I inhale death in order to erase the urge to create it.
“Rio booked a flight to Greece,” Jay informs me. He’s been jumping all over the country since Addie escaped, and just like Rick, what’s in his bank account isn’t enough to manufacture a new alias which means he’s easily traceable. And if I can find him, so can Claire.
He’s on borrowed time regardless of who gets to him first. Personally, I’d like to be the one to stick my knife through his throat, but a particular little mouse is keeping me from doing so.
She hasn’t said it aloud, but she doesn’t want Rio dead. What pisses me off more is that I can’t entirely blame her. She formed a trauma bond with him, and as much as that irritates the hell out of me, I’m also glad she had someone kinda-sorta looking out for her in that house.
Doesn’t negate the fact that she was there because of him. He may have helped her escape and cleaned up her wounds, but he still helped destroy her first. Just because you take the time to pick up the pieces after shattering a dish doesn’t mean that it’s not your fucking fault that it broke.
So, therefore, he should die.
Exhaling a thick plume of smoke, I take out a small container of lighter fluid from my pocket next.
“Continue to keep an eye out for other intelligence tracking him, especially from Claire. Send out one of my mercenaries to trail him, too. I’m sure he has a massive hit out on him, and they will need to be taken care of,” I order Jay. “Only I will be the one to put a bullet in his brain.”
“Roger,” he murmurs, and the sound of keys clicking arises, causing my eye to twitch in irritation. So. Fucking. Obnoxious.
“Have fun on your… adventure.”
I grunt, the earpiece clicking to indicate the call ended. Then, I uncap the lighter fluid and drench Rick’s body and severed head in it.
Taking one more deep pull first, I flick the cigarette onto his corpse, stepping back as it bursts into flames.
“The ride to Hell is going to be a tough one, Rickety Dick. Have fun on your adventure.”
Chapter 30
The Diamond
One Month Later
“Does Francesca happen to have short blonde hair?” Daya asks, storming into the living room with her laptop in hand.
“No,” I answer, sweat dripping into my eyes. Sibby drops her hand, which was curled into a fist and ready to drive right into my face.
I rub my eyes, feeling the heat pressing in now that I’m no longer distracted with the screaming banshee that likes to use me for a punching bag.
“Well, she does now.”
My eyes light up, forgetting all about how hot and exhausted I am.
“You found her?”
“You’re goddamn right, I did. Fucking freak accident too. Cam from an old diner tagged her in a small town in South Carolina about eight hours ago. She was walking to the restroom and a waitress collided with her. Her sunglasses went flying, and bam-“
The second the words come out of Daya’s mouth. Sibby’s fist is flying into my stomach.
I tip over, the oxygen ripped from my lungs as pain explodes throughout my abdomen.
My eyes bug from my head, and only a wheeze escapes.
“What the hell, Sibby?” Daya barks.
“We weren’t done sparring,” Sibby shrugs. “Never fool yourself into thinking you’re safe, even if you do smell like pretty flowers. Did you forget I murder people?”
I cough, hunched over as I turn my head and glower at the evil witch.
She giggles and skips away, satisfied that she taught me a valuable lesson for the day.
“I’m gonna kill her,” I wheeze, straightening and shooting another round of daggers into the corridor she disappeared through. Another cough bursts from my throat. “After I catch my breath, though,” I rasp, dropping to the checkered tile with exhaustion.
I’ve been sparring with her and Zade every day, all day. Between the two of them, I’d be happy to take the coward’s way out and poison them in their sleep just so a girl can get some peace and quiet.
However, I can’t lie and say that I’m not slowly becoming a badass.
The past month has been full of ups and downs. Zade was forced to buy a new car since his was not only identified at Satan’s Affair when Sibby was caught but now as a getaway car for her this time.
Thankfully, Zade never puts anything under his name, so they still weren’t able to identify him. Regardless, driving it is no longer safe, and for a second there, I thought he was going to have a memorial for the damn thing.
The USBs that Sibby stole from Jimmy were useless, and due to her being caught outside of his office, his paranoia got the best of him, and he trashed everything.
Normally, it could be chalked up to happenstance that she was outside of his building, but Claire is well aware of the connection between Sibby and Zade, considering her husband was one of their victims, which means Jimmy is aware, too.
Hence, why all of his devices were wiped and discarded, including the jump drives. Zade saw it coming, though, and sent one of his mercenaries into Jimmy’s house to plant extra USBs in his home office.
It paid off.
Two weeks ago, Zade got an alert that Claire had connected one of his drives to her laptop. All of her previous employees are in the thick of their lawsuits against her, and it’s safe to say Jimmy’s hair has turned two shades whiter. There’s no expectation for them to win, but Zade has made sure to compensate them already for their time and effort. They all have stable jobs and protection from Claire now.
Since then, our time has been spent decoding her messages and pulling as much information as possible from her business dealings. We were able to pin her location on a remote island on the other side of the world. We’re going over the best way to draw her out from it, but Zade wants to get as much intel on the Society before we kill her.
It was daunting to learn that Claire’s influence runs much deeper than we’d ever imagined. She has her hands in everything. Charities, hundreds of thousands of organizations and businesses, banks, big pharmas and the medical industry, the judicial system, and of course, the entire fucking government. It will take years to undo all the damage she’s done and erase her influence.
“I’ll help you kill her,” Daya says, sitting next to me and crossing her legs. “But first, Francesca. So after she and the waitress collided, Francesca threw a huge fit and slapped the woman. Authorities were called, but Rocco strong-armed their way out of the diner and into their rusty brown Chevy Impala. They took off, and I was able to track them all the way back to the motel they’re staying in.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe, eyes wide. “You fucking found them.”
She grins. “Showtime, baby.”
I’m jittery as fuck.
I wipe my clammy hands on my jeans, taking deep breaths to calm my nerves.
You can do this, I tell myself, then immediately turn my attention to the She-Devil above.
Right, God? Tell me I’m right.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.