Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DECLAN

"Let it go." Liam shakes his head. "What happens to her isn't our problem."

"You've got to be fucking kidding," I scoff. "When she gets beaten within an inch of her life because we brought her back, that is very much our problem."

Pulling to a stop before Akim's coffee shop, Liam barks at Finn, "Get her out of the car and bring her inside."

"Please," she begs, grabbing my shirt as Finn pulls hers from the SUV. "He'll kil?—"

Her words are cut short, muffled by the glass, as Finn slams the door shut.

"Of all days," I huff.

"Fuck. I'm sorry," Liam grabs my arm as I reach for the door handle. "I need her to be believable. She couldn't know.The minute I get what we need from Akim, I'm getting her out of here."

" Go hifreann leat a shliomadoir lofa !" I snarl as I climb out of the Tahoe. "I could beat the ever-loving piss out of you."

Liam heads inside, and I stand on the sidewalk for a second, trying to harness my anger before going inside and doing something fucking foolish. After taking a few deep breaths, I open the door and head toward the office we previously visited. I walk through the door just in time to watch Akim's fat fucking mitt crashing into Kira's face. The sound of his fist colliding with her skin echoes off the cheap paneling as she crumples to her knees.

"Whores on their knees are only good for one thing," he spits at her. "Either suck my fucking cock or get the fuck up."

Blood trickles from a small cut beneath her eye, but she manages to hold back the tears welling in her eyes. This isn't her first round with him, or men like him. Gulping hard, she reaches for the desk and uses it to pull herself back to her feet.

Akim retakes his seat behind the desk before roughly grabbing Kira's wrist. She winces in pain as he pulls her onto his lap and flush to his sweaty gut. She fights back her disgust—but not the hatred in her eyes toward us—as his hands rub over her skin.

"We held up our end," Liam interrupts Akim's whispers in Kira's ear. "Luka is dead, and you have her back. Tell us what we need to know about the Pakhan."

Kira shivers with what I can only imagine is disgust as Akim licks up the side of her neck, and he chuckles with an evil smirk. "No, you haven't. You seem to be forgetting about something."

"Your small ask?" Liam questions. "What is it?"

The evil smirk on Akim's face spreads into a devilish smile that would make the Cheshire Cat look inviting. "The girl from the bar. The pretty little redheaded one."

My hands involuntarily ball into fists at my sides, and the heat of my boiling blood turns my face red. "That's not a small ask," I push out the words through my gritted teeth.

"She's a fucking barmaid," he grumbles.

"Why her?" I can't stop myself from asking, even though I know the answer.

"What the fuck do you care?" he snarls. Reaching between Kira's thighs, he rubs his palm over her pants before firmly cupping her crotch. "I'm going to tire of this tight little cunt by the time I finish fucking some sense into her. And even if I don't, she'll be fucking useless to me by the time she's done being reminded that she's my whore. My whores do as they're told, and my men will reteach her that as they all get to take a turn."

A single tear rolls down Kira's cheek as she listens to Akim's plans for her. These men—if you can even call them that—are fucking savages.

"When I don't have my sweet little Kira to play with anymore…" Akim's voice trails off as he wipes the tear from Kira's cheek. "Well, I'm going to need a pretty new plaything."

My nostrils flare, and every muscle in my body vibrates with rage. It's as though he knows he's baiting me. I can feel Liam and Finn's eyes on me, willing me to contain myself.

"Besides, I have it on good authority that she's a fantastic fuck." Akim pauses for a moment as his evil gaze meets my heated one. "But she lives with you, so you probably know that already. Don't you? How sweet is her tight little, red-haired cunt?"

Unable to control my anger any longer, I throw myself over his desk, taking him and Kira to the floor. She scrambles from the ground, Liam quickly swooping in to pull her to safety.

"You will never fucking lay a hand on her." I climb over the disgusting fucking Russian and pin him to the ground beneath me. My fists crash into his face with unrelenting fury. The barrage of hits causes his spittle and blood tospray over me. His skin splits, and the bones beneath it begin to splinter and break. He gurgles on his own blood—slowly suffocating—as my fists continue to liquefy his face.

By the time I climb from his dead body, I am covered in him. He is unrecognizable, yet he looks exactly like every other man who dared to lay a hand on Quinn.

I made a promise to her, and I will not break it again.

Pushing past Liam and Finn, I'm met with gasps and wide eyes as I walk through the coffee shop and to the SUV out front. My brothers aren't far behind and climb into the Tahoe a few minutes after I slam my door. Neither of them says a word as we drive back to Midtown. A block from my building, I send a text to Quinn.