Raven: Gems of Wolfe Island Two
Page 5
He widens his eyes, and his lips quiver.
“You’re right about one thing. I am Lucifer Raven, but I’m betting you don’t know how powerful I am, or my actual identity.”
“You’re a drug dealer. From LA.”
“You think so? Is that all you know?”
“I…”
“Just as I suspected. You may know my alias, but you don’t know exactly who I am.”
“All I know is that if I tell Katelyn who you are, she’ll go running.”
“You think she’ll believe you after what you’ve done to her?”
No reply. Not that I expect one. I’m right on target, and we both know it.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I say. “You’re going to stay the hell away from Katelyn. Because if you don’t, I will make sure you pay in the worst possible way for what you did to her on that island.”
“Wait—”
I shake my head. “You’re done talking. You’re going to show me where you live, what you’re doing here, and then you’re going to tell me exactly how you avoided prison. Is that fucking clear?”
He nods slightly, his lips still quivering.
“You’ve made me miss my bus, asshole, so now we’re going to your place.”
Pollock lives in a studio not unlike my own. I sit in a chair, my gun still trained on him.
“Start talking.”
“This remains between you and me,” he says.
“You really think you’re in a position to make deals?”
He looks down at his lap. “I’m not proud of what I’ve done.”
“Right. I’ve got some alligator land in Florida I’d like to sell you, too.”
“I’m serious.” He lifts his head, but he doesn’t quite meet my gaze. “I… I gave the FBI information in exchange for immunity.”
“I see. And is that what you’re not proud of? Or is it the fact that you tortured Katelyn on that island?”
“All of it.”
“Why did you get immunity? What did you do to convince the Feds that you should have the right to walk around society?”
“I never touched her.”
My God, I could murder this degenerate with my bare hands. That anger… That slithering anger…
So much harsher than before.
I steel myself. “Again…let’s talk about that alligator land in the swamp.”
“I’m serious,” he says. “I never touched her. I swear to God.”
“So you went to a tropical island—a known hunting ground—where millionaires of your ilk got to pay to hunt women, to rape women, to torture women, and you’re telling me you never touched Katelyn.”
“That is exactly what I’m telling you. If you are who you say you are, you know the FBI would not give immunity to someone who was a risk.”
“What did you do to her, then? Katelyn obviously hates you. What the fuck did you do to her?”
He sinks his head down, his chin touching his chest.
“I’m waiting. Again, if you know who I am, you know I will not have a problem pulling this trigger.”
He lifts his head with a gasp. “Have you…killed before?”
“We’re not talking about me, dickhead. We’re talking about you. Katelyn hates you. You scare the hell out of her. Now you tell me… What the fuck did you do to her?”
“I… I can’t talk about this.”
“You’d better start.”
He remains silent, and part of me is okay with that. I’m not sure I want to hear what he did to Katelyn. If he truly never hurt her in the physical sense, then what he did must have been emotional abuse, mental abuse.
Sometimes that can be worse. I should know.
“I’m ageing here, shithead.”
He looks up, again not meeting my gaze. Best I can tell he’s staring at the wall above me.
“I have issues.”
“Don’t we all. Cry me a fucking river.”
“I… I can’t tell you what I did. I just can’t. But I will tell you that I never harmed her.”
“You clearly did.”
“Perhaps, but not in the way you think.”
“Mental abuse is still abuse.”
“I—”
“Whatever you did to her, you obviously did without her consent.”
Again…silence.
And again, it occurs to me that I’m not sure I want to know what he did to her. If he actually says it, I may pull this fucking trigger.
If I do that, my life is effectively over.
Hell, it’s probably over anyway. Once I get back to LA, try to make things right, someone will kill me.
This slug of a human being isn’t worth my life. But he’s worth Katelyn’s life. Of course, if I shoot him, I’ll be dragged off to prison, and I won’t be here to protect Katelyn.
“Katelyn obviously means enough to you that you came after me. That you researched me and found out who I was.”
No reply.
“How did you find out?”
“I can’t reveal my sources.”
“You seem to keep forgetting who’s holding the gun.”
“They’ll kill me.”
“And do you think I won’t?”
“I’m thinking that if you were going to, you already would have.”
He’s not wrong.
Man, I need to up my game. I’ve only been Luke Johnson for less than a year, but already, part of Lucifer Raven is gone.