Page 127 of Love Thy Brother
Silence.
“Name,” I repeated. “If I have to get up and dig your ID and phone out of your grimy pocket, I’m gonna kill you.”
“We’re not killing them anyway?” Folk wondered aloud.
Tempting, but no. Murder was too easy. “Not yet. Take that one’s phone and wake Mr Nonce up.”
Folk obliged, tossing me an iPhone he’d already unlocked with gang friend’s thumbprint.
He took a blade to the other one, gouging a hole in the back of his hand until he screamed himself awake.
I swiped at the iPhone, poking around until I found what I needed.Too easy. “You daft pricks never heard of burners?”
No one answered me. I went back to the phone, snapped a picture of the laptop screen, and tapped intoLee’ssocial media. “You want me to post on your Insta or your road man TikTok?”
Lee’s chest collapsed, panic setting in. “Don’t. Please. I didn’t know. I fucking promise. I didn’t know.”
“Who told you to try and kill me?”
“He did.” Lee pointed at the other dude. AtJames. “Because you chucked our dealer in the sea.”
“I did do that. And I’m gonna chuck you in the sea too. With a fucking paving slab tied to your feet. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Cos you’re the bottom-feeding BFF of a level-ten pedo. Why wouldn’t I kill you?”
Lee choked on his fear. I left him to it and moved onto the other one, rising from the futon to get in his bleary-eyed face, a knife of my own clutched in my fist.
I didn’t hesitate. Not for a moment. I cut that fucker from ear to ear, taking grim satisfaction in his gargled scream before I stood back, admiring his mutilation. “This is nothing,” I spat. “You’re about to show the whole world what you are.”
Folk passed me the laptop. Clever bastard that he was, he’d already cropped the video, obscuring every face that wasn’t the one dripping blood onto my boots.
I took that shit and posted it on Facebook.
Caption:This is me.
“There you are.” I snapped the laptop shut. “Have a nice life.”
I dumped the computer and turned back to Lee. “This is what’s gonna happen. Pay attention, I haven’t got the patience to repeat myself. You listening?”
Lee nodded, gaze darting between me and his bleeding nonce buddy.
“Eyes on me.”
He obeyed.
I made him wait a second, then gave it to him straight. “Your distribution operation is over. By order of the Rebel fucking Kings. You don’t deal in the South West. You don’t fuckingbreatheoutside of your damn postcode.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. Tell your mates, though I reckon they might already know.”
“I’ll tell them. I promise. I—”
Folk backhanded him. “Quiet.”
“As for the other thing...” I chanced a glance at James. He’d passed out, from blood loss, shock, who gave a fuck? “If the feds come, you’re gonna tell them it was you. You cut him. You posted his grotty secret on Facebook. Cos if you don’t...” I held up his phone. “I’m gonna share this shit with everyone you’ve ever met until no one can tell the difference between you and him. Do you understand?”
