26. Jordan

26

JORDAN

Knowing Vail was upstairs with Hartley while I was down here about to torture this piece of shit wasn’t comforting. Yes, I liked that Vail and Hartley were safe and close, but I didn’t like that I had to do this with them here. It was one thing to do small shit. It was quite another to kill the man before me.

I nodded to Sheldon, who ripped the tape from the man’s mouth. He started cursing the second he could speak. Spit flew, threats were made, as if he had any place to do so.

Sheldon had him propped up against the wall where he sat with his back to it. It was only the three of us in here, with Alton now upstairs and Reghan standing guard so no one entered. Only those with the code could, but I didn’t want anyone else down here. Not even Sylvan had the code, and the home was in his name.

“How did you think this was going to go?” I asked the man. He wouldn’t tell us his name, not that I expected him to. There was no identification on him.

“Fuck you,” he spit.

“You’re aware of who I am, of the reputation I have. And yet, you came for one of my men. Why?”

“He’s not yours.”

“No?” I asked calmly. “Is he yours then? Are you the one fucking him every night? No, that’s me. So, tell me again how he’s not mine?”

“He belongs to Gil.”

“Ah.” There it was. I knew this had to do with Gil and there was the confirmation.

There was no point in me sending this asshole back to Gil with a warning. He tried to take Vail and he or one of his accomplices shot Oleander. That was a quick trip to never seeing sunlight again, or much of anything. I withdrew the knife from my pocket. It was a good thing I’d sharpened it this morning.

Flipping it open, I watched as the blade caught the light, how it glinted off it to accentuate the sharp edge. “If you don’t start talking, I’m going to start cutting.”

The man pressed his lips together.

“Very well.” I jutted my chin.

Sheldon and Oleander lifted the man. Oleander only used one arm but with Sheldon’s help they could easily pick him up, even though he bucked against them. The man’s feet were still bound but he could stand. They released him as he leaned against the wall. If he tried to lash out, he’d fall forward and with no way to brace his fall, his nose would break.

I stepped close and started at the base of the man’s throat, pulled the knife down his shirt, through his clothes, piercing his flesh until I got to his jeans. Then, because they were in my way, I stabbed his waist right above the denim and started sawing downward. Blood ran, screams emitted from him, and I reveled in every fucking second of it. Once I got through the thick material of the top of the jeans, I easily sliced through the rest all the way down to his feet. His flesh was now cut from throat to ankle.

Standing, I looked him in his eyes. Tears ran from them. His brown hair was a mess, plastered to his forehead from sweat and blood. Sheldon didn’t go easy on him when he bound him and put him in the back of the SUV.

“Where’s Gil?” I asked.

Breaths came in fast, pained pants. “Fuck. You.”

“Very well. Hands please.”

Sheldon cut the zip tie holding the man’s hands together. The man tried to struggle. Oleander couldn’t get a good enough hold with one hand and went to use the other. I didn’t want him opening his stitches.

I reached for the door and pulled it wide. “Reghan, get down here!” I heard his booted feet descend the stairs. He closed the door behind him to keep the sound within. “Hold him so Ollie doesn’t hurt himself worse and I have to answer to Vail.”

“Yes, sir.”

First, I took the fingers on the hand Reghan was holding. “You have ten chances to tell me where Gil is before I start cutting off appendages.”

One by one, I went from finger to finger, peeling off his nails, driving the knife too deep on purpose each time. His cries got louder. It was number eight when he began to talk, though it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Gil loves him. Vail doesn’t know what he wants.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Gil took care of him. Gave him everything he needed.”

Without finishing the last two nails, I lifted the knife and drove it into his shoulder. “Do not tell me what Vail needs. Gil beat the shit out of him and here you are defending him. Try again,” I growled and twisted the knife in the muscle.

He cried again. “Please, stop!”

“All you have to do is tell me where he is.” Wrenching the knife from his shoulder, I found his fingers once more. Number nine and ten were now without their nails. “On to parts of your body that are easily cut off.” Crouching, I parted the fabric at the front of his waist with the knife. “Good, you have both testicles. Which one shall I sever first?”

