Page 64 of Kortlek

“He’s in Brooklyn,’’ Oliver stutters, the pain very evident on his facial expression. “He… he has a small condo.’’

“Do you know how big fucking Brooklyn is? I need the address.’’

Oliver shakes his head. “I don’t know! I promise. I just know that he’s in Brooklyn.’’

Arlo takes his words with a grain of salt but nods nonetheless. “Alright. Anything else? Why were you following Aria?”

“The cameras in her apartment stopped working, so Karl had us follow her around to find out if she would change her routine, to see who she talks to and where she goes.’’

“He didn’t tell you to hurt her?”

Oliver shakes his head. “No! No. Of course not.’’

Arlo hums in response. “More. Tell me more.’’

“His goal was never to hurt Aria. Just to remove those around her so he can be with her again.’’

If Arlo was angry earlier, I don’t know how to describe this. Half of him regrets letting Wyatt live, but the other half is more focused on the utter nonsense coming from Oliver’s mouth. Removing everyone around Aria?

The motherfucker couldn’t even remove me when he sent Jackson, let alone a family of trained killers.

“Oh? Is that so?’’

Oliver nods furiously.

“Then, what’s his next step?”

“Kidnapping her.’’

Arlo freezes, and Hudson’s a second away from taking over. My blood starts boiling the longer I stare at the motherfucker. I wish I could see an ounce of a lie in him, but I find none. He’s being completely honest.

“He wants to kidnap her? How and when?”

Oliver shakes his head. “I don’t know. All I know is that he got some cabin in the woods where he’ll keep her.’’

Arlo curses under his breath. This took a different turn than any of us expected, and he steps back, pacing through the room. Hudson stands in front of Oliver, his threatening figure causing Oliver to quiver slightly.

Hudson De Santis isn’t the one to take threats to his family lightly.

“You have a choice, Oliver.’’ He pauses, pulling out another cigarette. The pause makes the tension in the air thicken, and Oliver visibly flinches. Hudson puffs out the cloud of nicotine right into his face. “You’ll either tell me everything in fine fucking detail or I will make you wish you were never born. And trust me, I have at least fifty different ways to do that without killing you.’’

“Karl has gathered the New York Vipers. The gang is under him, but a lot of them left when they heard he’d be going up against you. Maybe twenty men remained. He’s still trying to build an army, but he definitely plans on taking Aria soon.’’

“How soon?”

“Before Christmas.’’

Hudson curses under his breath. That’s a month away. Thank fuck I let Aria knock on the bastard’s window this morning. I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened to her if she hadn’t. This information is crucial, and I doubt Wyatt counted on Oliver getting captured.

Fucking bastard.

The moment I lay my eyes on him, he’s as good as dead.

An hour later, Hudson leaves. Arlo tries to wipe off the blood from his face and hands, using a damp towel, but it only smears it around and stains the cloth. Oliver’s killing was brutal. Arlo, in the end, couldn’t hold back and just took out all his anger on the bastard.

It was well-deserved, in my opinion.

He sits across from me, staring at the dead body through the glass. He’s mentally away, his eyes twitching slightly as he continues to think. He throws the towel to the floor, silence around us, before his eyes dart to me.

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