Chapter 88

I was covered in blood as I loomed over my victim. If you looked from his neck up, you’d think he just got back from the most wonderful session of sexual intercourse a man could ever have. But below the next was a different story. Currently, I was flipping the last knife I had left in my hand. All the rest were snuggly using the mercenary as a pincushion.

“I have one more question for you, little prick. You’ve done so well. A few…snags here and there, but over all, you’ve been one of my most pliable victims.”

He was breathing heavily as he could barely focus on my face. Leaning in, I brushed some of his hair that was sticking to the sweat on his forehead. Taking a deep breath, I smiled.

“Who hired you?”

His head started to shake and I started to shake mine with it. “You don’t want to start this again…do you? It’s the last question, little prick. The very last one. I keep my promises. It would be idiotic of me to lie to you now.”

“N-no…”

My face fell and growled. “No? Are you telling me ‘no’, little prick?”

Tears started to fall from his face as he shook his head. Damn, humans could be so stupid. I could understand if you were holding out information of your family or your lover. People you held dear. That I understood. But an employer? Someone who paid you? You never would be able to use the money if you were dead. And it’s not like someone you love is in danger. Ridiculous.

Sighing, I put my hand on my hip and sighed. “We were doing so well.” Putting my foot behind his legs, I leaned down and stared at him in his eyes. “I’m normally not this nice. I normally would just see how long your intestines are. Did you know it varies from person to person?  I used to have notebook with all the lengths. Sadly it was burned but still…seeing your height and weight…you might be one of the longer ones.”

His fear was so strong I could smell it. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he tried to swallow. Really, it hadn’t been too long. He had been most cooperative until now. My eyes fell from his as I looked down at his stomach. There were muscles but they were clouded by years of drinking beer and maybe a few too many fast food runs while on surveillance duty. My knife lightly traced the spot where I would need to cut. The small and large intestine would spill out of him if done correctly without even damaging them.

“W-wait…please…have mercy…”

My eyebrow rose as my knife stopped. “Mercy? Do you even know what mercy is?”

“Yes. Mercy. Please.”

I shook my head. “Granting you mercy would mean I had compassion…or the ability to forgive.” Leaning in again, feeling my own breath fan against his face. “Do you think…I have either of those qualities, little prick?”

He reached his breaking point. The sobs that broke out of this man were embarrassing. I leaned back to not get any snot or spit on my face.

“It…it wasn’t a person. A company. The money came from a company.”

I reached out and brushed his skin. He flinched away from my touch for a moment before he realized it wasn’t painful. The mercenary all but sank into my touch.

“You don’t know who it was behind the company?”

He shook his head furiously. “Jerard was the only one who spoke to them. None of us…none of the rest of us…we never…we didn’t…I didn’t…please...” His sobbing picked up again.

Jerard, as it turned out, was the name of their leader. They were a mercenary group of kicked out cops and military. Nothing like a good old fashioned group of dishonorably discharged assholes to do the shitty things that the law wouldn’t do. They weren’t a big group. They didn’t do multiple teams. It was just them as a group, doing hired kills for the highest bidder. However they wanted.

It turns out, their mark was me. I felt myself slip further when that was out of his mouth. I’d really been the reason why Aleksei died. If I’d been alone. If I’d been anywhere, they would have just killed me and no one else had to have gotten hurt. Aleksei wouldn’t have had to die. They couldn’t make it look like a mark though…that they failed. So they blew up the car. A car fire burning the evidence with no bullets to back anything up. If they hadn’t failed, it would have been clean.

But they did fail and they still needed to get paid. So they decided to do more surveillance. To follow and look out for any holes in our security. They’d found none at the penthouse. Found that us going to Juri’s was useless too. So they needed to get us en-route somewhere. They’d kept an eye out, following us from place to place, waiting for the most opportune time to present itself. It hadn’t yet, but they had time. The client wanted it done but there was no timeframe. 

Speaking of client, I let my fingers lightly brush over the mercenary’s exposed skin softly, sometimes smeared blood over his skin. “But you do know the company.”

This time he nodded slowly. Leaning back in, I gently held his jaw and lifted his head up to look at me. His eyes were glossy, bloodshot, and his face red. It was so ugly that I wanted to puke. He was broken now. Now there was nothing left. Nothing exciting, even if I gave him something to be sweet, he wouldn’t register it. It was too easy.

