Page 43 of Unbreakable Thread

Daniel’s smirk dissolves. The mob boss doesn’t like to get pushed around. Neither do I. I know I’m playing with fire, especially when he has a torture chamber down here. I’m not one to back down. I told myself years ago that I wouldn’t let myself get pushed around.

His nostrils flare, and his jaw clenches. His presence fills the room. I don’t flinch when the cold knife swipes my face. “Patience, Cano. I know you want to fuck him up. And you will, but don’t ever fucking disrespect me in front of my men. Remember, I can take your woman from you. She did eye me with curiosity.” He laughs, licking his top lip. “I can blow her mind between the bedsheets.”

Every vein in my body strains. Hot blood, furious pressure—I am about to do something I cannot undo. I don’t give a shit who he is; no one talks about my woman like that. I’m about to go nose to nose with him and take the knife in his hand to slice his fucking throat.

Drake pulls me back. “He’s goading you.”

Daniel laughs unapologetically, stepping back. “You must be Drake.”

“We don’t have time for introductions. I came here to beat the shit out of that asshole you have tied up,” Drake thunders, mirroring my annoyance.

“Good. He needs to pay for his crimes. Rainey wasn’t his only victim. Jason was released from jail two years after the accident with Rainey. The system’s revolving door keeps spinning him back onto the streets, despite what he does to those kids. They say my world is corrupt, but I serve justice the right way with a bullet to the head. On the other hand, the government doesn’t.” Daniel rips the tape off Jason’s mouth.

“Help, please.”

My laugh bubbles up from somewhere dark, a sound I barely recognize. My knuckles connect with his face, the bone beneath his eye yielding with a crunch. His head snaps sideways, a strand of saliva arcing through the air.

“Take your pick.” Enzo, Daniel’s right-hand man, gestures to the torture devices laid out. As much as I want to use them, I’d rather use my fists.

“Untie him,” I order, and Enzo looks over to Daniel.

He nods.

I spit on his face. “Remember me?”

“No…no,” Jason stutters.

“Max Cano. I know you know who I am, and I’m going to beat the shit out of you until you’re bleeding out. You’re going to pay for what you did to her and the other kids. When you leave here, you’ll be unrecognizable.” I grab him from his collared shirt and land my knuckles on his jaw, then his ribs. He flies across the room. Every hit is for my Sunshine, the fear she had every time he was around. I’ll never forget that day at the pool. The blood spilling from her tiny frame haunts me still. The pain in my chest was unbearable. It was like the air was sucked right out of me. I thought she died right in front of me.

I reach for Jason and drag him on the floor toward Drake. He cries like a little bitch and tries to run. “Here, brother, hold him while I fuck him up.”

Drake wears an unhinged smile. “Save some for me. I want some clean flesh to damage.”

One of Jason’s eyes is already swollen shut, a purple-black plum against his ashen face. He yells for help, his voice cracking on every syllable, wasting his miserable breath as if anyone is going to save him. Drake grips Jason’s collar, knuckles white with rage, lifting until the toes of Jason’s leather shoes barely scrape against the cracked concrete below.

I take my anger out on this asshole, blow after blow. Every hit to Jason’s gut and to his face is for Sol, my Sol. My Rainey. Not for me because those marks on my back were to protect her, and I’d do it over and over again for her.

I’m heaving now. Blood spills down his face as he hunches, wrapping his arm around his stomach. Daniel and his men watch as if they were at the theater.

“My turn.” Drake’s lips turn into a smirk as he drags him back to the chair he was in. He runs his fingers through his hair, excitement visible on his face. He then pulls out his pocketknife and makes a deep cut on the side of Jason’s chin. Daniel watches Drake with curiosity. It shouldn’t surprise me that Drake does it as if he were slicing into a ribeye steak like he’s done this a million times. He’s a lot more unhinged than I am.

“Please stop!” Jason begs.

“Did you stop when you beat us? How about Sol?” Drake kicks the chair, and Jason falls back.

“Please let me go. I’m s…s-sorry.”

“Nah, dickhead, remember when she screamed for you to stop?” I seethe with fury.

When blood coats his head, I pull Drake away. As much as I want the fucker dead, I won’t have him croak on my watch. I don’t trust Daniel not to use it to blackmail me.

“He’s all yours,” I tell the Underground boss. “Thanks, man.”

Daniel nods. “I hope this is your redemption, that moment when the weight lifts from your shoulders.” His eyes hold mine, earnest and warm—and I know his world too well to trust either.

“It does,” I admit, and Drake gives him a nod as we shut the door behind us.

The second the door clicks shut, gunshots ricochet inside—three sharp cracks that sound like firecrackers in a tin can. My body tenses, waiting for the instinct to flee to kick in, but instead, I find myself walking away with measured steps, shoulders relaxed, knowing he’s sprawled on that grimy floor, blood pooling under him. He won’t hurt another soul now. Satisfaction spreads through me like warm whiskey—I finally fucked him up for what he did to Sol. He took her from me—her memory.