SCARLET
I laughed like a fucking madwoman. Even as they sliced at another part of me and kicked me in the mouth. I spat out blood and laughed as some dripped into my nose. God, that burned like a bitch, but I laughed even harder. The world was upside down as I hung from chains that rattled on the floor and dug into my legs.
All I could think was…
Where were my boys?
SEBASTIAN
Two Weeks Earlier
“Sebastian,” Elliot said with a sigh as I continued to line each and every one of those motherfuckers up against the outside of the warehouse. She wasn’t inside when we arrived, and my mind has been racing ever since. She wasn’t there. We didn’t get there in time. And now the assholes that I had lined up like the bad kids at recess were going to pay the price for it.
“Just let him do what he needs to do,” I heard Tristan say behind me.
Too fucking right, I thought to myself.
These fucking assholes took my girl, killed Melody, killed our men, and tricked us into a false location to try and swarm us. They didn’t deserve to live. They didn’t even deserve a quick death. No, I wasn’t going to let them die with a gunshot to the head or the heart. I was going to make them suffer for it.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw both Tristan and Elliot half-heartedly holding their guns towards the line of men. We had overcome them easily, seeing as we had the forethought to bring reinforcements with us. Most of our men that were still with us were inside doing cleanup. I looked back to the dozen or so men I had lined up against the charred outer wall of the warehouse. The fire we had set to the place before hadn’t managed to destroy the entire place, so they had sought out the undamaged areas like rats. I walked down the line of them, tossing and twisting my knife in my hand. I made eye contact with all of them as I made my way past them all.
As I made it to the last man in the line, he gave me a sickly grin and then spat on my boots.
Motherfucker.
“Those were my favorite pair,” I stated blandly. “I guess you wanted to go first since you decided to be the one to poke the bear?” I asked him. His long, stringy black hair was plastered to his face, and blood ran slowly down his forehead. I looked him over, and my eyes snagged on his hands. They were covered in claw marks.
My hand found his throat, and a sick sense of happiness rocketed through me when I heard his skull make contact with the stone wall behind him.
“Did you touch her?” I asked. I felt Tristan and Elliot take a few steps towards me.
“In what way?”
“Did you touch her?” I asked again, slamming him back against the wall by his throat. His eyes rolled back for a moment before he regained full consciousness.
“Oh, I touched her,” he sneered. “My hands were all over that smooth, creamy skin, and I watched her flush under my touch like the needy little gypsy she is. You not fucking her regularly enough? Or is your dick just not good enough for her?” He let out a bark of a laugh and then met my eyes again. “Wait, wait. I bet it’s just because she’s so fucking hungry for dick she can’t help but gag on any that comes near her, right?”
He didn’t get a chance to say anything else because my knife found its way under his chin and up through his mouth. Blood gushed from his lips as I used my other hand to slam his head again into the wall. And again. And again. I threw his head into the stone until I felt his skull crack and blood seep over my fingers. His eyes shut, and his body went limp.
I yanked the knife out of his head and then stepped back, letting him fall to the floor in a heap. I looked up to the next man in line and grinned. I knew I could look like a terrifying bastard if I wanted to. And at that moment, I wanted to.
“He’s pissed himself,” Elliot said, sounding disgusted.
I laughed and walked to stand in front of the guy. He was so scared, he was shaking. Honestly, these people needed to find better men for their gang. This was pathetic. Every single one of them was shaking, pissing themselves, or had tears running down their face. I flipped my bloody knife in the air, letting it spray some blood on the guy in front of me as it twirled and then landed in my palm.
“Quit showboating and just do it already,” Elliot chided from behind me.
“You’re sucking the fun out of it,” I answered, not taking my eyes off the guy in front of me. “They touched our girl, Elliot. Don’t you think that warrants a little playtime?”
“I told him he had free rein,” I heard Tristan say.
“We’re wasting time. We could be using this time to try and find her.” Elliot’s words were like a bucket of ice water thrown over my head. He was right. I was wasting valuable time and resources by slowing down their punishment.
“Alright, I’ll make this quick, then, boys. But just know that I wanted to drag this out for each and every one of you for even daring to look at Scarlet, okay?” Before I finished speaking, I had sliced through the side of pissy pants’ neck. His hands went for his throat as blood sprayed and gushed through his fingers. He fell to the ground and bled out at my feet.
“Are you killing them all?
“Yes, Tristan,” I said with an annoyed sigh. “Why? Do we need to keep any of them?”
“Don’t you think it would be prudent to do so?” he asked. I turned around to look at him.