Page 137 of Dance of Ruin

“Don’t suppose he’s here now?” Kratos rumbles.

She nods, pointing across the club to a hallway.

“He’s in one of the private rooms. Number…four.” She hesitates again. “You gonna hurt him?”

“That a problem?” Kratos growls.

Her head shakes vigorously. “He’s been throwing a lot more cash around than usual these days. But he’s still a total piece of shit to the girls. Not a fan of the wordno, if you get what I mean.”

“Loud and fucking clear,” Kratos rumbles, cracking his knuckles.

The hallway is narrow and lit with that same purple neon.

Same jizz scent, too.

I mean,fuck.

We pass two other private rooms before Kratos shoulders open the door to number four without knocking.

Eddie is mid-laugh, sprawled on a shabby velvet couch with a drink in each hand and two dancers draped over him.

He pales the second he sees us. The girls bolt. One doesn’t even grab her heels.

“Woah!” he blurts. “Fellas, this is a private party?—”

He chokes as Kratos grabs him by the shirt and slams him back against the couch, spilling his drinks all over him.

“Dude, what thefuckis your?—”

“Know who I am?” Kratos hisses.

Eddie scowls. “I’m gonna go with…no?”

“I’m the guy whose wife you almost blew up with that Chevelle.”

The color drains from Eddie’s face so fast you’d swear he’d just been shot through the neck.

“Oh fuck,” he wheezes, his breath suddenly coming in short, ragged bursts. “Look, man, I didn’t know, okay?!”

Kratos’ massive fist slams into Eddie so hard that his head snaps to the side, blood spraying across the couch and wall.

“Mywife,” Kratos seethes. He aims for Eddie’s mouth this time, splitting a lip and knocking out a tooth as the guy screams, tumbling back on the couch.

“I just wired it!!” Eddie bleats. “I didn’t know what they were gonnadowith it! I didn’t know it was gonna be used on awoman!”

Oh, Eddie.

You stupid,stupidmotherfucker.

I’m mad. Beyond mad, actually. I mean, we’re talking about my fucking sister.

But Kratos looks like the Devil himself, risen from Hell.

“Youplantedthe fucking bomb?!” he roars. Eddie screams and gurgles blood as Kratos starts to lay into him, smashing him in the face, cracking a rib or two, then picking Eddie up by the throat and hurling him across the room.

“It wasn’tme!” Eddie sobs, crumpled against the wall. “I mean—yeah, I did it, but the order came from the Obsidian Syndicate! I was just following instructions!”

Kratos rears back for another hit?—

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