Page 131 of Wicked Ends
I made my way inside.
But therewasa sweating pig of a man, staring at his guards with wild eyes, his mouth moving wordlessly behind a handkerchief gag, tied so tight his cheeks had nearly turned blue.
“Saved the rest for you, Marcus,” Gage said with a bloodthirsty grin.
He was looking forward to dispensing sweet justice, or at least, seeing it done. Maddox was more stoic.
The floor under Dale’s seat gleamed wet and dark, slick with blood.
Maddox leaned impassively against the wall. He nodded to me. I took my father’s cut off. Honestly, it felt like a weight off my shoulders. The money was returned, Ari was about to be avenged, and there was no need for lies anymore.
The cut felt like a shroud. I was glad to be rid of it, if only temporarily. I didn’t want to be a Harbor Hound. There was nothing I wanted less than being without Ari.
But I’d given the guys my word. All of this was because I’d agreed to become one of them. I couldn’t go back on that once I’d ended Dale with their help.
That was just bad sportsmanship.
“You left the bar so quickly the other night. It nearly hurt my feelings,” I told Dale mockingly.
He moaned something behind the gag.
I sat in the rusted metal chair before him and took the hunting knife I’d brought with me from the sheath on my thigh, twirling it between my fingers.
Dale’s gaze latched onto the blade.
“Sorry, were you saying something?” I wondered, and with a careless, hard cut, sliced one side of the gag—and Dale’s face at the same time.
He choked and coughed, drawing breaths in deep gulps. If the fucker wasn’t careful, he’d pass out and ruin the fun.
“I don’t know what all this is about, man! I’m just a PI, I swear, who came to collect the missing money. If I took the wrong cash, I apologize,” Dale rushed out.
I waggled my finger in front of him. “No, no. Your apologies are no good here. Didn’t you hear? I’m not the judge, or the jury… she’s on her way home, safe and sound, with your wife and kid.”
Technically, I’d told Claire, Dale’s wife, that she was already a widow, but that was only because I didn’t want to rush my time here with the woman beater. It was true, she was a widow, or she would be by morning. I had a feeling old Dale here wouldn’t even last that long.
“I’m just the executioner,” I leaned in and told Dale in a soft, teasing tone.
He shuddered, his eyes rolling back.
“I told your lovely wife that she was a widow… I intend on making good on that promise in due course. Just know, nothing you say, or do, or promise, beg, plead, or piss yourself for will move me. Not only do I have no mercy for you, but I’m excited about hurting you, do you understand?”
Dale focused on me again, his face turning even paler than it had been before.
“And so we’re clear, your sister, and former wife and daughter, will have a great life after you’re gone. I’m going to make sure of it. They’ll forget you ever lived.”
I twirled the knife between my fingers, took Dale’s hand, and slid the blade neatly between his fingers, pushing the point deep into the joints between each, one at a time, as he screamed. She’d never told me as much, but from the way she unconsciously flexed and massaged her hands sometimes, I suspected that Ari had had them injured in the past. Tonight, I’d make up for every second she’d spent in pain.
“Just so you know, your sister is going to have a beautiful life. She’ll be a respected composer, a much-loved professor, a Hade Harbor treasure. She’ll never want for money, or security. She’ll have friends all around her, kids of her own. Nothing will ever be out of her reach.”
Finished with the fingers, I flipped my knife and drove it through the back of Dale’s hand, pinning it to his thigh. He screamed.
I held him closer, placing a hand around the back of his head, and shushing him softly.
“Don’t faint, sweetheart. We’re just getting started. Now, I got the chance to see your handiwork on my girl, and let me tell you,it left an impression. I think we’ll recreate that, times ten, what do you say? Gage—you got a pack of cigarettes on you?”
Gage nodded and tossed me the pack. Inside was a lighter, all ready to go.
“So, I saw two cigarette burns on my birthday girl. Two times ten… twenty, right?”
