Page 66 of Fierce King (L.A. Ruthless 1)

Alejandro

Jax lookedup at me with a huge grin on his face. ‘I’ve missed this, amigo,’ he said as he hoisted the unconscious man up from the floor and sat him on the chair in front of me.

‘You’re fucking loco, amigo,’ I said with a smile and a shake of my head. We had been in Chicago for two days dealing with this prick right here and I couldn’t wait to get home.

I looked down at Richie Burnett. I had always hated this prick. I had always known he wasn’t to be trusted, but he had worked for my Uncle Phillipe for years, and I’d been prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for my uncle’s sake.

But, I had kept my eye on him, and had been proven right when I had caught him stealing from us, creaming an extra cut of the profit for himself every time he made a deal on my family’s behalf – as if we didn’t pay him enough. Greedy motherfucker!

I slapped Richie hard across the face and he groaned as his eyes flickered opened. He looked up at me. ‘Hijo de puta!’ he spat.

I looked at Jax who shook his head and laughed quietly. ‘Can you believe this piece of shit?’

‘Nope,’ Jax replied.

‘You still with us, mal nacido?’ I snarled.

He attempted to swing his arm at me, obviously forgetting that I had dislocated his shoulder a few hours before. He’d endured so much pain that he no longer knew what he could feel or where it was coming from.

‘Argh!’ he cried out and winced as he slumped back against the chair.

I picked up the knife from the table beside me and held it up so that the metal blade caught the light of the overhead bulb, ensuring that Richie knew exactly what was coming next. We had made him watch two days earlier while his most loyal employees, and fellow thieves, had their tongues cut out before being shot in the head. He had known there wasn’t a chance in hell he would be getting off so easily. Their bodies had been disposed of quickly and cleanly, and we had appointed a new head of our Chicago operations – Neo Lopez. Neo was young and ambitious, but he respected the order of things and I liked that about him.

Richie sat on the chair, blood congealing on every part of his body. His grey hair was so matted with dried blood that it looked black. He had been in this room for over forty-eight hours.

I had to admit I was impressed with how much he’d been able to take. I had learned the fine art of torture and the ability to inflict exactly the right amount of pain to keep a man alive whilst making him beg for death, at a young age. But, now Richie was close to the end. He was constantly slipping into unconsciousness. His body was broken, burned and bruised beyond recognition. But, Richie was a message. A message that nobody stole from the Montoyas.

I lifted his head and held the blade to his neck. ‘Fuck you, Richie!’ I spat as I slit his throat open and watched as the last drops of life drained from him.

‘Get someone in to sort this mess out, and let’s get cleaned up and get the fuck out of here,’ I said to Jax as I wiped my hands on a towel.

‘On it,’ he said as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

My business in Chicago had kept me away from Alana for two days and two nights. I’d missed her much more than I thought I would. I’d hated sleeping in my hotel room alone without her warm body pressed against mine.

It had been a week since our night at my hotel and it felt like something had shifted between us. I had hated the fact that she had been made to feel so worthless by a couple of women who meant nothing to me. I had seen a side of her that I never had before – her insecurities and her vulnerabilities, and they had brought out my protective streak.

I walked through my house and into the bedroom and smiled when I saw her sleeping figure on the bed. I pulled off my clothes and tossed them into the laundry hamper. My cock was already hard just thinking about what I was about to do to her.

I slipped beneath the covers and she stirred in her sleep

‘Alex?’ she said sleepily.

‘Yes, it’s just me princess. I missed you,’ I said as I pressed my body against hers.

‘I missed you too.’

My hands slid over her hips, over the soft cotton fabric. ‘Why are you wearing panties when you knew I’d be back tonight?’ I growled in her ear.

‘I got my period,’ she murmured.

I kissed her neck and she purred like a kitten as I slipped my fingers beneath the waistband of her panties. ‘Open your legs, princess. I want inside you.’

‘You’re going to ruin these beautiful white sheets,’ she breathed.

‘I don’t give a fuck about the sheets,’ I growled against her skin. ‘Besides, Magda is very proficient in getting blood out of clothes, I’m sure a few stained sheets aren’t beyond her.’

‘What? No. I’ll wash them myself,’ she insisted.

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