Page 138 of Dance of Ruin

“Th-they’ve got ways of keeping people in line!” Eddie blurts.

Kratos freezes for half a second.

Eddie seizes it. “Drugs! Blackmail! Sex tapes! Like that thing with the politician!”

Kratos isn’t even listening anymore. He just wants tobreaksomething. He looks like he’s about to hit Eddie so hard that he literally knocks his head off, when I stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

Kratos whirls with a snarl, a wild animal surprised while about to make a kill.

“Give me a minute. Justone,” I growl. “Then he’s all yours.”

He reluctantly steps back.

“One minute,” he snaps.

Eddie’s sobbing when the door shuts behind Kratos. His mouth is gushing blood, and one of his eyes is already starting to swell shut.

I step forward slowly, kneeling in front of him.

“You’ve got sixty seconds,” I say. “What the fuck were you just saying? About a politician and a sex tape?”

He whispers. “Please?—”

“I’ll kill you myself right now if you don’t start talking.”

He nods quickly. “Okay! Okay! So, there was this politician, and he was trying to get out of a deal he made with the Obsidian Syndicate or something. Well, the Syndicate…” He shivers. “They don’t fuck around, man. And they wanted to get this guy in line.” He swallows. “So they filmed?—”

“A porn,” I snarl out viciously. “Yes, I’m aware.”

Rage erupts inside me along with something green and venomous, cold and brutal in its need for blood.

It’s the same feeling I’ve felt every single fucking time I’ve thought about that goddamn video.

Naomi and two men—fucking them. Sucking them off. Being touchedbythem.

I see pure red, my hands curling to fists so tightly that my forearms bulge.

“A porn?” Eddie makes a confused face. “I wouldn’t exactly call it that, man, unless you’re into some seriously sick shit.”

My eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

“That girl they filmed? The politician’s daughter?” He wrinkles his nose. “She was all drugged up when they raped or…whatever. I haven’t seen it.”

I go utterly still, so much that I swear my heart stops beating for a second.

“From what I heard,” Eddie continues, “they were gonna send it to that politician. Like, leverage or whatever. But I think it got destroyed when one of their buildings got raided or something.”

My eyes slowly pull to slits.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I rasp.

“One of the buildings they operate out of got raided or?—”

“Before that,” I snarl. “About the girl.”

He makes a face. “Oh, dude, that was fucked. They drugged this bitch up and raped her or something.”

The world stops turning as something vicious, cold and jagged rips into my chest.

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