A hard grin flickered over his face, but it didn’t match the rest of him. His eyes were dead. “You need to read the information for yourself. Tell me what you want me to do with it.”
A scream sounded from inside the warehouse.
Lassiter pushed off from the wall, glancing behind him at the warehouse because just on the other side of that wall someone waswaiting for me. “I’ll keep a watch on the bill and the study, but what our tech guys are telling me is that it’s happening.”
A second scream came.
“Have fun with that. I’ll keep in touch.”
I watched him go. Change was inevitable. I was proof of that because of how I recruited and took over territories, but Lassiter was alarmed enough for him to make a visit in person. When a third scream sounded, I pocketed the USB and headed inside.
I had work to do.
Two of my men straightened upright when I stepped inside. They moved away from the man tied up, with his feet barely touching the floor from where a rope was holding him in place.
Ashton Walden.
His head hung down. Blood dripped out from one of his sides.
I gave a nod for my men to leave and began rolling up the sleeves of my own Henley.
I took hold of his hair and pulled his head up so he could see me, but also to surveil the damage already done to him. One black eye. A split lip. His cheekbone looked smashed, but for torture, that was the prerequisite. Even Ashton Walden himself would agree. A certain amount of maiming was necessary for a good torture session to be had.
“I was told on the way here that it was remarkably easy for them to take you. You really should always travel with your guards, Walden. Especially now when we’re at war.” My tone was chiding. Taunting.
He tried to glare at me through one of his eyes. The other remained shut. “Fuck you.”
I punched one of his good ribs and heard a crack. I flashed him a grin. “Satisfying, right?” I hit him again, and yep. A definite break. That rib was broken for sure.
He would’ve doubled over if he could’ve. Instead, he just tried to jerk away from me. A hoarse curse that was half of a scream ripped from his mouth. “I swear to Go—”
“Now, now.” I placed a finger against his mouth, hushing him.
He tried to bite my finger off, and I stepped back, grinning.
A different man would’ve been concerned about the emptiness he just saw in one of his employees’ eyes, someone who grew up with him. He would’ve been disturbed by his own stalking tendency and his disregard to break into a home and violate it, walking through it to watch a certain woman sleep. I wasn’t that man. But this, causing pain, I feltthisemotion.
I fixed Ashton with a hard look. “You like torturing. Correct? That’s what my research says about you. You like to enact the pain, while your counterpart is the planner, and I’m not talking about that woman of yours. I’m referring to your best friend. Tristian West is the thinker. He thinks long-term. You’re the doer, but that research is shortsighted. Isn’t it? If it came down to it, if I really hurt someone Tristian West cared about, I bet he would enjoy enacting revenge. Wouldn’t he? I wonder what I would need to do to enrage him enough?”
Picking up a knife, I went to him.
He swallowed at the sight, his eyes skirting between the knife and my face. “He’ll gut you, you know. You won’t even see him coming.”
“Maybe.” I trailed the tip of the knife across his chest. “That’s a cute little fiancée you have. Molly Easter.”
He paled again, but my words invigorated him. He tried breaking free from his restraints. I caught his chair, holding him in place. He tried swinging out at me, but it was a futile attempt. He could’ve hurt himself in the process, but I didn’t see that stopping someone like Ashton Walden.
His head reared back up, and he snarled, “I’m going to fucking kill you, Lane. If you touch Molly—I swear to Go—”
He wasn’t hiding his emotions anymore. He was letting them out, and I was reveling in it. I wanted to see everything he felt inside. I wanted to understand the inner workings of this man.
I gave him a moment. That was the usual thing to do? Blake would’ve known. I was guessing here. I was doing my best. After a fewminutes, I leaned forward and dropped my voice, “You probably need time to process your emotions. You’re upset. I can see that.”
I waited, letting him work out his aggression.
He was relaying how much he wanted to flay my face open while I was alive. That would be interesting to witness. There were a few other threats that intrigued me. He wanted to disembowel me. I wasn’t sure about that one, though. He kept sputtering away until he began coughing up blood.
I frowned. That would cut our fun in half.
