What do you mean?” I asked, my tone would impress a priest.
“Her daddy’s money.”
I frowned. “How would killing her get you her father’s money?”
“Look, as much I’m enjoying this little chit-chat, I’ve got places to be, people to kill, and money to claim. So, if you could just do us both a favor and drop dead, I’ll be forever in your debt. Oh, wait, you don’t need favors where you’re going, right.” He snorted out a laugh.
I pulled the trigger, the sharp sound vibrating around the room at the same time Easton jumped, grabbing his ear or rather what was left of it.
He howled for a second before glaring at me. “What the fuck? You shot my ear,” he screamed as blood gushed down his neck, quickly turning his shirt bright red.
“It’s only the start,” I gritted out. “Now, answer the fucking question.”
Groaning, he reached for his jacket he’d thrown on the counter next to him and bunched it against his ear. “Dav—Ashrika is my half-sister. Her father, my mother. Do the math.” He sneered.
I thought back to my conversation with Rika. She hadn’t known her father until that night she discovered the truth at Trent’s place. Her mother’s letter said she was kidnapped at birth.
“I can see the brain fry from here.” He laughed. “You’re trying to figure out this shit. Would you look at that, for once the mighty Zayne Morrone is stumped,” he scoffed. Well, kill me if you want. You’re not getting anything mor—”
I pulled the trigger. He howled as his other ear joined its twin on the floor. “Wrong answer, asshole.” The pain in my side flared. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to stifle it. “I will kill you, but slow torture is far worse than death and I have time. Plenty of it.”
“Not if you’re fucking dead before me,” he snarled. “I can see you biting down on the pain. I know you, remember. We’ve been through far worse shit than this.”
“True, but that doesn’t stop me from watching you bleed to death.” I cocked a brow. When he said nothing, I blew out a frustrated breath and leaned forward. “Tell me what I want, and maybe I’ll grant you some mercy. Kill you faster.”
He clenched his jaw then as if recognizing there was only one way out of his dilemma, answered, “I duped Raj Singh, Ashrika’s biological father.”
“I got that, move on.”
“I was ten when Daniels, my father, kidnapped Ashrika the day after she was born. He wanted revenge on Singh for sleeping with my mother when I was six. She never got over him and Daniels took it to heart, became obsessed with Singh and his family. Then he found out they were going to have twins.”
“So you’re not related to Ashrika?” I asked. He nodded. “She lived with you and your parents?” He nodded again. “Did Daniels hurt her?”
“No. The bastard fell in love with her. Treated her like a daughter and me like shit. Sent me to go live with my mother’s sister. I swore I’d get revenge on Ashrika and I did.”
Rage spiked my blood. “How?”
“I presented myself to Singh as his son. Told him I was the result of his affair with my mother. Bastard didn’t even bother with a DNA test, just accepted me. Said he was sorry he hadn’t done it sooner. I never told him about Ashrika. She was to be my leverage if I ever needed one,” his maniacal chuckle filled the room. “It happened a lot sooner than I thought. My mother developed cancer of the pancreas. Just before her death, she told Ashrika about her true identity and wrote a letter to Singh, telling him about Ashrika and begging his forgiveness. Shocked and excited, Singh told me about it.”
“Did Singh meet Ashrika?”
“Two coffees or luncheons, who the fuck cares?”
“I do. Now answer the fucking question. Or one of your balls will bat between those ears or what’s left of them.” I gestured to the scattered pieces of cartilage next to him.
“Yeah, Singh met with her. When he returned was blabbing about telling her name and giving her some fucking pendant. Their next meet was for him to bring her to meet her sister.”
“What happened?”
“He couldn’t tell Trent’s wife. With the pregnancy complications crap, he feared the anxiety might be detrimental. I had to act fast.” Wincing against the pain, he sank to the floor and alternated the jacket between his ears. “I hired an assassin. Arranged for the father to be incapacitated, not killed because I knew he hadn’t changed his will over to me yet. Only thing was, Singh, the fucker, gave his attorney proxy and told him about Ashrika which meant she had to die. I had to wait for her to be declared dead before I inherited everything as the sole heir. That fucking attorney kept stalling, presenting evidence she was alive. All in all, I’d done well. Pretty smart, don’t you think?”
“Yet here you are. About to die. Ironically, by my hand. You didn’t anticipate she’d live, did you?” I mocked.
Narrowing his eyes at me, he yelled, “Fuck you, Zayne. Why the fuck did you save her? You were never the sentimental type. Losing your touch, are you?” If it were possible for looks to kill, I’d be splattered on the wall behind me.
I uttered a caustic laugh. “Maybe if you’d dumped her somewhere else, you might’ve gotten your way. Did you actually think setting me up would work?”
“The assassin I hired was supposed to take her out as well, then I found out you were around. That you’d finally made your presence known. I decided to take care of her my way. One stone, two birds,” he grunted, wincing in pain. He closed his eyes, pressing his hands to his ears. “First, I prettied her up a little. After the boys busted her up a bit too much, it didn’t look like a random attack. Heroin overdose made her look like an addict,” with each word he uttered, I clenched my fist tighter and tighter until I drew blood.
