Chapter 12

REUBEN

"That was fucking hot," Gianni said softly.

I grunted my agreement. I was aware that Mina had some steel in her, but I hadn't expected her to use it to kill a woman. When she insisted Damon and I back off, I thought she was going to threaten her.

I should have known better. At the end of the day, she was a DiMarco. She was as much a part of this life as I was. And she was fucking angry at what they did to her.

Right now though, she looked small, her expression blank. She still had blood on her hand and up her arm. After killing the woman, she'd staggered back, the knife falling from her fingers. Her face was white, like she might faint. Instead, she sat in a chair and barely moved since.

I took the washcloth Parker handed me and crouched down in front of Mina to wipe away the blood from her fingers.

"I should have realised there was a chance someone like that might be here."

"I'm glad she was," Mina whispered. "She let me live down there for years, and didn't raise a finger. She probably didn't even think about me and what he was doing to me."

A frown crossed her brow. "Or maybe she did, and she didn't speak out because he might have put her down there instead. She'd rather let someone else suffer through that than go through it herself."

"She could have told me and no one would have gone through it." I turned her hand to wipe her palm clean. "She chose not to do that."

Mina looked down at me. "I had my doubts at first. That it was her. It could have been someone else's voice."

"Until she confirmed that she knew what happened to you," I said.

Mina nodded. "Until then. Before that, I wanted to kill her for working with him. I would have let one of you shoot her."

"And we would have," I said. "I would have ordered one of them to put a bullet in her brain."

"What if I was wrong?" Mina asked. "What if it wasn't her upstairs? You could have had an innocent woman killed."

I wiped Mina's wrist. "There are many adjectives for a woman like her. Innocent isn't amongst them. Whether or not she knew about you, she was still working with him. Any chance of her walking out of here alive were slim. Less than slim. I always intended to make an example out of the people here. I won't tolerate people working for Kurt or anyone like him. I won't tolerate rival operations, especially ones as big as his."

"Right," she whispered. "But what if you planned to let them walk away and I asked you to kill her, and then I was wrong?"

"Why are you asking this?" I asked. "If you asked me to kill her, you would have had good reason to do it." And if she didn't, I didn't give a shit. If she wanted someone dead, they were dead. Innocent or not.

"I just…" She glanced down at the floor. "I don't want to make a mistake." She looked like she was going to say 'again,' but didn't.

"What they did to you wasn't your fault," I stated. "It was your father's fault. Him and Kurt. And hers." I didn't so much as jerk my head towards the woman's corpse. She didn't deserve that much attention or recognition.

"And others. You mentioned several people carried you down there. Would you recognise any of them?"

She breathed in slowly through her nose and blew out through pursed lips. "I don't know. Maybe."

I finished wiping away the blood and tossed the washcloth aside. "How are you feeling?"

"About killing someone?" she asked. "If I'm supposed to say I regret it, I can't. I…" In a whisper she said, "I enjoyed it. They say violence isn't the answer, but…"

"Sometimes it's the only answer," I said. I noticed the way her eyes got darker when she talked about what she did. She more than enjoyed killing, she got off on it. She wasn't the first person to feel that way. Or the last.

I looked back over my shoulder. "Kill the rest of them," I said calmly. Even if they weren't working for Kurt, they saw Mina and Hunter kill. I wasn't leaving any witnesses behind.

I turned back to her, ignoring the pleas for me to change my mind. They were cut off by three gunshots. Quickly and efficiently, my people did as they were asked, before dragging the bodies out into the back of the building to be disposed of.

We'd done this so many times before, everyone knew their role and carried it out without hesitation.

"All of this death shouldn't be, I don't know…" Mina frowned.

"Loud?" I suggested. I was as uncomfortable with the sound of gunshots as I was with screaming. Not because I cared about the implications; because of the noise.

"I was going to say exciting," she said tentatively. "We got to decide who lived and died here today. We did that."

"Yes we did," I agreed. "That's one of the benefits of being the boss. You get to make those choices." I'd made them so often in the last few years I barely gave them a second thought. Speaking to her reminded me how much I enjoyed the power. I liked things done my way. My way made sense to me. Neat, orderly and organised.

