Page 93 of The Don

“Fucking sold them,” Adrian replies through labored gasps.

“Not all of them. You stole a lot from me, Adrian, and you only sold twenty pounds to the Fallen. What happened to the rest?”

Adrian’s breathing evens and he lifts his face to look at me. “You know about that?”

“What happened to the rest?”

He visibly swallows and looks to the side. “It was supposed to be me,” he says in a small voice. “Why couldn’t you just fucking die?”

“You couldn’t have shoved all those drugs up your nose, so what did you do with them?” I’m growing tired of having to repeat myself.

Adrian slumps against the chair, all his resolve slowly seeping from his body. “I cut it and sold it,” he admits.

“You cut it?” He nods. “With what?”

“Who fucking cares? I cut it and sold it. Money, man, it’s all about the money.”

“Money?” Dominic says with a healthy dose of suspicion.

“No, it has nothing to do with money,” I say. “It wasn’t the money, was it, Adrian?” He lifts his chin and his eye is already swelling shut. “The money was an added bonus, it was always about the power.”

Adrian sneers as he straightens. “I have respect from my men,” he spits with hate. “Something you’ll never have.” He sneers and juts his chin forward. “Eliza respected me.”

My pulse speeds and my body tenses when he dares to speak my woman’s name. I shove my hands back in my pockets as I shake my head. I’m doing everything I can to curb my anger, because I need to hurt him. I draw in slow and steady breaths, stopping me from gutting him. “I’ve heard enough.” I step toward the utility chest, opening the drawers until I find the pliers.

Consumed by anger and blazing with my own desire to hurt him, I walk over to Adrian and tear every finger nail from the bed. His screams and wails only spur me to continue.

“Sir,” Dante says when I reach Adrian’s last toenail.

“What is it?” I stop and look up at Adrian. “You’re fucking lucky.”

Adrian’s face has drained of color and he rolls his eye shut, slumping his head forward. His breathing is fast and sharp, but I’m nowhere near done with him. Dante hands me my phone and I see a message from Salvo. Eliza is outside the shed and she’s demanding to speak with you.

I slide my phone in my pocket before walking over to the basin to wash the blood off my hands. However, I can’t hide the blood on my clothes. “Everything okay?” Dominic asks.

“It will be.” I walk over to the shed door and open it.

Eliza

My eyes flutter open and I’m instantly hit with an intense, sharp pain that pulsates through my entire body, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. “Ohhh,” I groan as I reach to touch my head.

“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy.”

A warm hand cups my face. I pull back and blink several times, attempting to clear my vision. “Where am I?”

“You don’t remember?”

My throat is dry and my mouth is completely parched. I lick my lips several times as I keep swallowing in order to lubricate my throat. My eyes finally adjust and I see Rose beside me on the bed. “What happened?” I slowly sit up and take a few seconds to gather my bearings.

“We went to the spa,” Rose starts.

“Yeah, and we went to lunch. But, what happened after that?” There’s a sudden ache low in my stomach, causing me to groan in pain. I push the covers back to find I’m in sweatpants that have splotches of blood. “I think I got my period.” My feet hit the floor, and as I stand, my head spins and I stumble back to the bed.

“You need to let me help you.” Rose offers me her arm, and once I’m steady, she leads me toward the bathroom.

“I’ve got it from here.” My entire body is stiff, as if I’ve been thrown around and beaten. Too many painful and descriptive memories flood back.

“No, you don’t. A lot’s happened, Eliza. Here.” She leads me over to the toilet and lowers my sweatpants while I try to steady myself against her.

---