“I’ll let you into a secret,” I whisper, “Too long when this–” I slam the knife into his throat, “Is far more effective.”
He dies far too quickly but, sadly, it needed to happen sooner rather than later, I didn’t have time to wait around until he took his last breath. I was never letting him leave alive, not when I’d seen what he had done to that girl. The way he brutalized her. I wipe my blade on his trousers, cleaning the blood from it and then slide it back into my boot before heading over to the counter where his wallet, keys, and phone sit.
I pick up the wallet and swipe the thousand pounds cash he has inside, “That’s for the boots,” I shout over to his corpse. I go through his phone, but nothing stands out, so I leave that where it is and inspect the keys. There’s nothing of use to me here except that precious piece of paper holding the address.
I look over to the body.
Blood used to make me sick. Seeing death and violence, it made my stomach turn. My uncle, the man who ran the underground of London before Kingston took the crown from him, he was a violent man. He murdered my parents, claimed both me and my brother and forced us to be his heirs. Kingston took to it more than I did but then at the time, he’d always been more receptive to the darker side of life. Me however, I wanted a better life for myself. I wanted to get a good education and then a good job, I wanted to make a name for myself. Instead, I was thrown into a world of corruption and forced to deal bloodshed as if it were money around a poker table.
I’d killed people, even before I’d been kidnapped.
My uncle forced me to and at fifteen years old, the fear and instinct to survive far outweighs your morality.
Heading to the sink I wash off the blood that sticks to my hands, and then scrub my fingernails, dislodging the crusty blood that sits like rust underneath.
I never used to like killing, I didn’t like violence but now… I thrived on it. I got off on watching the men that caused me so much damage bleed, I enjoyed watching them die.
When Kingston told me he’d killed Tobias, one of the three men that ran the Syndicate, I damn near came on the spot, but realizing the man I’d been searching for was finally within my grasp, yeah, nothing could beat that kind of thrill.
There were several consequences to our actions, but both me and my brother, we would make sure we always stayed one step ahead. The Syndicate, they were going to be destroyed and even if it killed me, I’d die happy knowing it destroyed them at the same time.
Leaving him where he is, I head out, turning my face to the sky. The snow has stopped but the sky is still a murky, dull grey and my boots crunch across the snow that has settled on the ground. I blast the heat in my car once I’m inside, and tap the address into the GPS. It was a forty-five-minute drive. I’d have to scope it out first, I couldn’t let my anticipation make me sloppy, and while I knew death was likely, I wasn’t about to run face first into it.
The drive across the city is pleasant, with the weather it emptied the streets, and the traffic is lighter. I follow the directions ordered by the female voice on the GPS, turning down streets that head into the less densely populated areas surrounding London.
It fit him. He was always a bit of a loner, I knew of no friends he had, only acquaintances, until me of course. I was more to him than a friend though.
And then he ripped out my heart.
My heart squeezes and pain makes my chest constrict. The blow that came from learning the truth about Hunter damn near killed me, and left this great yawning pit of darkness inside me that nothing could fill. Not even being reunited with my brother, getting my life back, gaining friends in Ace and Micha and some of the other guys on my brother’s payroll, not even that could shine a light into this shadow that follows me everywhere.
Hunter would pay for breaking me this way.
I let my fingers curl tighter around the steering wheel, tight enough that they start to cramp, and the pain allows me to forget the agonizing ache in my chest, if only for a moment.
Silence surrounds me, only the tires on the road fill the space inside the car. The houses become further and further apart along the road and then the GPS declares I’ve reached my destination.
I turn to the house, an inconspicuous two-story brick building with large bay windows and cute rose bushes growing beneath them. The lawn is groomed and immaculate, the house like every other on this street. There is a gleaming black Tesla parked in the driveway.
I park the car further down the street and climb out, tucking my coat in closer to my body and dipping my head.
It was time to finish this. Once and for all.