I hugged Tess ever harder and strode toward the back of the warehouse. The whole place was black with filth and stank. Unused for years, it’d found a new purpose: trafficking.
Normally, if I found a place like this, I would dispatch Franco and a few of his best men. I would let them infiltrate and get their hands dirty. My profile as CEO was too well known to risk becoming a vigilante.
But that was over now. I could indulge in a little ‘kill the fucking rapist.’
This time I would tear every motherfucker into pieces. I would dance in the cooling puddles of their blood as I burned the entire place to the ground. Q Mercer no longer existed. I didn’t care about my company or image.
Now all I cared about was smashing every single fucker who hurt women. Who hurt my woman.
Gone was my act. This would be the first time I’d fully let myself go, and I didn’t want witnesses. I planned to savour the kill. Drag it out, taunt my prey until he begged. And then, when they could no longer speak from such agony, I’d dispatch them with no mercy.
“Frederick has taken Alpha team to round up the remaining assholes while Beta squadron has found over twenty girls in numerous rooms.”
Tess coughed, wheezing loudly in my arms. My heart lurched at the sound. It wasn’t good. She was sick. Her pallor and fever scared me shitless.
Franco muttered, “She’ll be fine. We just need to get her home.”
Home.
A place where I used to be free, but not anymore.
The moment Tess walked into my life she owned me. I would never be free again. I never wanted to be free again. If Tess thought she’d leave me by killing herself, she’d hate me for eternity when I kept her alive.
Footsteps sounded behind us. Franco and I turned to face the crowd of people as they arrived from the corridor. The cavernous factory floor with old rusty machinery and decrepit conveyor belts welcomed both traffickers and slaves.
Frederick ushered in the malnourished and dirty women. They blinked when they came closer to me.
Franco murmured to the girl in his arms, “Can you stand on your own?”
The girl took a while to reply, and even then it was a vacant nod. Franco settled her on her feet, making sure the blanket covered her.
The girls all came to a stop, clutching each other’s hands, looking frantically around the room.
Now his arms were free, Franco strode toward his team who had guns trained on the ten or so traffickers who moved forward in a mixture of hatred and guilt.
When the naked asshole who’d raped the blonde girl walked past, Franco slapped him around the head. I’d never seen such a black look of rage in Franco’s eyes. He’d always been so good at hiding it, but I guessed tonight was a first for all of us. He would kill and love it and I’d let him. There were enough for both of us to sate our murderous hunger.
Violence was permitted when such fuckers existed as these.
“Where do you want them?” Franco asked, looking at me with anger glowing in his eyes.
I jiggled Tess in my arms, positioning her higher all the while I itched to go and finish what I promised.
Surveying the best place for a massacre, I pointed with my chin. “Line them up over there.” Directly in the middle of the factory floor, with the conveyer belt to their backs and spray-painted windows to the front. No one would see and at two a.m. in the morning, I doubted anyone would hear. But just to be sure.
“Gag them. All of them.”
Franco smiled tightly. “No fucking problem.”
I stayed frozen with a fitful, unconscious Tess in my grip while Franco ordered everyone onto their knees and directed his team to stuff old packing material into their mouths before sealing with duct tape.
“Take the women outside,” I ordered one of Franco’s men. They shouldn’t have to see this.
The man nodded and motioned for the women to leave. They shuffled away, looking over their shoulders, seeing their kidnappers for the last time.
Once they were gone the naked rapist tried to stand and fight. “You won’t fucking get away with this. People will come and slit your throats in your sleep. They’ll put a bounty on your head.”
Franco pushed him back, almost forcing his fist inside his mouth as he stuffed him like a Christmas turkey. “We’re counting on it, you dickshit. The more of your kind we can cull the better.”
The man in the blue shirt and jeans—obviously the fucking ringleader—said softly, “You’re making a huge mistake, my friend. Just take your girl and go, but leave the rest with us. I’ll pretend this never happened and I won’t tell the Wolverine a thing.”
