Page 38 of Guarded

“Let’s get this shit over with,” I reply, following him into the garage.

We walk past the cars Leatherface had been restoring to the far back room where we store the guns. Opening the door, I find multiple bodies splayed out on the ground. There’s a man gagged and tied to a chair in the middle of the room. His clothes are covered in blood, and his head wobbles from side to side. He moans, and his eyes widen when he sees us.

“Why is he alive and they aren’t?” I ask Jasper, looking down at over a dozen lifeless bodies.

“Because it turns out our buddy Benji here isn’t actually a part of the Italian Mafia.” Jasper crosses his arms over his chest and smirks at the guy before turning back to me. “We can use him to our advantage.”

“We could have used these men as leverage, too, but you fucking killed them!” I snap.

“I had no other choice. They heard his confession!” Jasper fires back.

I run a hand over my face. We can’t afford another war. Not when the club barely had enough members to operate as is and not with our fucking president in a coma.

“Are you an informant Benji?” I ask, dropping to my haunches to face the guy.

He nods his head eagerly, and I look back to Jasper. I had to work with what we had left, and this is all we had working in our favor.

“How do you know we can trust him? I say, turning to Jasper.

“Well, for starters, he knows he’s already a walking dead man. He knows the moment he doesn’t cooperate, the Italians will get a hard drive from yours truly. There’s no room for him to betray us without betraying himself first.”

I pull out my knife and cut the gag off Benji. He gasps for air as he cries out in relief.

“I want answers now, Benji. Who are the Italians working for?” I keep the knife close to his neck.

“Please. Please. He has my fucking sister. I can’t let him hurt her.” Benji cries, and I look at Jasper.

“Do you have his fucking sister?” I ask.

“Collateral damage.” Jasper shrugs. I shake my head and turn back to Benji.

“Answer the fucking question, why do they want the Russians dead?”

“I don’t know.” He cries out. I drop the knife to his dick, and he squirms.

“They don’t tell us everything. All I know is that the higher-ups, the Biondini Brothers, want to expand their territories. They’re at war with some politicians. Please. Don’t kill me.”

“Who’s the politician?”

“I don’t know, man. I can’t remember his name.” I push the knife into his groin further.

“Acuer-Acuve-Cuev-”

“Preston Cuevas?” I finisg for him.

“That’s it, Cuevas,” he says, excited with himself that he remembered.

“That’s the mother fucker that wants to work with Leatherface,” Jasper says, connecting the dots.

“Ari’s soon-to-be husband,” I mumble.

I don’t let the anger siphoning through me show. Not when all I can think about is Preston Cuevas. Ariella still has no idea this was the man her brother wanted to be her husband. I would have to use every opportunity to figure out who this son of bitch is and what angle he was working from.

It takes a little over an hour to dispose of the bodies. Benji would be returned to the Italians with a well-formed alibi. I wash my hands and change into an extra pair of clothes. The thought of Ariella and her future fiancé makes me uneasy. I need to get inside and check on her.

“All done in here?” I hear the familiar feminine voice and look up to find Ofelia holding Guapo in her arms.

“Where’s Ari?”

---