Page 73 of Beautiful Revenge

“If Dante finds out about this, he’ll definitely kill you. You just put Aria into more danger.”

“He wants me dead already. What’s new? I can get Aria back if you just give me Sal’s address.”

“Why do you want her back so badly?” he asks. “To use her to torture Dante some more?” When I don’t answer, his eyes widen. “Or… do you actually care for her, Finn?”

“She’s my wife. She belongs to me. I want her back.”

“You care for her,” he says in an awestruck voice.

“Just give me the address.”

“I don’t want Aria to get hurt. So yes, I’ll give you the address. But he might have moved since I knew him. Keep that in mind. What happens when you get Aria back? Are you still going to torture Dante?”

“What else would I do?”

Aiden sighs. “Some things never change.”

But some things have. Because for once, I actually care about someone other than me and my family. I actually care about Aria and I’ll be damned if some other hitman is going to have her.

Chapter Twelve

Aria

Sal returns.

It’s been hours and I knew this moment would come but I was hoping I had more time. I was hoping Finn would find me.

But I’m starting to realize that Finn doesn’t know where I am. He’s not coming.

Sal approaches me with a shit-eating grin. “Want to know where I just was?”

I don’t say a word. He’ll tell me no matter what I say and I don’t want to get into trouble and say the wrong thing and make it all worse.

In a quick motion, he whips out his knife and presses it to my face. So far, he hasn’t cut my face, only my body. “Do you want to know where I just was?”

“No. But you’re going to tell me.”

“I am going to tell you. I was on another job. This time, a woman hired me to kill her husband. Apparently, he’s abusive and she felt like she couldn’t get away from him. How noble. I killed the husband. I got the fireplace going and warmed up the fire poker.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “And then I shoved it right up his ass while he was still alive. You should have heard the screams that left him. Mmm. It was delicious.” He licks his lips like he’s just eaten something tasty.

Fortunately, he pulls the knife away and slips it back into his pocket. “What do you think of that, plaything?”

I strain against the cuffs around my wrists. “I think he deserved it if he was abusing his wife.”

“Wow. Didn’t except that from you, plaything. I thought you were more innocent than that.”

“I believe in justice being served. You just served it.”

“But you didn’t think that when I killed Sarah Williams and her baby.”

“Because the baby never did anything wrong. Sarah was innocent.”

“How did you know?” he asks. “She could have been cheating on her husband or gambling away money.”

“None of that warrants getting brutally murdered.”

“But abusing someone does?”

“Yes,” I answer honestly. “If you hurt people with your fists, then you deserve to get hurt back. But Sarah’s baby never harmed anyone. You’re a monster for doing that to her.”

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