My hands clenched around Tess. This was the bastard who ordered every diabolical thing that’d been done to my woman. I trembled with ferocity, forcing myself not to break Tess’s fragile form.
“You’re not my fucking friend and I will take my girl and leave, but I’m not leaving you alive.” I took a few steps closer. “The Wolverine is already dead. Just like you.”
A woman whimpered; my heart hardened to rock. Her long black hair was tangled, her cheeks stretched with the duct tape over her mouth. A woman involved with trafficking women? I couldn’t think of anything more traitorous. She’d be the first to die.
Some men cried, some moaned, others pleaded, warbling around their gags, but it fell on deaf ears.
Not one of my team held any compassion. We were there to do the human race a favour by obliterating such evilness.
My jaw clenched. It was time to get dirty. Time to bloody my hands in honour of the woman who owned me.
I moved toward Frederick. He gave me an understanding nod as his eyes fell on Tess.
Her head lolled like a floppy doll against my shoulder. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting her down. But I had no choice.
Frederick made eye contact, asking silently to take her.
I looked away, wanting so badly to kiss Tess and make everything disappear from her mind. I wanted her to wake up whole and undamaged. But I would never live with myself if I didn’t kill every last bastard. I had to relinquish her…for now.
Slowly, I angled my body toward him. Frederick moved closer, brushing my arms with his as he readied himself to take her weight.
“Wait,” I snapped.
Frederick didn’t say a thing, stepping away. I rolled my neck, centring myself.
I cleared my throat, facing the men and women who made their living stealing the lives of others. Police hadn’t punished them. Karma hadn’t cared. But me? I cared a shitload, and they were about to get their just rewards.
“See this woman?” I held Tess higher, raising my arms like she was on a pyre ready to burst into flames. “You did this to her.” My eyes glazed recalling the fighter, the amazing woman who captured my heart, and not the flightless bird in my arms. My voice came thicker, roughed with hatred. “You stole everything from her. You stole her entire life not once but fucking twice. I don’t know what goes through your head. I don’t fucking want to know. I’ve always classified myself as a fair man even though every day I battle black desires. I see the satisfaction such a trade can bring. I see the temptation for money and the dark call of lust. But what I don’t see is how you lost so much of your humanity that you let yourself give in. You sicken me. You disgust me, and I promise no one will care when you rot in your unmarked graves.”
The line of ten or so men squirmed on their knees, testing the ropes around their wrists, working the gags. The woman hung her head, but kept glaring at me with black evil. She was a true psychopath. No feelings or sense of right and wrong.
I motioned to Frederick to take Tess. He came forward and opened his arms, easing them beneath mine. My body ripped into pieces as Tess’s gentle weight transferred from my arms to his. He cradled her with such compassion I suffered a bolt of hot green jealousy.
I lashed out, clamping my fingers around Tess’s arm.
Frederick froze, watching me carefully. “She’s yours, man, I get it. She’ll always be yours
. I’m just keeping her safe for you while you avenge her honour.”
It took everything I had to relax my grip and nod.
I held out my hand to Franco, who stood to my right. “Give me the pliers, Franco.”
Frederick sucked in a breath and stepped hastily back, cradling Tess’s head on his shoulder. Immediately Franco obeyed, passing over the tools used to break my woman’s finger.
I stalked forward until I loomed over the line-up of traffickers. The psychopath woman stiffened—too stupid to be afraid. “Cut her ropes and stand her up.”
Franco obeyed without question, slicing through the binding. Grabbing her long black hair, he hoisted her to her feet. Her nostrils flared above her gag and the first sign of fear glimmered in her gaze.
Franco wrapped his large arm around her shoulders, keeping her in place.
I inched closer, tapping the pliers in my hands. “How does it feel to be a traitor to your own sex? Do you enjoy it?”
She glared, tilting her chin in defiance.
Smiling coldly, I placed the pliers in my pocket and reached to my waistband. I pulled free the knife I’d used to kill the Wolverine and his son. The hilt felt righteous in my grip, urging me on. Using the tip of the exceedingly sharp blade, I sliced through the duct tape. She flinched as I nicked her and a small line of red appeared.
