“Fuck me, baby. You make me want to wrap you in bubble wrap,” I complain.
The sounds of dull edged weapons hitting skin and flesh being sunk into by sharp objects becomes my favorite kind of music as I get Silva her meds with some water in the backpack that I have. I sing the lyrics toBodiesby Drowning Pool in my head as I do so, because it fits perfectly and I’ve never bragged about being well adjusted.
“I’m going to leave Izzy with you, baby,” I murmur, my lips pressed to her ear so only she can hear me. “I need to steal Aidento help with clean up, and I actually have to arrest people instead of kill them. Please have fun for me, okay?”
“You poor, sweet, man,” she teases me. It’s nice to see that she can still give me shit, even though I can see the shadows of pain in her eyes. “Go be a badass. You probably should take your mask off.”
Smirking, I pull off my mask, happy to feel the cooler air on my face as I shove it in one of my pockets.
“Do you mind if I go with you?” Syrus asks, looking uncomfortable. “I want to check Gideon’s office before the government gets there. I need to see if there’s any information on my sister there.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kyren offers. “I need to erase all information of the women we just removed from the property, as well as the Widows. I don’t want them to use any of that information to track them down, not even for questioning.”
“Sounds like we have a plan,” I say, looking back down at Silva. Since she looks kissable, I drop my head and kiss her hard. “Thank you for staying alive, baby.”
“Happy to still be here. It was touch and go for a second,” she admits.
“Should we wake this asshole up?” Izzy asks, setting down the car battery on the ground.
“I want to see this,” I chuckle, watching as he attaches a clamp to Gideon’s bare foot.
Izzy wasted no time earlier stripping the man of both his dignity and his clothes, because it’s much easier to torture a man without the accouterments of his formalwear.
The Widows step back from beating the fuck out of Beth and Viv to watch as Izzy attaches the other cable to the car battery, grinning collectively as Gideon’s body begins to shake and jerk. His eyes open wide, and his mouth drops into a scream.
“Rise and shine,” Briar murmurs.
Needless to say, none of us were very careful with Gideon, Beth, or Viv when bringing them down here. Syrus made sure Beth hit every fucking stair as he dragged her behind him by the hair. A few bumps and bruises aren’t much in the karmic debt scale that these three owe the universe.
Yet, Gideon never woke up and I had to check for a fucking pulse to ensure he hadn’t died of a heart attack. Whatever he looked like ten years ago, time hasn’t been kind. He’s going gray, his stomach reminds me of a tire hanging over his waist, and his voice is raspy from too many cigars.
There’s no more hiding. The Widows are here for their vengeance, and judging by their fierce expressions, they will not go easy as they take it.
“Hey G,” Silva says with a cruel smile, patting my chest as she leaves me to pick up a huge hunting knife. “How ya doing, ole buddy, ole pal?”
Izzy removes the clip from the car battery, but leaves the other on Gideon’s foot as both a warning and a promise that he won’t hesitate to use it again.
“You should have been put down like dogs!” Gideon yells, breathing hard as he looks around the room. He’s the only one of our hanging prisoners in the room not currently gagged, and that’s only because he would have choked on it with the electricity he had coursing through his body a moment ago.
Death would be too kind for him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Silva shrugs, digging the weapon into his chest and drawing it down so slowly it almost doesn’t appear to be moving. The blood bubbles up and slowly begins to flow, as if his body doesn’t realize it’s been cut yet. “We aren’t going to lay on our backs, submit, or accept anything less than our freedom. Not ever.”
“You’ll do what you’re?—”
Picking up the first thing available to me, I walk over and swing a bat at his head, enjoying the way the metal bounces off his skull.
“No alpha barks!” I yell. “Bad puppy. Behave for the nice psycho omegas.”
Lexi laughs at my words, but shrugs because I’m not wrong.
“Have fun, ladies. Isidro has a branding kit he’s keen to try out. He’ll set it up for you so you can burn all your rage permanently into Gideon’s skin,” I say. “I have to deal with some red tape bullshit and play nice. I’m going out to lock the entrance to the basement behind me. I don’t want anyone to ruin your fun.”
I pout because I’m dramatic before glancing at my brother who nods. The basement entrance is simply too close for comfort in this estate to all the action happening upstairs. The safety of the people in this room is important to me.
Except Gideon, Beth, and Viv. They can fuck all the way off.
My brother walks over to say goodbye to Lexi, and then I’m walking out of the basement, leaving two pieces of my heart behind.
