Page 169 of Rage

I looked at him, and he seemed… mostly unbroken, but for the bruises and cuts along his face. Superficial. Someone worked him over. A professional that didn’t break bones or cause internal bleeding as they inflicted maximum pain.

It was a real skillset.

I looked around, feeling another presence in the room before his voice crawled over my skin, sending a shiver into my aching, sore, insides.

“Pleasure to see you again, Miss Barkada.”

He came out of the darkness like a demon, approaching with a cool, calm demeanor.

“What is the meaning of this?” I asked, lifting a brow.

I should have been afraid. He was obviously no stranger to cruelty or violence. But I was certain none of it would be directed at me.

O’Malley pulled a folder out from behind his back, and offered it to me. I took it, and looked at the contents. It was a simple yellow folder, with papers inside, clipped together by a cheap black clamp.

“Feldon hired a Private Investigator,” O’Malley circled Feldon, placing my former paramour between us. He kept pacing as he spoke. “He wanted to look into your family, your past…you.”

I pulled out the summary page, and started reading as O’Malley narrated the contest. Jesus, he had memorized it!

“Jasmine Barkada, born to Josiah and Emily Bautista, nee Ocenea. Born in Quezon City, Philippines. Graduate from the Ateneo de Manila Law School.” He looked at me and raised a brow.

“With honors,” I added, smirking.

Barkadas did not half-ass anything.

“The allegations against Miss Barkada are,” he started to count on his fingers, “money laundering through Jomari Barkada’s concert hall. The mysterious disappearance of her father was never solved, they suspect foul play. She isallegedlythe mastermind behind the Underground Fighting Circuit which was deemed illegal, and a front for backroom deals. And, oh! Here’s a list of mysterious disappearances that seem to be related to you…”

He smiled.Beamed,in fact. As if the accusation of murder was a compliment.

“It also says that you and your siblings have applied for membership at the Baskerville, but been denied.”

I flinched.

The Baskerville was the only place that had more backroom dealings than the Underground Circuit. It was nothing but a social club, with a gym, restaurant, grounds, a clubhouse, sauna and so much more. It wasn’t like the Underground where people met and talked over cocktails while people pummeled each other bloody for sport. It was a place where they relaxed, sipped their favorite drinks, and smoked cigars, enjoying their positions as titans of industry, and looked down on the rest of us.

Barkadas were billionaires in their own right, our money was as clean, and as dirty, as any one of them. But we were barred entry as new money. A sore spot for Jareth, still.

“And why do you have this folder now?” I asked.

“The PI he hired happened to be Irish.” O’Malley pulled a lighter from his pocket, and held the flame below a corner of the file. “He knew I had a… particular interest… in your family.” He plucked the papers from my hand. “Inyou.”

He tossed the burning papers onto Feldon’s lap, where the fire spread, catching on his silk and polyester clothes. His screams bled through the tape on his mouth, as the smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.

“That was the only copy of that information,” O’Malley said softly, “now, the only place it lives is up here.”

He tapped his temple.

“So this is blackmail?”

“No, Lovely.” He leaned down until his lips were almost at my forehead. “It’s a gesture of good will.” He leaned down further, bumping his nose against mine. “I’d like to work closely with you. Everything in that folder tells me I want you as an ally.”

I stepped back, because I always looked a predator in the eye. And that’s what he was.

“And what do you plan to do with him?” My former paramour no longer merited a name.

“I will offer a sort of mutually assured destruction,” he said. “We kill and dispose of him together, as a means of… christening our new alliance.”

Of all the romantic gestures I’d ever received, this was the most interesting.

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