Page 38 of Love in Sight

Her eyes widen as fear etches across her face, but she nods in agreement. “Please, just don’t tell him it was me. Please,” she pleads with Thiago to keep her secret. Something is not right about this. The terror in her eyes tells me she would be severely punished if they ever found out she helped us. We have to put a stop to this.

She slowly starts walking back toward the stairs. Thiago follows her, the rest of us keeping a casual distance behind them. We can see them over the railing as we make our way down the stairs. She points to a door at the end of the hall and he nods to her in thanks. She scurries away before anyone can see what she did.

Thiago waits at the end of the secluded hall for us. Standing outside of Haskins’ door, we get ready to charge in there. We each give each other a look, nodding, knowing it’s now or never. Zep grabs a hold of the door handle and slams his shoulder into it in case it's locked. To our surprise, the door is unlocked.

Haskins’ eyes widen as he scrambles to grab a gun off his desk, but he’s not quick enough. Zep pulls his gun from his waistband and has it trained right between Haskins’ eyes.

“I wouldn’t grab that if I were you.” Hesitation crosses Haskins’ face as he battles between grabbing the gun and backing off. “Sit down. We have a lot to talk about,” Zep commands, while gesturing with his gun toward the chair.

Haskins raises his hands, backing away from the gun as he plops back down into his chair. “Who the fuck are you?” he spits out.

“The last person you’ll ever see if you don’t cooperate,” Zep states in way too calm of a voice. Thiago and Rian approach Haskins, standing on either side of him. They reach for the zip ties in their pockets, but at the same time Haskins launches himself at Rian. Expecting the outburst, Rian dodges the punch Haskins throws at him. A cocky smirk spreads across Rian’s face as he throws a punch right back into Haskins’ jaw.

Haskins stumbles back, hitting the edge of his desk as Thiago wraps his arms around him, holding him in place. Thiago holds a knife to Haskins’ throat and pushes the tip of the blade into his flesh, breaking the skin. A soft bead of blood trickles down his throat as he stops struggling.

“I’m going to say this one more time and one more time only. Sit. Down.” Zep’s voice booms through the room. Thankfully, the music from the club muffles any sounds that would come from the office. Haskins’ eyes are laced with disgust and violence, but he does as he’s told. Zep’s tone and appearance make him one scary bastard. Thiago keeps the knife placed to Haskins’ throat as Rian zip ties his arms to the chair.

“Now, you’re going to cooperate with us and answer our questions, otherwise you might not be walking out of here alive,” Zep says, with an edge in his voice.

“Fuck you!” Haskins yells and Thiago rears back his fist, landing it on Haskins’ face. I know I must be a complete psycho, because the guys being brutal is turning me on so bad. I rub my legs together, already feeling my panties getting soaked.

“That was your last warning. Now, my girl here is going to ask you questions and you’ll answer her. We have all the time in the world so we can do this all night if you’d like.”

Haskins’ lips form a tight line, indicating that he’s not willing to give anything up. I step forward to stand in front of him, looking down into his eyes. I pull the piece of paper I found the day my sister was taken out of my small black clutch. Unfolding it, I flip it around so he can see the symbol on the front.

“Have you ever seen this symbol before?” My voice comes out strong, showing no hint of nervousness.

His eyes flash with recognition, but he quickly masks it. “Nope, never seen it before.” I look up to Thiago and give him a nod telling him to hit him again. Another blow lands on Haskins’ face, this time drawing blood from his nose.

“I’ll ask you slower this time so you have time to understand what I’m asking. Have. You. Ever. Seen. This. Symbol. Before?”

This time Haskins keeps his mouth shut, refusing to answer. Zep steps closer, lowering his gun as he grabs the knife from Thiago. Instead of waiting for a reply, Zep abruptly plunges the knife into Haskins’ thigh. Blood spurts from the wound to land on Zep’s shirt and his neck. A muffled grunt loudly escapes Haskins’ throat, letting us know how much it hurts.

“Who do you work for? Who is in charge around here?” I demand.

“If you think I’m going to give that up,sweetheart, you really are just a pretty face with a smoking body and no brain at all,” he taunts. This causes all three men to close in on him. Their fists twitch, aching to land blows to his face and body.

My eyes meet Rian’s as I nod to him letting him know what he needs to do. He backs away from Haskins and logs onto his computer.

“What are you doing?” Haskins asks Rian, who ignores him.

I lean down, grabbing the handle of the knife that still sticks out of Haskins’ leg and twist it deeper, watching him scream in pain. “You fucking bitch!” he yells in my face.

“Listen here, buddy. I’ve been nice, but I’m done playing games. You’re going to tell us what you know, otherwise we will have to force your hand, making it impossible for you to refuse us.” My voice is calm. My eyes never leave his, letting him know we will get what we want no matter what.

“And I said. Fuck. You.” He spits on my face, causing me to fly into a rage. I wind my fist back and punch him over and over again in the face until a large palm lands on my shoulder. I’m brought out of my red haze and back into control as Zep pulls me back closer to him. One look at Haskins’ face lets me know I landed some hard hits. Looking down at my knuckles, I find them busted and bleeding.Definitely going to need to take care of that later.

“Gorgeous, we still need answers. We can’t knock him out just yet,” Zep says gently and I nod, realizing we’re going to have to try a different method. Looking over at Rian, he gives me a thumbs up.

Rian steps toward Haskins again so he can push the chair closer to the computer. On the screen are pictures of a beautiful woman with long black hair, her arms wrapped around a small boy who’s looking up at her with a toothless grin. “Jennifer and Miko look like the sweetest family. You’re really lucky to have them in your life. A dedicated wife and an adorable, smart son. It would be a shame if you didn’t cooperate with us.” Rian’s voice cuts through the room as panic flares through Haskins’ eyes.

We would never ever hurt an innocent woman or child and it honestly makes me feel guilty as hell even thinking about threatening their lives, but if we want answers this seems like the only way to go.

“You won’t hurt them,” he leers in Rian’s direction.

Rian picks up a pen and scratches something down on a piece of paper. He shows the paper to Haskins, then hands it to Thiago.

“Go to this address and kill both of them.”Damn, Rian is not playing around.Thiago nods and heads toward the door.

---