Chapter thirty

Chapter thirty

Ethan

I was going to kill Kane.

Anger burned in my chest, my grip tightening around steering wheel as I sped towards the abandoned house – or ‘Hideout’, as I like to call it – at four in the morning. I mentally reminded myself of the many reasons I couldn't murder my employee.

The only reason that seem to stand out is that I wouldn't survive in federal prison. But there wouldn't be any conviction if they couldn't find his body, right?

For the first time in eight years, I was happy again. I had Millie in my arms and it was perfect.

But then, fucking Kane had to ruin it with a phone call with a vague: “I found something I think you'd want to see.”

Who the fuck calls by four in the fucking morning on a weekend ?

I would have just ignored the man, I wanted to, but I had a feeling it had to do with Leonard.

The thought was the only thing that made me stand up, leaving Millie in my bed, asleep and half naked. I clenched my fist as the image of her sleeping flashed across my mind. She'd looked so peaceful, so mine.

I wanted the moment to last forever. I wanted to wake up next to her freshly fucked face every single day. I wanted her to be mine again in every way possible.

But I knew she didn't want that. She would just walk away again, just like she did eight years ago. I was too selfish to let that happen. Not when I finally had her in my arm. I was never going to let her slip from me again.

I slammed the car door a little harder and walked into the house. Kane was standing in the centre of the space that was supposed to be a living room in the ‘Hideout’, but not with his hands clasped behind him like he usually does.

I didn't mind it. I'd always thought he did that to amuse himself sometimes, not entirely out of respect.

I had found him leaning against a wall, a cigarette between his lips, and his gaze dark. Something was bothering him, but I didn't ask. Partly because, I knew he wouldn't tell me anyway, and because, I was pissed.

“This better be as important as you said.” I groaned

His eyes flickered with dry amusement but he simply sighed. He threw the cigarette on the floor and crushed it with his boot. We walked to the makeshift elevator, descending into our underground facilities.

As usual, the place was relatively empty. We didn't head into the computer room like I expected. Instead, Kane led me to one of the cells used for torturing. He pushed the door and I frowned when I saw who was laying on the cold floor, unconscious.

“Found him trying to sneak away through a midnight bus.” he scoffed as he glared at Billy, Kane's ‘friend’ who had betrayed us.

“I'm seriously confused. I thought he was your friend.” I arched a brow.

“You thought wrong.” he said simply. Then he added when I kept staring at him for more context, “I don't keep friends, just…acquaintances.”

I simply nodded, sensing there was no more explanation coming.

“I get the whole ‘kidnapping him so we can torture answers out of him’ angle, but that would be kinda hard when he's unconscious. Do you have to knock him out?” I glared at him.

I was wasting time. Finding Billy might be a step towards finding Leonard, or a huge step back. There was a high chance he knew nothing, or he wouldn't want to reveal what he knew. I would absolutely enjoy getting answers from him, but that would be possible if he was conscious.

We were wasting time, I didn't have time.

“He was pissing me off.” he shrugged like kidnapping a man and knocking him out was the most normal thing in the world.

“A single punch would probably wake him up, but that's not what's important. I found something on him.” he added.

He picked up a laptop I hadn't even notice on the small table with the torture devices, and inserted a flash drive. Then he clicked on a tape and tilted the screen towards me.

It was a footage of Billy's place in Darkwood, and the footage had been when Leonard came to him. The date on the footage was about a week ago, approximately around the same time he dropped his last clue that led us to Darkwood.

The footage was muted but I could depict what was going on. Billy and my father seem to be in some kind of negotiation as they sat down, facing each other, looking tensed. It had switched to another clip where my father was pacing around, while the latter was going through his laptop.

I could feel his frustration by just staring at his frantic movements. Then the clip changed to the day we were there. The pacing continued, but he looked nervous rather than frustrated this time.

It showed everything that happened that day, from when we first walked in, to when Kane and I realized he was gone. The clip ended with Billy showing up after we left to find Leonard, and the recorder went black. He'd been hiding in the place the entire time, while leading us away.

“Motherfucker!” I groaned.

“I found it in his pocket when he was unconscious. My guess is that he was trying to clear his tracks, or he wants to blackmail someone with it.” The look he gave me suggested he was referring to Leonard.

Before I could think much of it, I turned and gave the unconscious man the single punch Kane had said would wake him up. Of course, he'd woken up after that, groaning in pain.

When he finally saw where he was, his eyes widened with panic. The smile I gave him promised pain. His hands and legs were unbound. I knew that was Kane's way of giving him an illusion that he had a chance to break free.

But in reality, Billy couldn't get through just one of us. He was so tiny and scrawny that one more hard punch would probably send him into coma.

“Sit down,” I said, pointing to the chair behind him.

He didn't listen to me at first. Instead, he took in what was probably the most pathetic fighting stance I've ever seen. If I wasn't so pissed, I would have laughed.

“Sit the fuck down!” I growled, the sound resonating through the room. He flinched. Whatever he saw on my face forced him to comply.

Good.

I mindlessly picked up something from the torture devices lined on the table without looking at it. My eyes was on him. He looked so frightened he might actually pee his pants. I hoped he didn't. His blood would be enough mess in this place, I didn't need the stink of urine.

Kane turned the laptop so he could see the clip played again.

“Start talking.” I said.

I realized then that I had picked the clipper. He could probably tell by the barely dried blood on it that it was freshly used.

“I don't–”

“Don't even think of lying. I don't have much patience. Trust me, you don't want to see the unleashed side of me.” I seethed.

His gaze went to Kane, even though Kane seem just as pissed as me, but ‘the devil you know’ and all that. When he saw he didn't get the sympathy he wanted, he released a shaky breath.

“I don't know where he is, I swear. He came to me few days ago and said he needed a place to stay while he waited for…” he nudged towards Kane.

“I took him in because he showed proven connections to the Bratva and promised to get me in. I just wanted to do anything to get out of there so I agreed.” Then he lifted his gaze to meet Kane's. “You know what it's like in that place.”

Kane merely regarded with a bored expression.

“So you just let a random stranger into your place just because he promised you an in to the mafia?” I said dryly.

Leonard definitely didn't have ties to the mafia. And not just because he worked as a delivery man in Russia, he just didn't have the heart for that level of crime.

Billy nodded.

“You see, that's the problem, Billy. I don't believe you.” I rolled the clipper between my fingers and smirked as his eyes followed the movement.

“I'm not lying, I swear. You can see the entire footage. I took the recording just in case something like this happened. He didn't tell me anything.” he seem to be on the verge of tears.

I really hoped he didn't cry because I was going to clip his thumb off and make him choke on it.

His face brightened like he suddenly remembered something that might save him.

“I remembered he kept muttering that he needed to leave before they found him. He shut me down when I asked who he was talking about. I think he's running from someone.”

I've came to that conclusion already, but hearing Billy say it just made it more solid. I just have to find out who he was running from, and hopefully, find him before whoever was after him did.

Wait… “He said ‘they’?” I asked and Billy nodded frantically.

I exchanged a glance with Kane and he nodded, he was thinking the exact same thing as me. I turned to Billy.

“You're going to remain in this room until I decide I don't need use of you anymore. Then, I'll decide what fate you deserve.” I smirked.

His eyes widened in horror at the uncertainty of my sentence. I wasn't going to kill him, but he didn't need to know that yet.

“Oh, and one more thing.” I drove my fist into his face immediately. The chair tipped back, and just like I expected, he went straight out of consciousness.