Page 24 of Revenge & Truth

“Ah, that I do know,” I pointed out. “Nico Decock is the name on the property and business license. I want to know who you think we should be scared of because you and I both know it’s not Nico.”

“If you don’t know, then I’m not saying. He’d kill me if he found out I squealed.” Newbie clammed up now he’d realized the mistake he almost made.

“Hmm… see, the thing is that would only be a problem if I planned to let you live. Since I came here on a mission to destroy this little operation and burn it down in retribution for slights made against me and mine, I think the bigger threat here is little old me,” I shared, laying out the facts.

“W-who are you?” Newbie stuttered.

“Damn, I forgot to lead with that again,” I swore under my breath. “Since you’re a little tied up, I can’t shake your hand, but I’m Astin, Astin Caprioni.”

The man paled, and sweat broke out on his forehead. “Oh fuck.”

“So you have heard of me. That’s good… it makes things so much easier. Now did you want to rethink telling me who runs this place?” I pressed, cocking my head.

Newbie audibly gulped before shaking his head. “No,” he squeaked out. “Knowing it’s you makes this so much worse.”

“Why would that be? I’ve never set foot in this city before. What grudge could someone possibly hold against me?”

“I’m not going to tell you anything, so go ahead and kill me… save yourself the trouble of wasting your time,” Newbie informed me, his whole body shaking.

My hand shot out, and I dug my fingers into the hinge of his jaw, prying his mouth open. There, tucked in his cheek, was a pill that started to foam, telling me it was a poison of some sort. “I need help over here.”

Ryker appeared at my side, peering over my shoulder. “Fuck, the capsule is already broken. We have no idea how much poison he’s already ingested. He could croak any second or start seizing.”

“Get it out of his mouth. If he hasn’t swallowed much, I might have a chance to get something out of him,” I ordered.

Ryker pulled on a leather glove and scooped the pill out of Newbie’s mouth, tossing it on the floor. The shaking got worse until it became a full-blown seizure. Furious at myself for not even thinking about the chance of a kill order, I stood and shot the man, ending the convulsions. Marching back to my first victim, I kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious so I could yank his mouth open and check for a false tooth or anywhere else a pill might be found.

He was clean.

Yanking open his pants, I reached in and grabbed his ball sack and twisted with all the anger I had over my fuckup. It did the trick, and the previously unconscious man was now awake and screaming bloody murder.

“You fucking bitch, get your goddamn hands off me,” he bellowed.

I released him only to grab him by the throat. “Oh, stop your moaning, you big fucking baby. I need you to listen up and listen good, since you now take me more seriously. Nico owns this shithole, but the name I’m looking for is whose name is on your fucking paycheck. We both know this building should be condemned ten times over. It’s a front! So all I need is a name, and I won’t kill you by tying a rope around your balls and slamming the door shut. You feel me?”

Realizing his face was turning purple, I loosened my hold just enough to let him get some air.

“Blink twice if you’re gonna tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, I’ll assume you’re telling me to fuck off and go with plan B. Do you know how long it takes someone to bleed out from the testicular artery?” I asked, waiting a moment as he continued to stare into my eyes. “Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that either, but we can learn together. Although you won’t be alive to hear the results, so that’s a bit of a bummer for you.”

The man started blinking rapidly, almost as if trying to give me Morse code. I pulled out my gun and positioned my knee on his sternum, using the pressure to keep him right where I wanted him. Easing off the pressure, I let him cough a few times before I pressed the gun to his head.

“You have a name for me?” I inquired.

“I don’t have the name of the person you’re looking for, but I can give you the name of someone who can. My role was strictly to manage the club. I was kept out of everything else in case shit like this happened,” he explained. “You need to find Nico, but you should also talk to a dirty cop named Kody White. He used to work in the city and would keep people off our backs, but he got transferred to your territory. Only reason I know he’s the guy to hit up is because he set up the police raid for when your boys came the other night. He knew they were coming and gave us a heads up.”

Lowering the gun, I sat up a little straighter. “Braxton, Atty, could you please come over here for a moment?”

They both walked over but didn’t say anything, and I grabbed my buddy’s face and forced him to look in their direction. “Tell me, did you lay a finger on either of them?”

My bestest bud started to shiver, and his breathing became even more erratic than it had when I was choking him out. When a tear rolled down his cheek, I had my answer. He was terrified because admitting meant he would gain him a horrible death. However, staying silent didn’t do him any favors either.

“He is definitely one of the men who started the fight,” Atticus shared. “He’s the one who gave me the black eye because I wasn’t expecting the brawl.”

Releasing my hold on my pal’s face, he looked up at me. “What else do you want to know? Please, I know I’m going to die, but I don’t want to bleed out from my balls. Anything but that.”

“Is Harvey O’Hagan the person you are now dealing with since you dropped us like a one-night stand?” I asked, testing to see if he’d be truthful in the face of death.

“Yes,” he answered shakily. “He comes once a month and takes whatever drugs and women we have left after you drop off our shipment. Harvey also pays off anyone who tries to shut us down because he needs access to the basement.”