Page 124 of Ruthless Vengeance
The one who keeps them safe by being the monster that guys like Ben Peterson come to fear.
The metallic smellof blood hits me the second I step inside the slaughterhouse. It clings to the walls and stains the concrete floor like a canvas.
This place is designed for the most unnatural of deaths, and tonight it will once again live up to its name.
I walk deeper into the warehouse, the cold echo of my footsteps bouncing off of the steel walls until I reach the back room where Bruno and Carlos are waiting for me.
They are laughing, and a low groan accompanies it.
When I enter the room, I find Carlos leaning against the wall trying to catch his breath, while Bruno steps back from the slumped figure in the center of the room.
Ben.
His body is twisted on the ground with blood dripping from his nose, and his lip is split. One of his eyes is swollen shut, and his shirt is torn and stained red with blood.
Bruno turns when I approach and grins. There’s a nasty bruise blossoming on his cheek, but he looks otherwise unharmed.
“Still alive, as requested. And as a bonus, he’s still conscious.”
Ben lets out a low groan as he tries and fails to move.
I nod once, ignoring the way my chest tightens as I look at him.
I’m doing this for Clara.
“Thanks for your help.”
Carlos steps forward, rubbing at his bruised knuckles. “And the arrangement?”
“The East side is yours, as promised.”
The brothers look at one another before nodding.
“We don’t have to like each other.” Bruno folds his arms across his chest. “But if you stay out of our way, we’ll stay out of yours.”
“Agreed.”
There’s no need for fake pleasantries or shaking of hands now that our deal is done. After all, we’re not allies. We’re just survivors of the same war.
Bruno and Carlos head out, their footsteps fading into the distance followed by the sound of the main warehouse door slamming shut.
Then everything goes quiet.
I walk slowly toward Ben, the sound of my boots hitting the concrete floor echoing around us.
He’s barely clinging to consciousness, but I know he hears me.
I crouch beside him, staring down at the wreck of a man who has caused so much fucking chaos in my family’s life. “You could have avoided this. You could have walked away.”
Ben’s breathing sounds haggard, and he tries to open his mouth to speak, but no words come out. Not that I want to listen to anything he has to say. At this point, there’s nothing he could say that would make me change my mind.
He made his bed the day he decided to hand his sister over to Tommaso Costa. The final fluff of the pillow was when he pulled a gun on her, putting it to her head. His time was up the first time I caught up with him. I only hesitated because of her, but he’s been living on borrowed time ever since.
I stand, grabbing a fistful of Ben’s shirt and yank him to his feet.
His legs buckle immediately, and he drops back to the floor like a sack of bones.
I let him fall.