I had to hear her reasoning before she died. I had to understand what drove people to such things.
Spitting out the burlap sack, she hissed, “Go to hell, asshole. I see you for what you are. You think because you wear a fancy suit you are different to us. You’re lying. You’re the one who wants to hurt and sell women.”
Not the answer I wanted.
I backhanded her. Her head snapped sideways and she stumbled.
Frederick moved further away, protecting Tess in his arms.
“Do you believe in redemption, cunt?” My voice was detached, killer-cold, precise.
She pursed her lips, denying me an answer.
I belted her around the ear. She muttered, “Yes. I will be forgiven.”
My lips curled in a snarl. I grabbed her hand, jerking it forward. She struggled, but it made no difference. Franco held out his palm to take my knife while I grabbed the pliers from my pocket. In one fast move, I inserted her finger into the nasty tool.
She sucked in a breath, wriggling in Franco’s grip, but it was no use.
I whispered, “I’m taking your life. You will die and become nothing. Not even a speck of thought, or whisper of second chance. I want you to know that as I take your life, I’m cursing you to the bowels of the underworld. I’m wrapping you in curses so your soul will never rise again.”
My hand twisted the pliers and she let out an ungodly scream. Her finger gave way as I snapped the bone and Franco pushed her away from him. He tossed me the knife and in one short slice, I cut her jugular. Just like Wolverine.
For one millisecond her neck stayed intact, then her flesh gaped open in a red angry gash, spurting my chest with red glowing blood. Hot and tangy, it spewed as if it couldn't stand to be in her body any longer.
Her hands flew to her throat, her finger bent to a horrible extreme, trying to staunch the blood. She gurgled rather than screamed.
Her rapidly beating heart hastened her death as litres of crimson evicted through the cut.
The bound and gagged traffickers all froze, staring in horrified realization. The realization that there would be no walking away from me. That they’d met their fucking maker and had minutes left to live.
The woman toppled to her knees, before crashing onto her face as the last pump of life-force drenched the concrete.
She twitched her last. My voice rang loud and clear. “Your blood will mingle today. All of you. You worked together, you’ll die together.”
I looked to Franco, who nodded.
“Gentlemen,” he said to his team. Instantly, the black-clad mercenaries ringing the space unholstered their guns.
Shaking my head, I said, “Too impersonal.” Holding up the bloody knife, I added, “No guns.”
“You heard him. Put your guns down,” Franco snapped. The sound of knives being pulled free from scabbards hissed around the room.
I pointed at the fucking ringleader in his pouncy blue shirt. “Not him.” Then I looked at the naked fuck who’d raped the blonde girl. “Him either. Both are mine.”
The mercenaries moved forward, standing behind a victim. Blair, one of Franco’s trusted men who looked like a Norwegian god of war, placed his knife across a trafficker’s throat, his shoulder tense and ready.
Darkness yowled inside, swarming thick and fast; I let myself be consumed. This is for you, Tess.
I never felt the need to be so barbaric, but the beast called the shots. And it wanted blood. It wanted an Olympic swimming pool filled with blood.
“Joined together in death, you will be entwined in purgatory. I have no mercy for you.” My eyes met Franco’s. “Do it.”
It was a morbid floor show gone horribly wrong as the mercenaries severed their victim’s neck in one swoop. Dying bleats and prayers smothered by their gags.
Waterfalls of red gushed forth, splashing wetly against the concrete. One by one their bodies twitched and convulsed, sending blood from veins to floor.
Franco moved closer and mumbled in my ear. “Can I have the rapist?” His eyes flashed black, and I felt a camaraderie like never before. Monster to monster.
I nodded.
The gruesome death scene played out. The air grew rife with metal and rust. The sweet stench of death followed not long after as their hearts gave out.
