“Rolland, I’m not going to lie, it’s gonna be really hard. But I promise you, any sounds you make are likely to make us angrier. So, if you think about it, Kay is trying to do you a kindness.”
Kaydon had to stifle his laugh. Seth was an excellent negotiator.
“We could kill you quickly, and you could be dead in a pile surrounded by our smiling faces. Or…”
Seth let the threat hang in the air. Kaydon watched as Seth glanced up at the ceiling, looking like he was searching for the words. “Or, we could kill you excruciatingly, exquisitely slowly.”
“That’s a tongue twister, brother,” Kaydon said. “Say that three times fast.”
Seth whispered the three words under his breath in rapid succession. “Excruciatingly, exquisitely, slowly.”
“Excruciatingly, exquisitely, slowly.”
“Excruciatingly, exquisitely, slowly.”
Rolland’s nostrils flared. Kaydon looked into his eyes as they warred between fear and anger.
“Fuck you three, the Triune is going to find you and kill you. Not to mention make an example of that bitch of yours.”
Seth drew his blade, and it was embedded in Rolland’s shoulder in record time.
Rolland howled in pain, and Kaydon shoved the gag into his mouth. Securing it with a round of duct tape.
“What did I tell you?” Seth said. The tenderness previously in his voice long gone.
Negotiation time was over. Rolland never really had a choice, and he probably knew that.
Kaydon reached over his brother’s shoulder and played with the newly embedded blade.
“She’s not our bitch, we’re hers,” he said, pulling the dagger out and lodging it in the same spot on the opposite side.
The man shook under him, coughing and gasping for air.
Bryson came into view, and Seth stood up, giving him free access.
“Rolland, I have to apologize, we never really got a chance to talk much at my father’s house.”
Kaydon watched his brother move closer, his posture deliciously menacing. “But I have some time now, if you’re free?”
The silence stretched on the drive home. Adria was in the car ahead of them, and Kaydon sat in the front seat, while Bryson drove and Seth sat in the back.
The three of them had tried to get information from Rolland, but whether from loyalty, stubbornness, or just your run of the mill, he didn’t know shit; Rolland didn’t have anything useful to say.
That didn’t mean the three of them hadn’t made the last moments of his life utterly unbearable. Old habits fell into place as easily as breathing. Back then, the Nine called often—summoning Bryson to deliver judgment. They never touched women or children, but any man who betrayed the Nine? The three of them welcomed the opportunity with grim satisfaction.
Today was different from all those calls. Today it was personal.
Rolland had been on Kaydon’s hit list since that day in Callen’s office, and Kaydon expected it was the same for Seth and Bryson.
Once they had gotten in full swing, Kaydon noticed Bryson started to hang back. Seth had no issues taking the torch and running with it at a hundred miles per hour. That little gremlin was next-level deranged when he wanted to be. Kaydon also couldn’t help but notice Adria’s absence from it all.
He was worried about her. She was so strong and put together, but if you really took the time to look, she could be fragile, too.
It wasn’t a weakness. It was her feeling comfortable showing herself to them. Kaydon saw the changes; saw the way she was opening up. After she had fallen asleep in their arms, Seth had told him about their time together, and Kaydon could not have been happier to hear about it.
Lately, Bryson hadn’t been willing to play. So, it was especially great to hear that Seth was connecting with her on that level.
To Kaydon, every moment of connection seemed like stolen time none of them deserved. With this price on their head, there was no chance of normalcy. All of them were on guard, and who could blame them? But Bryson, he seemed particularly distant.