“And you’re going to tell me who it is, aren’t you?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed again. “F-Fusion…Alliance.”

Sighing, I nodded and smiled. “See. Was that so hard? You had to go through all that fuss for a little name. But I told you it would be the last question. I’m good on my word.” Stepping back, I snapped my fingers making him jerk. “You know. I forgot something.” Digging around in my pocket, I rolled a coin through my fingers. “It’s a stupid habit. I know. It’s just…how can I stop? What if it stops you from making your way across and you get stuck? We can’t have that, now can we?”

Shoving my knife in his stomach, his hoarse scream filled the room. Flipping the coin up in the air once, I pulled out the knife and shoved the coin in the slit I made. My fingers sank in deep and when I pulled them out, I wiped them off on his ruined pants.

“K-k-k…”

I smiled. “Oh dear, are you trying to say my name?”

“K-Kharon…”

Humming, I reached back into my jeans and pulled out the gun that Marek had given me when we exited the car to go into the club. “Yes, little prick. I am Kharon. Tell the ferryman I said hello.”

Pulling the trigger, I put the bullet between his eyes and he crumbled forward, falling off the plastic chair. The chair fell over to and I stared down the gun at his body. No one lived. There was never any hope for him the moment I stepped into the room. Hope was for the weak. Mercy was for the innocent. Death came for us all.

Suddenly, hands covered my eyes and I stumbled back into a large body. My hand with the gun dropped and I let it hang next to me. The warmth from them filled me and I shivered, not realizing I had gotten so cold.

“Come back to me, Ria. It’s done.”

My chest started to rise and fall faster. I’d realized that Marek, my Marek, had been watching the whole time. I knew he was there but I’d lost his presence. My sole focus was on the information and the vessel in which I needed to get it from. That was all. That’s all that ever mattered. The only other person who ever watched my session would be Wizard. They were usually on the feed for the information as it came in. If I needed confirmation of information being correct.

“I…I’m sorry…Marek, I…”

Slowly, he turned me around. His hand slipped down my arm and took the gun from my hand, tucking it away. Reaching down, he picked me up so that I was sitting in his arms, just slightly taller than him now.

“Ria, it’s okay. If I was worried, I would have stepped in. You got the information we needed.”

I was fighting tears. “You didn’t need…to see….all of that. You should have left. That’s…”

“Kharon. It’s Kharon. The precision and execution of an expert torturer. I know, Ria. I’ve tortured my fair share of people. Watched my fair share over the years. It’s okay. If anything, you showed me just how incredible you are.”

Swallowing, I felt nauseous. I hadn’t meant to go so far. I only needed the information. I didn’t need to play with him. I didn’t need to do…everything that I did. I’d lost myself. In the hatred knowing he watched as Aleksei burned. That all it was done for was to cover up their own failure.

Wrapping my arms around Marek, I buried my head in his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Búsinka, vso khorosho.” Marek pulled me closer. “You got what we needed.”

“You know who Fusion Alliance is.” It wasn’t a question.

He nodded though. “It’s a subsidiary.”

“Of?”

I leaned back so I could see his face. Marek wasn’t happy. Livid, even. His hands dug into my skin as he held me. He wasn’t looking at me, his eyes staring at my chest but I knew he wasn’t here with me right now. Marek’s mind was pulling pieces together and he was pissed the more he thought.

“The Santiago Corporation.”

My brow furrowed. “Santiago?”

None of that was something my father or Enzo had anything to with that I knew of. Plus, the fact that Marek knew meant that this was something from his side, not mine.

“Yes. Santiago has been an ally with our businesses. While they made millions, shoving skeletons in their closets along the way, they aren’t like us.”

“So then why would they hire someone to kill me? That wouldn’t make sense. Plus going through a subsidiary…” I was trying to pick up the pieces that I couldn’t see.

Marek turned around, ducking through the door so that I wouldn’t hit my head on the bars above. “Right. Unless someone didn’t want their father to know they hired hitman.”

Suddenly, the name clicked. “Anastasia Santiago. The crazy one who thinks I stole you away?”

He nodded. “I think Anastasia Santiago hired a hit on you so she could then marry me once you were out of the picture. This is all my fault. For not nipping this shit in the butt.”

“Marek…that’s…”

“No. It is and I’m going to fucking end it.”