“I-I-I-I can-ca-can’t. Th-they’ll k-kill my f-family,” he finally gets out.
“That sounds very much like a you problem. This is your last chance,” I grit out.
Rich’s pained voice croaks, “I’ll tell you everything I know. Please, just make him stop.”
When I glance in Wyatt’s direction, I see he’s begun to smash along Rich’s femur to his kneecap with a mallet. Skin lies there, no bone left to support it.
“Awww, I was just starting to finally have fun,” Wyatt croons.
Ignoring him, I address Rich, “Wise man, start spilling.”
“We were hired to grab the girl,” he starts, but I cut him off.
“We already fucking know that. Get to what we don’t know, or Wy will go back to turning your limbs into mashed potatoes.”
Gulping, he takes in a choppy breath but proceeds, “We were told she was to be taken and that her presence here is fucking with the plans of some important people.”
Lev chimes in, “What important people? Who are they?”
“Filiae Bellonae. I only have their name. We don’t know anything else about them. You can’t find anything about them anywhere,” he rushes out.
“Why are they interested in Ariah?” Owen snarls as he continues to filet Paul.
Rich eyes flit to the pieces of his partner being dissected. Owen’s knives are sharp, so they cut through skin like he’s slicing butter, not flesh.
Rearing my fist back, I hit him in the side of his head, watching as it bobbles back in my direction.
“Focus, or we’re done here,” I demand.
“They just said she’s important to their cause. We were supposed to take her by any means necessary.” Blood drips from the cut at the side of his face, and he begins to sob.
He knows his end is coming. There’s nothing more humbling to a man than his last moments on earth. Knowing there’s nothing he can do to prolong his stay here. Death comes for us all.
“That’s it. That’s everything I know,” he murmurs.
Patting his face, I reply, “Good.” Then turning to Wyatt, I say, “He’s all yours.”
Rich’s protests begin immediately.
“You promised me a quick death,” he seethes.
Wyatt’s whole body shakes with laughter. Amused that the dumb fuck didn’t pay attention to my actual words. “No, he promised you a swifter end. This means as long as I kill you before Owen kills your buddy over there, he’s kept his word. Now keep still. I wouldn’t want to hit something important just yet,” the twisted fucker says.
I leave him and Owen to have their fun.
Screams follow me as I head over to Lev.
“Have you heard anything about this Filiae Bellonae before?” I ask, running my fingers through the black waves of my hair, and sit down.
“No, and so far, I can’t find anything on them, but now we have a name and an account number. I’m sure I’ll have something soon enough.”
He stops typing, bewilderment lines his face, and his jawbone flexes. He takes another moment, collecting his thoughts, then speaks, “Why the fuck are they after Ariah? Who the hell could she be that she’d be so important to this organization?”
He’s asking all the questions playing on repeat in my mind, since the first package was delivered to her.
“I don’t know, but I do know that her being in this town is no coincidence, as we’ve been saying. So, we need to find out more about her. Obviously, there’s more to her story than we’ve been told.”
Whoever Ariah Elaine Bishop is, if she’s here to destroy us, she’ll regret the day she was born. But if the niggling in the back of my mind is true, then she might need our protection. That would also make me wrong about her, but I’m not ready to fully believe that theory.
