Page 35 of Dove

“Do you know who I am?” I asked, my voice calm, a direct contrast from the violence. I loved to keep them on their toes. It made my prey nervous. I could smell his fear as he watched me, waiting to see what I would do next. Waiting to know why I’d come for him.

Senator Collins worked his jaw back and forth while he contemplated his answer. My blood boiled the longer this pompous prick wasted my time. “Yes.”

“Oh good, we’re not going to start with lies.” I sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk like I was an invited guest. “Let’s continue with that. Which of my men have you been working with?”

He casually sat behind his desk, but I saw the slight tremble in his hands as they rested on the wood before him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I mentally rolled my eyes as I moved. I yanked his hand forward, pressing it flat to the surface as I pulled the knife from my pocket. I plunged it into the center of his palm, embedding it deep into the wood below.

Like the fucking weak coward he was, Brent screamed as blood gushed from the wound. I enjoyed the way it poured between his fingers, staining his skin and his perfectly trimmed nails, as I retook my seat.

“You fucking psychopath.” He winced as he struggled to pull the knife free.

“Yes. Now let’s talk about your daughter.” His eyes flicked to the family portrait on his desk. I turned the frame to face me. Brent stood in the middle, his arm slung around a smiling brunette his age and a girl around mine. She was pretty in a ‘too much money, not enough personality’ kind of way. “Cute. I’d bet one of my men could have a good time with her.”

His mask dropped as rage overtook his face. He was no longer the slick politician. He was thePezzodimerdawho had his own flesh and blood kidnapped. “Don’t you fucking d—.”

“I meant your other daughter.” I continued talking as if his little outburst had never happened.

“I don’t—.”

I tilted my head to the side in a menacing way as I gave him a sadistic smile. For a second, I let him see what was behindmymask. He might be corrupt. A bad guy among men. But I was a monster. “Do you really want to lie to me, Brent? Because it’s one thing to hurt my little dove. It’s another to refute her existence. One answer will destroy you; the other will leave your cute little daughter without a father to protect her. So what’s it going to be?”

He snapped his mouth shut. We both ignored the blood still oozing from my knife in his hand. It was then all pretenses dropped. He cut to the chase of why I was here and what I was after. “I don’t have a name. He approached me through emails and calls from a burner.”

I sighed. I expected as much. I had to give it to whoever this was. I’d obviously trained them well because they were covering their tracks better than anyone I’d ever seen. They were layers deep, hiring other people to be the front. To take the fall. If it hadn’t been for Mike, I might not have known I had a rat. All of this would’ve landed on the Gallos.

“What was in it for you?” I asked as I relaxed in the chair.

“A seat at the table. The Vancinis use Senator Briggs. If you weren’t in power anymore, whoever took your place would need someone else.”

Power. Money. It was all that was important in my world. I grunted at the notion. We already had enough. There were very few who did this for the reasons I did. For the thrill of the pain. I wasn’t sure it made us above the rest, but it certainly made us less corruptible. As long as the family gave me someone to torture and protection for my crimes, I was loyal. I pushed from my chair and crossed to the door again.

“That’s it?” Brent called to me. I glanced over my shoulder and raised one brow as I stared at him.

“Did you expect something else?” I asked.

“You’re not—I mean— my family is safe? I told you what you wanted to know. You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

Rage filled me as I crossed back to him. This fucker worried about one daughter while he threw another to the wolves. He had her kidnapped and tortured so he could line his pockets. Buy the fancy car. The country house.

Knowing what kind of man I was, he should be begging me for her back. Begging me not to destroy her. Because if she were anyone else, I would have. I would’ve broken her like I originally planned before my little dove had crawled under my skin and made a home for herself.

My hand closed around his throat as I pushed him into the wall. His scream lighting me up inside as the knife handle tore through his palm while the blade stayed rooted in the wood. Blood sprayed around the room as he cradled it to his chest. I couldn’t stop my fingers from cutting off his air.

“You mean, am I going to kidnap them?” I spoke low as venom dripped from my voice. “Am I going to break their bones? Bruise their faces? Force them to sleep in a freezing cold room after I hose them down?”

His face blanched as I lifted him from the wall and slammed him back again. A dent formed on the drywall from how violently I’d thrown him against it. My rage was almost uncontrollable. The blood pounding through my veins. In my ear as I spoke.

“Am I going to put them through what your otherdaughterwent through? Abandoned her whole life. Unable to pay for food or to bury her mother. Am I going to torture them psychologically so when they come back to the people who love them, their just a shell of who they were?”

He shook his head, and a choked sound escaped his throat as if he was denying what had happened to Kincaid. As if he wasn’t the cause of them. “No, Brent. I’m not coming after your family. I might be a goddamn monster, but even I have a line. You think about that when you’re in bed with your wife tonight. While you hug the daughter, you didn’t throw away like garbage. Think about how even a psychopath wouldn’t do what you did.”

I leaned forward until I was whispering in his ear. I could feel his body shaking with fear. I could smell the desperation. I relished it. Let it fuel me. Sedate some of the rage inside.

“And while you’re doing that, I’ll be fucking that beautiful daughter of yours. And instead of destroying her, I’ll give her all my power. All my money and influence. More than you could ever dream of. If only you hadn’t abandoned her. Maybe you wouldn’t have needed to become a villain to try and grab what I have.”

I tossed him to the ground as I stalked towards the door again, pausing briefly to turn on the TV. A breaking news alert sounded as I walked down the hall.

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