Page 15 of Filthy Liar

“I was a kid when I lost Sasha,” he said quietly, sorrow in his eyes. “I should’ve left her behind to keep her safe, but I was selfish.”

“What happened to her?”

“The same thing that happens to a lot of women in our world, and when they can’t live with the memories anymore, they make it stop. Me and the guys changed the dynamic of what crew life really means when Slash took over as leader. We don’t use women to send messages or punishments, we protect them and the children that slipped between the cracks or had no one to be their voice. With us, surrounding crews changed too. If you and Dante really think you can change the fucking mafia, I won’t call you stupid for it. We wanted change, so we forced it. You can force it too.”

“So, you didn’t bring me out here to beat me up?” I joked, his facial features relaxing as he fought amusement.

“I considered it. You want my respect? Keep her safe, even if that means breaking her heart and leaving. I’d rather her be sad than dead, and I think you would too.”

The thought of leaving her made my chest ache, but I nodded. “If the only way to make all of this stop is by me leaving, I’ll do it.”

“Good. Do you think my girl’s scared Dante yet?”

“Nah. Rory likes to think she’s the biggest monster in the room, but Dante grew up with Stefano’s iron fist. Nothing is scarier than that,” I said with a sigh, knocking on the door to be let back in. “I really am glad that Raven has you to worry about her. Even if it means you threaten me every damn day.”

“You ever marry her, you’d better ask me first.”

“If you think Raven would like me asking permission like she’s an object, you don’t know her very well.”

“Touché,” he chuckled, letting me step inside first when the door opened.

I didn’t get far before Peaches plowed into me, her makeup streaked down her cheeks as she sobbed into my shirt. She wasn’t the type of girl to cry about someone being mean to her, she had a backbone and would’ve just told security to escort them out.

Something was wrong.

“She’s dead!” Peaches managed to get out, Diesel going rigid beside me.

“Who?” I demanded, hearing someone scream further along the hallway. I half-dragged Peaches with me as I followed the sound, stopping in front of a room to find blood everywhere. There was a girl in the bed, most likely naked under the blanket, her glassy eyes open and makeup all over her face from crying.

If I hadn’t known where Raven was, I would’ve freaked out more when I saw the blue hair.

Fabric was shoved into her mouth, and I shielded Peaches slightly to stop her looking when I realized the girl hadn’t just been killed, she’d been tortured.

There were some tools on the floor close by, a few of the girl’s fingernails on the floor with them.

“Is Archer here? I don’t think he’d want Lexi dealing with this,” I said to Diesel as Peaches joined some of the other girls in the hallway to hug them tightly.

“Milky is. Don’t let anyone else in. I’ll get security to keep everyone inside and I’ll get Milky,” Diesel replied, leaving me alone and pulling the door shut a little with the toe of his shoe to go and find Archer’s second in charge.

I moved towards the body, wincing when I pulled the blanket back to see what damage had been done. She had burns and cuts all over her, but the worst part was the blood all over her thighs and the bed.

It would make sense that she’d been raped too, the murderer probably posed as a client to get her alone, but I paused when I saw the knife on the mattress. I didn’t want to ruin the crime scene, but the chance of the cops investigating was slim.

Reapers did their own digging usually.

I pushed her legs open, and if I hadn’t become numb to shit like this, I definitely would’ve thrown up.

Her pussy and ass was unrecognizable, just a gory mess that would’ve been agonizing at the time.

“Didn’t take you to be the type to be into dead girls, Lavaro,” Milky muttered as he walked in and saw me looking, but he tensed when he saw what I was looking at. “What the fuck?”

“This wasn’t some kind of playtime gone wrong. This was thought out and deliberate,” I replied, glancing over at him. “Your cameras work, right?”

“I appreciate you waiting with her, but?—”

“If there’s a psycho murderer in town, other than those who were already here, I want to know about it,” I said dryly.

Milky scowled, looking around until his eyes landed on the bedside table. He grabbed something, turning to face me after a second and holding a piece of paper out.

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