Bound by Vengeance (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 5)

“Be careful,” Growl warned.He tried to push himself into a sitting position but with his tied hands that wasn’t easy. Eventually he gave up. Which was probably for the best considering that Bandit had stuck his head over the backseat and was only too eager for another taste of Falcone. “Is she worth losing everything? You could have become my successor. You still can if you kill that bitch now.”

I laughed. And Growl, too, smiled bitterly. “As if your men would have ever accepted me as their boss. I know what everyone is saying about me, even you. A bastard can never amount to anything but a henchman. I’m not stupid. I know what’s been going on behind my back. And you have legitimate heir, you don’t need me.”

“This life is all you know, all you have. If you risk it for her, you’ll be left with nothing. She isn’t worth it, believe me.”

Growl’s eyes bored into me briefly. “Yes, she is. She’s worth more than you and I. She’ll be worth losing everything.”

My heart swelled with love, and at the same time my stomach tightened. This wasn’t meant to happen. Falling in love with a man like Growl was the worst I could do, but it was too late now. I couldn’t deny my emotions for the man next to me.

“I should have killed you when you were a useless boy. You are worthless. The son of a cock-sucking whore. If you don’t work for me, what will you do? There’s nothing you can do. You are a monster. You’ve always been. I knew it when I first saw you when you were a screaming ugly baby.”

Growl pulled into a deserted parking lot. The store had been closed for a long time from the looks of it. Growl jumped out of the car and dragged Falcone out of the backseat, then pushed him to the ground. Falcone cackled.

I got out of the car as well.

Growl grabbed Falcone by the throat. “You’ve done enough damage. I won’t listen to you anymore. You will die today.”

“My men will kill you. You can’t stop them all. They’re probably already looking for me.”

I froze. How?

Growl narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying.”

Falcone’s smiled widened. “I have a second tracker somewhere in my body. After the thing with her traitorous father, I decided I needed additional safety measures. Someone will wonder why I’m leaving my house and then they’ll find me.” Falcone fixed me with a terrifying look. “Your little sister will suffer badly.”

I released a harsh breath.

“It’ll be a while for your men to notice you aren’t in the house. They have no reason to check your tracker,” Growl said but he didn’t sound sure.

“We have to find Talia,” I begged.

Falcone smirked. “I won’t tell you.”

Growl smiled grimly. “Oh, you will.” He turned to me. “You should return to the car. This will get ugly.”

“No. I want to watch.”

Growl hesitated but then he took out his knife and knelt beside Falcone. “I’d love to do this slowly,” he murmured in a voice that reminded me why I’d been scared of him at the beginning. Why I should still be scared of him. “But we’re out of time.” He silenced Falcone with tape again, grabbed Falcone’s tied hands and pushed the tip of the knife beneath one of his fingernails.

My eyes grew wide when I realized what he was going to do, and then Falcone’s muffled scream sounded already and blood was spilling over Growl’s knife. I retched and turned away, my chest heaving in an attempt to stop myself from throwing up.

Another muffled cry. I began shaking, and slowly raised my hands and covered my ears. I’d wanted this, had wanted Falcone to suffer, but I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t bear seeing Growl as the monster I didn’t want him to be. Falcone deserved this. He was the reason why Growl was capable of such atrocities in the first place. Now he got a taste of his own medicine.

A hand on my shoulder made me gasp and I whirled around to find Growl watching me with haunted eyes. “We need to go. I know where your sister is. It’s not far from here.” I peaked behind him to where Falcone was lying on the asphalt, clutching his bleeding hand against his chest and crying. When he noticed my scrutiny, he scowled. He would kill me if he got the chance, that much was certain. “That was quick,” I said relieved.

Growl scanned my face, then nodded. “He’s not used to pain. It makes things easier.”

I wondered how often Growl had done this before and at the time I knew I’d never ask him.

“I couldn’t watch,” I whispered.

“That’s good. You are a good person.”

“I’m not,” I said. “If I were a good person, I wouldn’t want him to suffer and die, but I do. I’m only too weak to watch.”