My eyes shot to Tess still unconscious in Frederick’s arms. Her hastily wrapped finger lay broken on top of the brown scratchy blanket. Her cheek pressed against Frederick’s black polo. If anything, she looked worse than before—her skin pallid, ashen.
I needed to touch her. Affirm she was still alive and would stay that way. Stepping through the pools of blood, I headed to Frederick and placed as delicate a kiss as possible on Tess’s forehead.
Frederick held her steady, while I caressed her cheek and tried to get my heart to stop hammering against my ribs. She’s still alive.
Her blue-grey eyes flickered open, her pupils so far dilated, I was afraid the drugs in her system might kill her. But her gaze latched onto mine with intelligence, fighting hard to be free.
“Y—you’re covered in blood—” She stopped short, wheezing and whooping with racking coughs. Goddammit, I had to get her to a doctor.
Seeing her so sick sucker-punched me in the gut. I smiled gently. “Esclave. We’re leaving soon. I’m extracting revenge and then we’re going home.”
Frederick scowled. “Seriously, Q? Calling her slave at a time like this?” His look of disapproval pissed me off.
“Tu ne sais rien.” You don’t know. I tried to keep levelheaded but anger made me mutter, “Don’t judge me.” He didn’t get it. Esclave had become an endearment. Aching with tenderness, encapsulating everything that had happened between us.
Tess mumbled something incoherent and I brushed my fingertips down her feverish cheek. “Tess, what would you have me do? What sacrifice would give you closure?” I bowed my head against hers. “Tell me, esclave, and I’ll make it happen. Tell me what will halt your nightmares and bring you back to me.”
For a while she didn’t respond. Then her eyes flickered open and her voice trembled with rage. “They don’t have h—hearts. I want to see if it’s true.”
Frederick tensed. “Q…don’t take that literally.”
What a fucking stupid thing to say. Of course I took it literally. All I could see was holding a black-threaded heart in my hands as the ringleader perished.
My eyes narrowed as Tess slipped back into limpness. She looked so innocent, so broken in her slumber, but the black part of me recognised the black part of her. How dark do you run? How alike are we truly?
Her one request told me more about Tess than any questions I could?
??ve asked. She wanted their hearts. She wanted the most integral part of a person—the one symbol that represented compassion and love. She wanted it carved out of the men who hurt her.
It would be my fucking pleasure.
I stood straighter, mouth watering at granting her request.
Frederick stepped back a bit, shaking his head. “Q. Don’t. Just put an end to this and be done with it. She won’t remember.”
I snarled. “It isn’t the point that she won’t remember. It’s the fact she asked and I promised. I swore I’d lay her kidnappers’ corpses at her feet. And I mean to deliver them in pieces.”
Tess’s request echoed in my skull: A heart for a heart. A life for a life. A thrum of living for the last beat of death.
It was only fitting. Only fair. Time to deliver the heart of the man who stole her, to put the past behind.
“Leave, Roux. I don’t want you here. Take Tess back to the plane and get ready to leave.”
“You won’t be able to run from the memories if you do this, Mercer. His death will be good enough.”
“What would you fucking do if Angelique asked you to cut off the cock of the man who raped her?”
He hung his head before answering, “I would slice off his cock and feed it to him.”
“Exactly. Goodbye, Frederick.”
He turned to leave and I raised my voice to the room. “Everyone go. Wait for us at the airport.”
The men cleaned their blades on random sacking on the conveyor belt and disappeared silently from the room.
Frederick left with Tess cradled in his embrace. Once they’d gone, I stalked back to Franco. He had the ringleader and the rapist in his grip, both bound and gagged, glaring at me.
Grabbing the ringleader’s shoulder, I said, “Do whatever you want to him. But don’t come down the back of the warehouse. I’ll return when I’m done.”
“Understood.”
We went our separate ways, and the ringleader struggled as I pushed him toward the gloom. It wasn’t far to the back, but it was deep in shadows. Perfect.
I threw him at the conveyer belt.
He twisted to face me, eyes flaring wide, trying to articulate around the gag.