Page 44 of Ends of Being

I give her a curt nod, and she turns back to the man hanging from the ceiling, walking over to him slowly. “We’ve had some trouble with upper management over the last few years, for many reasons, the first being someone’s inability to see me standing at the top of the food chain.”

Without warning, she hauls off and punches Jimmy in the kidney with enough force that he shouts in pain. I’m impressed by her aim and viciousness but refrain from commenting.

So, she continues, “The second reason is about some random jackoff who got himself killed a few months back. Some people took offense to it, and at first, I figured it must be due to a familial connection, but that turned out to not be the case which meant The Dead, as an organization, needed to be completely gutted.”

She glances over at me, and her eyes twinkle as she says, “And that’s when the heads started to roll. You know The Dead has a reputation of cold efficiency, and the same can be said for how we deal with our own.”

She turns her attention back to Jimmy, a far-away look in her eyes. “But then, like all vermin, once they got wind that the fire was coming, they scattered into the sewers. I thought we managed to get most of them under control, either by elimination or intimidation, but it appears there are a few who were not tended to as previously thought.”

She nods her head toward the pile of dead bodies. “Some of those are responsible for the spread of false information. Some are responsible for those being dead not staying dead, and some are responsible for Antoinette being taken.” She turns her gaze back to Jimmy, still hanging from the ceiling. “And then, there’s Jimmy.”

She steps closer to him, her eyes suddenly glittering with emotion as she looks up into his face. He stares down at her, his gaze unflinching and his jaw clenched but says nothing.

Lilith motions to Mickey, and he silently grabs a control box that lowers Jimmy down so his feet are on the floor and he’s eye-to-eye with her. A soft look crosses her features, and I notice Mickey looks away, so I glance at Tony and Matt, who are staring intently at Lilith with curiosity. I turn back to her, and she leans into Jimmy, murmuring words into his ear, and he nods, then murmurs something in response.

She then grabs him by the head, twisting his neck as her mouth latches onto his carotid, and he screams as she sinks her teeth in viciously, shaking her head like a dog. Blood rains down on her, soaking her hair and her shoulder where she’s pressed against him, but she doesn’t let go. Lils just sinks her teeth in even more, continuing to shake her head like a rabid dog until he stops screaming and goes limp.

Then she steps back, spitting blood onto the floor as she cocks her head at the mess she made. Mickey tosses her a white towel that she uses to wipe the side of her face.

She turns back to us as if nothing at all just happened. “I know who has Antoinette. So, the bad news is the people who have her, and the bad, bad news is they know we each have a connection to her. And since they would like nothing more than to see the two of us brought to our knees, she’s in deep shit.”

I glance between Tony and Matt, and I’m sure we’re all wondering the same thing. One thing you find in these underground organizations is an extremely short list of trustworthy people. Fuck, two-thirds of the people I trust in the world are standing with me.

Tony and Matt both give me a short nod, indicating they’re going to follow my lead, so I return my focus to Lilith, whose attention is back on the man hanging lifeless from the ceiling. She looks a little sad, but just as quickly as the sadness appears, it vanishes.

So, I ask, “What’s the good news?”

She straightens and turns to me, a smile back on her face as she says, “Oh, this fucker here told me about the tracker.”

I frown. “Tracker?”

She shrugs at me. “At some point in time, these bad people managed to put a tracker in your girl.”

I grit my teeth as rage burns inside me once again, and the beast rattles in my chest. My hands clench into fists, and I pace a few steps back and forth as I try to rein in my fury.

Then Lilith’s voice cuts in, and I look up as she reaches into a bloody pocket of her pants and pulls out a phone. She presses the screen a few times, and then hands it to me, saying, “Do you know they have an app for everything nowadays.”

It’s not really a question, and I stare at the screen and the little green light that’s blinking on it. I run a hand over my face in relief, then hand the phone over to Matt, who exits the room without comment.

“So, am I going in guns blazing, or do I need a specific approach?”

She looks at me thoughtfully. “No guns. Given where they’re keeping her, you’re better off doing it as quietly and methodically as possible. I highly doubt anyone important is there now. You can try to wait it out and see if they show up. But since it’s likely she’s been left in the care of some truly disgusting men, I don’t suggest you wait at all. Go in there, eliminate all of them. That’s the message you want to send.”

I nod but can’t help but respond. “I don’t have a good feeling about any of this. How do I know you’re not full of shit, and I’m about to follow a blinking green beacon to my death?”

It’s not really a question either, and I don’t expect an answer from her, but she answers anyway. Her eyes lock with mine, her face once again cold and deadly as she says, “You don’t. But if nothing else, believe me when I say I would never hurt Toni. I don’t give a flying fuck about you or your men; you all can fall off a fucking cliff and die for all I care. But not Toni.”

I frown at her, then look at Tony, who’s also frowning at her in confusion. I turn back to her and ask, “What the fuck do you care about Toni? You don’t even know her.”

She gives me a puzzled look, then puts her hands on her hips. “Oh, I didn’t tell you?”

I snort, about ready to lose it. “Apparently not.”

Once again, her winning smile is back, and she responds gleefully, “She’s my sister.”

What the fuck?

Chapter Eighteen

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