Page 4 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

ChapterTwo

Declan

Ruby falls into my arms with a loud curse and my heart stops beating. Just for a second. It’s not enough to see her to bring me back. I’m too lost. I grip her arms tightly.

“Declan,” she sobs, and then her knees buckle.

Ramsey is there for her. Catching her as she falls. “Ruby,” he murmurs and lifts her into his arms, cradling her. “Fuck, she’s hurt badly.”

I close my eyes and breathe in deeply before opening them again. “Get her home,” I bark out and then step over the threshold.

It’s dark, and dank, and the stench of blood is everywhere. I walk forward, not even checking to make sure that the men behind me are leaving. I stop when I see the body of a man stabbed more times than I can count. There is blood everywhere. He has a knife sticking out of his neck, which I bend down to pull out. There is a small gush, but that’s it. This man has been brutally murdered and bled out within minutes. He is as dead as they get.

“Ruby,” I murmur and then I feel it.

The darkness lifts slightly, but only in the sense of my soul returning to ache for the woman I love. “What did you do to her?” I mutter and turn, striding quickly back to the door.

They’ve gone. Bundled her into the waiting car and took her away from here, home and safe.

I didn’t even check to see if she was okay.

Turning back around, I enter the room further, taking in the instruments of torture and the table with which she was clearly strapped to.

“Jesus.”

There is blood all over it. She is badly hurt, and I didn’t even look at her. But the other men have her. She is safe and I am here to learn what the fuck happened, so she doesn’t have to talk about it just yet.

If she survives.

I glance around and spot a bag on the floor next to a stool. I go to it and lift it up, rooting through it, looking for something, anything that will fill me in on this crime scene. It appears to be sketching materials.

I shudder when I think that this Boomer fuck undressed her and tied her up to draw her.

The sound of a scuffed shoe on the concrete makes me stash the knife in the bag and then turn around. “You,” I say, narrowing my eyes and striding over. “You’re that policeman that Ruby pays off. How did you know she was here?”

The Detective Inspector gives me a wary look before he clears his throat. “I was tipped off,” he says and looks around. He flinches when he sees the dead body, but then his eyes go straight to the bag that I was searching through.

My blood runs cold.

I lunge forward and grab him by the collar, shoving him up against the wall. “You already knew she was here,” I growl. “Didn’t you? Were you part of this? If you hurt her, I will fucking rip you to shreds.”

He holds his hands up calmly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says.

“Like hell,” I snarl and pull the handgun out of the back of my pants and shoot him in the left knee. The shot is muffled by the silencer, but his screams are loud in my ears.

I drag him by his collar over to the table and throw him on it. “Did you hurt her?” I ask.

“No,” he says, shaking his head, frantically clutching at his knee. “I didn’t, I swear. She was already here. Boomer took her. I like to draw, he said he had something that I’d like. I didn’t know, I swear.”

“Liar,” I state and shoot out his other knee. “Try again.”

His wail of agony goes on for longer this time, but I wait patiently. I am a very patient man. I have to be in my line of work. I cross my wrists in front of me and shush him until his cries turn to whimpers.

“I swear, I had nothing to do with this!” Smith rasps. “It was all Boomer.”

Something is off. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but this doesn’t add up. “Why are you here now?” I ask.

“I left my bag,” he mumbles, indicating the bag on the stool.

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