Page 117 of Sapphire Tears

“Did any unexpected visitors come by in the last few hours?” Her eyes go wide, and I take the tiniest of steps towards her. “Remember what I told you.”

“I saw some g-girls being brought in,” she admits. “B-but… that happens all the time.”

Yeah, I fucking bet it does.“Are they upstairs with him?”

“They were taken to the… to the rooms.”

“Describe them to me and you’re free to go.”

“Second floor. The ones with the red doors.”

I give her a nod of thanks and draw my gun. She clenches up in fear, but I jerk my head toward the window. “I’d leave if I were you,” I advise her. “Things will only get uglier from here.”

Then I turn to leave. Just before I go, I pause at the threshold, look back over my shoulder, and place a finger against my lips.

She nods mutely. It seems we have an understanding. If I manage to get to the second floor without a barrage of Adrian’s men raining down on me, then I’ll know she’s kept her word.

And promises are all I have to go on right now.

I slip out into the hall and up the staircase. The steps creak underneath my weight, but I keep going until I reach the landing.

I check my phone. There’s only one text from Knox.

We’re ready.

I send him back a thumbs up and count backwards from five. Right as I hit zero, I hear the explosions sound off close to the entrance of the compound, each louder and more terrifying than the last.

The first one is fireworks.

The second is lightning.

The third is the ground tearing itself apart and showing the world what hell looks like.

Once the alarm has been raised and all hands are on deck at the source of the bombs, it’s a cakewalk down the hall towards the rooms with the red doors.

The whole corridor is lined with them. I have no way of knowing which contains what, so I pick the nearest one with the alabaster gold frame, send two bullets through the lock, and then kick it open.

I hear the disgruntled grunt of a man taken by surprise in a vulnerable moment. He jerks to his feet and turns to me with narrowed eyes. Familiar, but not what I’m expecting.

“Don Ricardo.” I grimace. “I should have known this was your mansion. You always did have repulsive taste.”

The Italian is wearing a white vest, black boxers, and three thick gold chains. Back when I was a boy, I used to think of him as old. Now, he looks like a fucking relic.

“You’re trespassing,” he hisses in his thick accent.

“You helped my brother kidnap three innocent women from my home, and you’re worried about a little breaking and entering? I think you need to get your priorities in order, old man.”

He sniffles haughtily. “Your brother has brought me women for years now. I don’t ask him where they come from or who they belong to. I examine them, and if they pass my tests, I take them.”

I raise my gun and aim for his forehead. I see a shadow of doubt flicker over his face. “I have nothing to do with your war with your brother!” he whimpers.

“Wrong. You chose a side, Don Ricardo. And now—it’s fucking judgment day.”

He realizes the mistake he’s made at the same time that I pull the trigger. When the bullet strikes him right between the eyes, he flops back on the white sofa. It’s mere seconds before the whole thing is stained in rivers of blood.

I turn around, ready to barge into the next room—but then I freeze.

There’s a young woman chained by her ankle to Ricardo’s bed. She’s completely naked, with long blonde hair obscuring her breasts and eyes whirling wildly in their sockets.

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