A Promise of Torment (A Violent Agenda)

“Fine.” I’m going to have to think of another way to get Griffin on board. Viola is being extra stubborn today. “At least let me do the talking once we find him,” I say with a sigh.

“Fuck talking.” She snorts. “He knows where Rebecca is and if the fucker has done anything to Jude…” She stops talking.

“Jude?” I say. Yet another boyfriend to deal with.

She looks over at me, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “When Kristian had me locked up, he was threatening Jude. That was why Dino didn’t kill him.”

“Jude can take care of himself,” I say bluntly.

Her brow furrows. “No one has heard from him.”

I nod at that, taking the information in. “Do you remember what I said about reducing your liabilities? You seem to be collecting them.”

She scowls. “I’m not in the mood for a lecture right now, Dante.”

“Then get in the mood,” I say simply.

We both lapse into silence after that. It’s welcome after all the talking I’ve had to endure. Talking is overrated.

There should be less of it.

Billingsgate fish marketis closed when we get there, since it’s late in the day. It makes it easier for Griffin to spot our approach. All I have to do is park up and wait. After a few minutes, one of Griffin’s men walks toward the car and taps on the window. I wind it down, letting in a gust of air and the smell of fish. Griffin’s guy tosses a buzzing phone through the window and onto my lap.

Viola dives for it first but I beat her to it. There’s an advantage to having lightning-fast reflexes.

“There’d better be a perfectly good reason you’re parked outside my market,” Griffin says down the line as soon as I place it to my ear.

“Viola was the one who got Pascal out. You owe her,” I say directly.

“Is that so?”

“Just tell us where Rebecca is, and we’ll be on our way.” Out the corner of my eye, Griffin’s man is hovering. I close the window. Viola is making eyes at me. She wants me to ask about Jude. If I do that before asking about Rebecca, Griffin might use him as leverage.

“I don’t know where Rebecca is,” he says after a pause.

“You don’t know where your men took her after they picked her up from Beckbridge House?”

“Hey, I was just doing what Adrien paid me to do. We dropped her off at his house after we collected. That was the deal.” He sounds sincere so I try a different tact.

“And the Marques boy? I hear your boys are treating him like one of their own.” I can’t ignore Viola anymore so I place the phone on speaker so she can hear firsthand what his answer to that is.

“He’s a Marques, isn’t he? Albert’s boy. Of course I’m looking out for him.”

“That’s not what Kristian said,” V says sharply. “He said that all he had to do was give the order and you’d execute him.” There’s a dangerous glint in her eye that precedes one of her rash decisions. Her hand is on the door handle of the Mustang, ready to bolt.

I place a palm on her thigh and massage it. That startles her. I enjoy doing that a little too much.

“Kristian thinks a lot of himself, doesn’t he?” Griffin says. “He had Pascal. I couldn’t risk him hurting her.”

“Does that mean Jude is safe?”

“As fucking houses,” Griffin replies. “Just keep me out of your mess and your boy will be home in no time at all.”

“You touch a fucking—”

“Done,” I say, cutting Viola off before she can say anything more scathing. I switch the phone off, lower the window, and throw it out to Griffin’s guy still outside the car.

Viola glances at me, eyes narrowed into slits. “I wasn’t fucking finished.”