"Some people would suggest we're fucked up," she said.

"What do you think?" I was genuinely curious as to how she saw herself and our lifestyle.

"I think it's who we are," she said. "Who we'll always be."

She understood. This was exactly what I'd been trying to tell Zeke for years now. This was who he was as well. He could try to put it behind him, but he never would. Not completely.

I'd never wanted to kiss her more than I did right then. I wanted to slam my lips down on hers and claim her right here, in front of everyone, beside pools of blood on the tiled floor. Was there a more appropriate setting?

I settled for placing a small kiss on the centre of her forehead. "You're so fucking beautiful."

"Because I'm fucked up?" she asked.

"You said 'perfect as fuck' wrong," Gianni said, crouching beside me. "I've never had the hots for a woman like I do right now. Seeing you kill that bitch was spank bank material."

I looked at him sideways and arched an eyebrow.

"Don't say you don't agree," he said.

"It was the wording I was questioning," I said. He sounded like the twins, using an expression like spank bank. Mina deserved better than to be talked about like that.

Admittedly, I didn't have a better term for it. I would be thinking about her when I curled my hand around my cock later tonight.

Gianni grinned. "What can I say, I'm classy as fuck. That's why you love me so much."

How could I respond to that but to roll my eyes and shake my head.

"Boss, the cleanup is finished," Damon said. "We just need to get someone in here to wash up the blood. I've already made the call." He stopped beside us to regard Mina. His expression was one of grudging respect, with a healthy dose of heat.

He'd be the last to admit it, but he felt the same way about her as Gianni and me. Right now, he was all professionalism as he pushed his expressionless mask back into place.

"Good." I rose to my feet, taking Mina with me, my hand gripping hers. "Keep an eye on this place. Kurt might return. If he doesn't, someone else who works for him will."

"Got it, boss," Damon said.

Gianni pushed himself to his feet. "I have to admit to being disappointed. Not only did we not find out where Kurt was, I didn't get to kill anyone. Although, watching Mina kill someone was almost as much fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime. A good date night isn't complete without a few corpses."

"Try to keep the killing to a minimum," I told him. "Unless they're involved with Kurt." Then he had free reign to deal with them however he saw fit. I knew I could trust him to be discreet and clean up after himself. And that he'd let me know whoever he killed, in great detail. He enjoyed giving those reports almost as much as doing the actual deed. His eyes always glazed like he was reliving the moment, step-by-step.

I also knew he didn't go around killing indiscriminately. It wasn't the death he enjoyed dispensing, it was the justice.

"I'll do my best," he said easily. He took half a step away before he stopped and frowned at Mina. "What's wrong?"

She stood with her back completely straight, frozen to the spot, staring at nothing in particular in front of her.

"If I hadn't acted so quickly, we might have been able to get her to tell us who else was with her that night," Mina said. "I screwed up."

Her face was paler again. Her blue-green eyes and dark hair were a stark contrast against her skin, almost making her look ghostly. Beautiful, but haunted.

I took the chance of putting an arm around her shoulders. When she didn't pull away, I squeezed lightly. "Chances are, she wouldn't have told you anything else. She already knew her time was done. I doubt she would have thrown anyone else under the bus."

"She was quick to point out Benny's involvement," Gianni said.

"I screwed up," Mina said again. "I screwed up. I screwed up." She put her hands over her face and pressed the heels into her eyes like she was trying to rub them out of her head.

I grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands down. "You did not screw up," I said firmly. "We will find the others if they're still alive. We'll make them pay for what they did to you. I promise you that. We'll find them."

Her eyes were wide as she looked back at me. A brief moment of confusion crossed her face before she blinked and stopped trying to pull away from me. I had the distinct impression she'd gotten lost in the past somehow. Whatever had her upset went beyond cutting the woman's throat today. Something happened that haunted her, something that had nothing to do with Kurt.

"We'll find them," she whispered.

"Yes," I said. "When we do, they'll get what they deserve."

She shivered. "What they deserve," she echoed. "Yes, they should get that. Everything that's coming to them."

I couldn't shake the feeling she was talking about herself.