Page 35 of Crimson Flames

It was infuriating to know the high level of technology they brought with them, and I had to watch as my newest campsite fell. I’d only had these kids for less than a year. They were my younger initiates, the ones I was planning to sell into families so that they could run tasks for me covertly.

Need a kid who can climb through vents and retrieve information? I trained him. You want two little girls who look sweet and innocent but will claw your eyes out with a simple command or threat to the other? I can sell them to you.

How about a thirteen-year-old who can shoot as well as half of my men and has leadership skills no one would suspect? I had it.

I had it all.

Until Nessa took it from me. I was planning on leaving and moving my other investments when she told that kid she was pregnant. I didn’t know what my plan was, but I knew I had to do something. She could not be allowed to carry that baby a moment longer.

The only children Nessa will ever bear are mine.

I thought I had made things clear the day she held her sister as she bled out, but apparently not. I’ll have to deliver anothermessage. Somehow, her mother disappeared, but her father’s still here.

I pace my office until I receive the message that everything is ready. As enticing as the poetic justice of him bleeding out in the same way and same spot I killed his daughter, it takes too long to clean the blood from the floorboards. The crimson stain settles between the slats and looks out of place in the otherwise pristine room.

And I need perfection.

Which is why I head to the sublevel with its concrete room. Lately, the usual torture techniques have been boring me. I never find the satisfaction I used to be able to gain from a kill. However, I think all that may be about to change today.

Opening the door, I find Donovan O’Neil tied to a chair. My men have already roughed him up a bit, but I have taken great care to ensure I have no psychopaths working for me.

Green was one of the only ones I allowed to stay, but now he’s dead and Nessa still got away. Not without a few scars though, I was informed.

“Hello there, old friend,” I say, walking into the room and donning a pair of black gloves. They are completely useless, but represent power, so I enjoy using them.

“We have never been friends.”

The old man tries to look brave, but fails miserably.

“Is that why you never told me Nessa is still alive?” I grab one of my tools from the rack before turning to him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replies through gritted teeth.

I huff a laugh at his little attempt at bravery.

“Tell me, Donovan, did she know why she was going to marry me? Does she know what you did?”

He shakes his head, spitting at my feet.

“Does she still think we were supposed to marry to bring peace to the northern and southern gangs of Ireland?”

He won’t make eye contact with me, and that simply will not do. I discard the pliers before grabbing some tape. It isn’t easy, but I get his head positioned so that he has no choice but to look up at me. He tries to shut his eyes, so I rip another piece of tape off.

“Do I need to tape them open?” Reluctantly, he opens his eyes, and I pat his cheek in a humiliating gesture.

“Much better. Now, tell me, does she know the real reason her sister died? Or what you really did to her?”

I point at the camera in the corner and his eyes widen. He tries to shake his head, but I grab him by the hair.

“So she doesn’t know that you sold her to me to settle your gambling debt? She never heard that her father had not only sold her, but her sister too? That they were both going to be my wives whether they liked it or not because ofyou?”

He can’t say anything with the tape, so he tries to fight my grip on him. We’re alone in the room, which is the way I prefer it. At first, I thought about choking the life out of him, but that felt too boring. A gun felt cliché. We may be a gang, but we still have some class.

Besides, I have other plans for him.

“Smile at the camera, Donovan, and say goodbye to your little girl. Don’t worry, when I get my hands on her, Iwillprotect her. She will be locked in a tower, and her dear husband will be the only one who has the key.”

I grin into the lens, knowing Nessa will receive this gift soon. I didn’t want to kill her sister, but it was a necessary evil. I could see the way Nessa looked out for her, and I realized I would never truly own Enya in the same way I could own Nessa.

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