?”

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