“Daniel came up the south side, where there was less action and he’s with Addison now.”
I hear Jase’s words, I know I do, but they don’t register.
This man with the sick smile on his knees in front me, he conspired to hurt her. My stomach churns at the thought of how narrowly Addison and Aria escaped being hurt, or worse.
The first punch to his jaw, I don’t even realize came from me. Not even as the skin across my knuckles splitting sends a pain up my arm. Again and again, I land punches across his face, listening to the cracking of bone in the deafening silence that fills the room.
The pulse of my racing blood is all I can hear. That and the sound of the man spitting blood across the floor as I grab him by the collar and roll him on his back to crouch on top of him. With his hands cuffed behind him, his back arches and he tries to roll back to his side, clenching and giving me daggers through his narrowed eyes.
“Who hired you?” I grit out the question and a beat passes, then another. He huffs a breath through his nose and the corners of his lips pick up in an asymmetric grin, displaying a ring of crimson blood around his teeth.
The fingers of my right hand crush his throat, forcing it to the ground and feeling his blood rush beneath my grip as I slam my fist into his face again. His eye is swollen and when I punch him again, I hear his nose crack and watch blood seep around his eyes, making them black although not nearly as black as the depth of his irises.
“How did you get past my men?” I scream the question, bringing my face close to his. The words tear up my throat, grating as they go and leaving a searing pain. All I can see is Aria, surrounded by men in black hoodies and before he can even answer, I slam my head into his, hearing the sickening crunch of his broken bones grinding against one another from the impact.
I have to release him, to get up and walk around him, staring at the man on the ground and picturing Aria standing over another just like him.
They got too close. Too fucking close.
“That one… that one I’d love to answer.” I barely make out the words, they’re spoken so softly. He coughs up blood, but then rests his head down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. The man sways, barely coherent, but the smile still wishes to stay on his lips. It falters as he blinks slowly, his consciousness failing him.
Licking my lower lip, I steady my breath and bend down to get closer to him, gripping the back of his head. I grip onto his skull as I tug at his hair and force him to look at me.
“Tell me,” I utter the demand gravely and his eyes flash with something. A look of delicious contentment. It’s only then I realize how much I’ve shown him. How much I’ve shown everyone.
Aria is my everything. She alone has the will to turn me into a madman.
“Tell me,” I push out the words through clenched teeth and feel my muscles coil, ready to assault him again, but he answers quickly this time.
“Every exit is an entrance.”
My eyes search his, trying to register the meaning of his words. “I don’t have time for—”
“Your little underground escape route… it was our way in. My job was easy, get outside and cause a ruckus, so my partner could do his job.” He answers my unspoken question and seems to settle, so I grip his hair tighter, not giving him a moment of comfort.
“And what was his job?”
My heart beats faster, knowing they wanted Addison, but unsure of where Aria stands.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he mutters under his breath as his eyes roll into the back of his skull. I shake the fucker, waking him and stare into his cold gaze.
“Tell me.” My command comes out low and vicious, my face getting closer to his as the life slips from him.
“I’ll tell you one thing. It was only one girl a month ago, but then he upped it to two.”
Bastards! My throat closes, and I struggle to stay where I am, my muscles burning to go to her. To Aria and to keep everyone away from her forever. No one will ever get to her. Never!
“Who did?” I don’t know how I’m able to ask the question or to stay still as I wait for his answer.
“I’ll die before I tell you,” he replies, but then his head falls back. He’s close to death already. Close, but not quite there yet.
“Logan,” I say and raise my voice, but I don’t look away from the man in my grasp. He’ll soon be dead.