When he moves over to the bed and lifts the sheet back I make my move, grabbing him in a choke hold as my knife slides against his carotid artery.
“Who sent you to kill my wife?”
He jerks and tries to break free, his movements quick and more experienced than one would expect form such a heavy-footed asshole, but I know what I’m doing and it would take a fucking miracle for this piece of shit to break free of me.
“Fuck you.”
The pressure I put on his windpipe has him strangling and choking for air and I hold it a few seconds longer than I should, tempted to just end him and start going after the others I know are lurking outside.
“I said, who sent you?”
This voice, this icy shadow, is the persona I have to adopt when on a mission. I’m grateful for it because I’m so angry right now that without it I could get myself killed.
“Fu—”
“I’d answer him if I were you, fuck stick. He’s a straight-up killer, and if you don’t tell him, he’ll just off you now and go ask someone else,” I hear Jace snarl as my brothers come out of the tunnel and stand at my back.
The asshole struggles some more before finally stilling and slumping in defeat.
“She did.”
I know before I ask the next question who she is, but I want him to say it.
“Who?”
“Cleo.”
What I do to him is a mercy and I drop his corpse to the floor with no regret whatsoever.
“Ronny.”
“I know, bro. Bronx has her and Case is on his way. Let’s go hunting, shall we?” Miah growls and I smile rabidly, almost relieved that it wasn’t Lynn this time.
Paulie is going to have a fit when she hears about this, and I’m pretty damn sure that Cleo will be lucky to have me holding Paulie back when my baby’s temper explodes.
We all split off and melt out of the cottage and into the shadows, Miah and Wyatt breaking off together, while I feel Jace at my back, as always, my partner in crime.
The first shots echo through the night just before I hear the first screams, and I share a look with Jace before we both break into a dead run.
“No way, man. Miah and Wyatt are not winning this one.”
“Truer words, brother. Let’s catch up.”
It takes no less than twenty minutes or so to disarm and, in some instances, kill some of the scum lurking on the estate. By the time the security has done its last checks, I’m so pumped up and running on adrenaline that I hesitate to go anywhere near the house and my woman.
“Yo, come take a look at this piece of shit,” Miah growls and I walk over to see a dark-haired kid in his early twenties crying like a baby as Miah stands over him.
“Don’t kill me, mister, I’m begging you. My pa made me do this. I don’t even know how to shoot a gun,” he cries, shaking so violently that Miah snarls and puts a hand to his shoulder to keep him from sagging to the ground.
The kid is full of shit, I can see it from a mile away, and I shake my head when Wyatt joins us and groans at the poor performance.
“Give it up, you idiot. We can smell your lies. What the hell was your mission?”
He keeps going for the Oscar when Miah loses his patience and hits him upside the head with enough force to send him sprawling to the dirt.
“We said cut the fucking shit, kid.”
That mask drops and I feel my blood turn to ice when a look of pure hatred covers the kid’s face.
This is why we do this job, I think, looking into the kid’s hate-filled eyes and knowing that if he’d managed to get to the house, he wouldn’t have hesitated in his mission.
“You idiots think this will end everything?” he sneers and I see Miah stiffen. “This is just the beginning. We’re going to wipe your family and her off the grid, and then we’re going to take over the world. It’s time for a new order and—”
“Oh shut the hell up, you little pissant. We don’t give a shit about your rah-rah speech or how you feel. I asked you a question, kid, and if you’re man enough to try and come into the home where my family sleeps, you can answer the Goddamned question. Now. Who. Sent. You,” Wyatt grits through his teeth, looking so menacing that even I pitty the kid when he rears back and starts shaking for real this time.
“Cleo. Cleo.”
“Good. Now what was your mission?”
“Please don’t hurt me.”
“Answer the question,” he snaps and I’m pretty sure the kid just pissed his pants when the ammonia stench of urine fills the air.
“The chick and the baby. We were supposed to off Hayes’s daughter and snatch the baby,” he sobs and I see Wyatt go stone cold before Miah steps between them and pushes Wyatt back.