Page 38 of Dangerous Deception

“Then whose is it?”

Jim sags back down, trembling violently. “Geoff ran all that shit,” he mutters. “I was just there to make a quick buck.”

“By drugging and assaulting young women? You think there’s any kind of honor in something asdisgustingas that?”

Jim peers at me from under his swollen brow. “Ain’t that what all you criminals do?”

“Italian hands don’t deal in human trafficking,” I spit angrily.

“Some do,” he slurs, his head sagging back down.

Anger gets the better of me and I slam my balled-up fist into his gut, causing him to cry out in agony, then I crush his throat in my other fist and force his hazy eyes to meet mine.

“You'd better think very carefully about your next answer because insulting me and my family isn’t going to earn you mercy, you piece of shit.”

“S’fucked up, man,” Jim groans, tears swimming in his eyes. “I ain’t do nothing!”

“You drugged and kidnapped mywife. That alone is a death sentence, and you won’t be walking out of here alive. But the information you give me, if it pleases me, will earn you a quicker death.”

“Fuck, man.” Jim weeps, crumpling under my grasp.

Cold satisfaction curls in my gut, but it’s not enough. Adelina is going to live with this trauma for the rest of her life, and I can’t take it from her. All I can do is make sure those who caused it never hurt another soul.

“Tell me about your disgusting scheme.” Releasing Jim, I step back, and Vito hands me the rag once more to wipe the disgusting blood from my hands.

Jim slumps in his bindings, hanging like a piece of old meat. “I don’t know,” he sobs. “I just…”

It takes all my control not to lash out at him again. If he dies under my hands, I’ll end up with no answers. Especially since the car we traced turned out to belong to the dead man so there are no answers to be found there.

“It’s an easy gig,” Jim cries as he breaks down. “We get paid a shit ton of money to go to clubs and find hot, young men and women. It’s easy. We chat them up, slip a little something in their drink, and then take them to the apartments. We film a little something for the auction, and usually, they sell pretty damn fast. All we gotta do is stream it until we get a call.”

“Who calls you?”

“I don’t know, man,” Jim whines. “Some guy from the website. Different numbers each time. Once someone’s sold, we keep ’em drugged up and take them down to the bus depot. Sometimes they’re collected and other times we gotta put them on a bus. Either way, they get shipped off to their new owners.”

“Owners.” My stomach recoils in disgust at the word. “People aren’t products.”

“Whatever,” Jim slurs. “I heard some of them talk Italian, like the folk at the bus station.”

“Just because someone speaks Italian doesn’t mean they’re part of the Mafia, you racist fuck!” Punching him doesn’t alleviate the disgusting tension inside me, but it does bring a small note of satisfaction.

He gurgles and chokes on a mouthful of blood.

“Did you ever fuck any of your captives?”

“You’ll just hit me again,” Jim slurs.

“Answer me, you cunt.”

“Sometimes,” he whimpers. “It was too hard to pass up.”

“The other girl.” Swallowing tightly, tension forces my teeth together. “The second girl you kidnapped. Did you fuck her?”

Jim’s gaze falls away from me.

“Did you fuck her while she was dying from an allergic reaction to the poison you pumped into her? Did you even spare a thought for her suffering? Even asecondto think that she was a person and maybe you should get her help?”

“You know what, fuck you, man,” Jim snarls weakly. “Y’all organized criminals think you own the world of crime, but whatever, man. She was just a pussy with attitude so yeah, I fucked her, and I would have fucked that other bitch too until she was screaming and begging for me to stop, and I would have ripped her open?—”

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