But I couldn’t let her past stop me from protecting her future. Jarvis was dangerous, and I had to make sure that he couldn’t do anything to hurt her again.
The tenuous peace in the city still played through my mind. Hedeon didn’t want trouble, didn’t want violence, because he knew that more violence would only weaken his position. I was supposed to be playing politician, not running around in the street killing my enemies.
That was why I didn’t go to him for permission.
Normally, a crew boss had a lot of leeway—but when it came to killings, Hedeon had to be informed where possible. In theory, I should go to him for permission, or at least to let him know this was about to go down.
The less he knew, the better. If he could plausibly deny having anything to do with it, then he might walk away from this with clean hands, and the family could avoid any blowback.
Even better if I could make it look like an accident.
“Come on,” I said, hefting the gas can.
Enrico gave me a look. “What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to burn that fucking place to the ground.”
Aldrik barked a laugh. “Are you crazy? That’s dangerous as hell.”
“It’s a standalone building, nothing attached, and it rained recently so shit’s all wet. The fire won’t spread.”
Enrico shook his head. “There are houses nearby, boss. Even if they’re still damp, you don’t know it won’t spread.”
“Fire department will get out here.” I began toward the gas station. “Stay if you want.”
I heard them follow behind me. I crouched low and moved as fast and as quietly as I could, sticking to the shadows, taking the long way around. I came at the building from the side, and gestured toward Aldrik to watch the back. He pulled his gun and moved, disappearing from sight.
I approached the building, took off the cap, and began tossing gasoline on the walls, on the boards over the windows and doors—on any surface I could find. When the can was nearly empty, I tipped it over in front of the door, letting the gas pour in beneath the crack, then pulled it back and made a long line of it on the pavement.
Enrico stared at me from nearby, and I knew what he was thinking.
This was reckless. A lot could go wrong.
If it went right though, Jarvis would burn to ashes and die in that rat nest, and nobody would need to know it was me.
I took a lighter from my pocket, flipped the top, turned the igniter, and stared at the flame before dropping it down into the gasoline.
It ignited instantly in a blue-red whoosh. The line of gas flew away from me and slammed against the building. It lit up faster than I expected, and the heat was intense as the flames engulfed the door and windows, setting the wood ablaze before moving against the walls.
I heard shouts from inside.
“He’s not alone.” Enrico’s voice sounded on the verge of panic. The flames grew bigger and we were forced back away from the building. More shouts from inside and the door rattled, but the boards were burning rapidly, the flames getting bigger and bigger—nobody was getting out that way.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Reid—”
I turned to him and grabbed the front of his shirt. “You going to fucking pussy out now? You want to run in there and save all their lives, huh, hero?”
He opened his mouth then shut it. “No, boss.”
“Good.” I let him go. “If anyone gets loose, kill them.”
He nodded, his eyes hard. I couldn’t blame him for having a moment. The yells from inside were panicked and terrified, and burning people alive wasn’t how this shit normally went. Enrico had killed before, and he’d killed again, but he always did it fast and with bullets—there was never time for his victims to feel too much pain.
We backed away from the building. Doors opened around us, people coming out of their homes. I saw fear, anger, confusion, and more than one person called the fire department.
Enrico put his gun away. “We should go.”
I grunted but lingered. If we left now, I couldn’t be sure that Jarvis was dead. I wanted to get in there and find out, make sure the fucker was truly dead, but that wasn’t going to happen with so many fucking witnesses around.
I heard the crack-crack-crack of gunfire. It was a brief burst, but unmistakable.
“Fuck,” I growled. “Go get Aldrik. Now.”
He nodded and jogged around the building as a window fell inward and flames spouted out. I took a couple steps back and realized the screams had stopped.
The only sound was the strange purr of the fire consuming the building.
Enrico and Aldrik returned around the building a second later and we were off. I caught a few looks from neighbors, but fuck them, they couldn’t identify me—and there was no proof that we had anything to do with it. I considered texting Cora to let her know that we were okay, but decided against it.