Page 36 of Hold Me Before You Go

In the next second, the smell of piss filled my nostrils. A slow smirk formed on my face. This wasn’t the first time a man had pissed in fear in front of me, and it wouldn’t be the last. A dark chuckle rumbled up from the back of my throat. “You’re pathetic. You know that, don’t you?”

Gelling’s eyes opened again, and I released him, rising back up as I asked, “Why was your daughter’s husband chopped up by the Russian Mafia?”

Gelling’s voice shook as he answered, “I made a deal, and it went south. Robert’s life was the payment.”

My eyes flicked up to Hayes. “Was Robert into the same sick shit you are?”

The old man shook his head, shaming coating his features. “No,” he sighed. “Robert was a good man.”

No, he wasn’t.“Who is Monica Larks?” I asked, studying his face.

The corner of his left eye twitched. “H—how do you know about Monica?”

“Who is she?” I repeated firmly, twisting the blade in my hand.

“She is—was Robert’s lover.”

Anger boiled in my gut. “You knew he had a lover and still let Carrie walk down the aisle.”

Gelling’s face changed then, and slowly, he sat back. “Robert was Carrie’s only shot. It was a business transaction.”

“Did Carrie know that?” I shot back, my upper lip curling.

The man looked confused for a moment, shaking his head. “Carrie wouldn’t have been worth anything if she couldn’t secure a good marriage. Robert was a good candidate. They looked good together and gave me the publicity I needed to win the election.”

“Which went to shit when you decided to use children as fucking currency,” Ash growled from behind me.

“Two minutes,” Dominic warned from beside me.

“Right,” I began and pointed the blade at Gelling. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Robert fucking Hale, and you’re going to do it quickly. If I don’t have everything I need from you in sixty seconds, I’m taking your tongue with me. Okay, pumpkin?”

Gelling tried to shoot up from his seat, but Hayes was there, shoving him back down as the chains rattled. Jake laughed. “Where the hell were you going to go, old man?”

I leaned over the table again and pressed the tip of the blade against Gelling’s lips as he thrashed in the seat, Hayes holding him down by the shoulders. “I suggest you start talking. Now,” I told him.

Sixty seconds later, we had more intel on Robert Hale than ever before.

Hayes held Bradley Gelling’s head back as I forced his jaw open and yanked out the abuser’s tongue, pulling it as far as it would go. Tears were streaming down his face now as incoherentsounds came from him, pleading for mercy as he kicked and thrashed, bucking his body, desperate for freedom.

He wouldn’t find any here.

I leaned down, fuming as I pressed the blade to the bottom of his tongue once more. “Rot in hell, you son of a bitch,” I growled just before I sliced the muscle at the root.

Blood squirted everywhere as Hayes and I released him, the tongue landing on the table with asplat. Gelling screamed, his face red as his eyes squeezed shut. He thrashed and fell out of the chair, landing on his side, a steady stream of blood pouring from his mouth as he continued wailing.

Jake shook his head. “For fuck’s sake, that’s going to get annoying,” he said calmly as he pushed off the wall and kicked Gelling in the back of the head, knocking him out.

“Ready, boys?” Ash called.

Jake and Hayes put on their masks as I turned to face Ash, pulling down my own. Dominic packed up his suitcase and buttoned his suit jacket. “I’m famished.”

Hayes shook his head. “You’re always thinking about food,” he noted as he pulled out a wool mask from his cargo pants and tossed it to Dominic.

“Gray,” Ash called, his hand on the door. “You killing him or not?”

I looked back to Carrie’s father lying in a pool of blood. “Nah, this world isn’t done with him yet.”

We got into formation, Dominic in the middle, and Ash opened the door.

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