His arm lifts, and he points towards a few barrels that are close to the light. “You see those barrels?”
“Yes.” I finally breathe.
“Can you guess what’s inside of them?”
“I don’t know…what?”
“Acid.”
“Acid?” I gasp.
“Yes. Hydrofluoric acid. And that’s where little old Kev will be sleeping tonight. In a barrel full of acid, never to be found again.”
My blood runs cold. I stare at the solid black barrel, my heart sinking down. Bain grips Kevin’s arm and drags him towards the middle of the room, and then he forces him down on his knees again.
I watch, horrified, as Draco walks away from me, grabs a pair of chemical resistant gloves hanging on the wall, and then slides them over his fingers.
“Stay back, niñita,” he murmurs.
I take a leap back, but he walks closer to a begging Kevin. There is gray tape covering his mouth, but those eyes are frantic.
Draco shifts to the right and takes the lid off of one of the barrels.
There is a cool smile on his lips, one that sends repeated shivers up and down my spine. I take a look around the basement again.
It’s full of junk that’s placed against the walls behind me, but this one space where we stand is clear. Probably for shit like this to happen. For him to destroy, kill, and make people disappear.
Kevin looks at me and muffles something behind the gray tape.
I narrow my eyebrows. “You should take the tape off. Let him get his last words out before he’s gone,” I suggest, peering up at Draco.
I notice Bain’s shoulders hike up as if I’m wrong for making suggestions. He looks at Draco, waiting for him to send me backlash, but that’s not what happens.
“You’re right.” Draco puts his gaze on Bain. “Take the tape off.”
Bain clomps forward, glaring at me once before ripping the tape off of Kevin’s mouth. Kevin’s lips are red around the edges, and he clenches his jaw, giving a small glare at Bain.
“Stand him up,” Draco demands.
Bain yanks Kevin up, but Kevin has his eyes on me right now.
“You’re trusting him now?” he interrogates, grimacing. “Toni is probably flipping in his fucking grave.”
My mouth twitches. “Toni isn’t in a grave. It’s because of you that his body is dumped somewhere that I’ll never be able find.”
“Yeah, but why do you think that is? It’s not my fault he’s dead. If you’re going to point fucking fingers, point them at the fucker that kidnapped you in the first fucking place!”
My eyes shift over to Draco. His demeanor hasn’t changed one bit, but he is pacing slowly now, absorbing every word.
He says nothing at all, which gives Kevin the ammunition to keep going.
“He had someone come to me and hand me $80,000 in cash. I wasn’t going to pass that shit up. Toni was only paying me $19,000 every two months. That shit wasn’t cutting it for me. Why wouldn’t I go for the eighty grand and then get more for killing this bastard? I know that’s why I’m down here.”
I shrug. “Your lust for money is why you’re in the position you’re in now.”
“And your greedy little pussy hungering for motherfuckers like Trigger Toni and Draco Molina is the reason your life is fucking ruined and will never be the same again! You get off on shit like this. You want a man with power, but what you fail to realize is that all great things collapse. If it seems too good to be true, chances are it probably is. And you stand there, looking at me as if I’m the bad guy?” He scoffs, and a smile weaves its way across his lips. “No, if anyone is to blame, it’s you, Gia. You put yourself in this position the day you decided to fuck motherfuckers like your dead husband and then him.”
Kevin spits in Draco’s direction. Draco glares down at the spit, and then he flicks his fingers, gesturing for Bain to bring him forward.
His patience has dwindled. He’s done listening.
Kevin jerks and twists, resisting, but Draco grabs hold of him by the back of the neck.
“Fucking bitches! All of you!” Kevin shouts.
Draco’s hand moves up to grip the base of Kevin’s head, those blonde strands clasped between his fingers, and then he shoves his face down, straight into the barrel.
Kevin’s entire head has been dunked in acid, and I hear the sizzle as it happens. His garbled screams are terrifying. And as Draco pulls up, revealing his face, I cover my mouth and back away, bumping into the banister.
His skin has melted off his face. His eyes…they’re gone. There is only blood and bone, and the sight of it sends me spinning around to face the wall.
Kevin’s screeches have been silenced.
All I hear is his head being dunked back into the acid, and then Bain chuckling as Draco grunts with annoyance, shoving the rest of his body into the barrel.