“No! Please!”

“An address,” I growled.

“He… He…”

The knife cut through his flesh, slicing into him, taking out one of the testicles. Blood ran from him, down his jeans, some dripping to the floor. He didn’t offer anything else up, so I cut the other one off. Now he only had a sad excuse for a cock remaining.

The man sagged against the wall. The more blood that left him, the weaker he became. “He never told me. He just said not to tell you anything and I’d be rewarded.”

“I hope it was worth your life.”

He tried to beg again, but he’d lost his fight.

I held my hand out. Reghan took his gun from the holster. I left home so fast, worry for Vail riding me, I forgot to grab mine. I didn’t even wait for the fucking elevator. I started running down the stairs with Reghan behind me.

Reghan placed his gun in my palm. I aimed and fired, hitting the man in the head. “What a waste of my fucking time,” I growled and handed it back. “Call someone to clean this shit up.”

Stripping off my clothes, I left them on the floor and went into the shower to scrub the blood and bits from my body. It was one of the suits Hartley had made for me too. I was pissed about that. I should have shot the man in the knees first. Then the stomach. And finally in the head. Nothing to be done of it now.

Once I scrubbed myself clean, I shut the water off and checked the mirror to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Hartley and Vail knew what I was down here doing. They didn’t need a reminder of it.

With a towel around my waist, I went to the cabinet and withdrew a pair of black slacks and a white button-down. No jacket, but it wasn’t necessary.

Sheldon got into the shower after me. Reghan would follow suit. Luckily, Oleander wasn’t bloodied more than he already was from being shot.

Oleander followed me up the stairs and I made sure to firmly close the door behind us. We walked through the house, following the sound of voices to find Vail, Hartley, and Sylvan sitting at the table with plates in front of them with muffin crumbs dotting the ivory-colored dishes, along with empty cups of coffee.

Hartley was the first to see me. “Okay?” he mouthed.

I nodded.

Vail turned to me next. He didn’t stand, though he looked me up and down. “I’m not going to ask what you did, but did you find anything out?”

“No, he was useless.” I wouldn’t go into detail of what was said. Vail had enough to give him nightmares without me adding the man’s words to it. “Did you enjoy your time with Sylvan?”

“He told us how you met and changed his life.”

When I focused on Sylvan, his gaze wasn’t on me but on Oleander by my side. A blush colored Sylvan’s cheeks. Now there was a relationship I could get behind. Sylvan was a sweet man. Oleander was as loyal as they came with a gentle touch when needed. He was also lethal. It was why I put him with Vail. If I placed someone like Reghan or Raiden with him, Vail wouldn’t have been able to form a bond as fast. Although he probably knew more about the twins than I did at this point.

Sylvan finally looked my way. “I forgot to give them the tour.”

“It’s okay,” I said to calm him. He didn’t need to get himself worked up thinking he disappointed me. No matter how many times I told him that wasn’t possible, he still worried. “You can give it to them now if you’d like.”

“You don’t have to leave?”

“No, Sylvan. We’re good here for a while. It’s peaceful. We could use a bit of that.”

“Okay.” He stood. “Follow me. I’ll show you to the library first. It’s my favorite room in the house.”

The four of us went from room to room with Sylvan as he explained what every room was for and what he loved about it. Nothing that came from him was negative. Even the bathrooms, he found a way to say something positive. That was just who he was. After almost being evicted, he’d been forever grateful to me.

People thought I was a monster, a man out to do every illegal crime they could think of. And while I did do some that weren’t above board, I wasn’t all bad. Okay, maybe I was seventy-five percent bad and twenty-five good. Who the fuck knew? Either way, I had a heart, no matter how dark, and I cared about the people in my life.

At one point, Vail held my hand and Hartley came up on my other side, looping his arm through mine. They walked with me as we listened to Sylvan speak about the home he loved so much. While I didn’t hear every word he said, I was here with the men I loved on either side of me. They were in one piece. Sheldon and Oleander brought Vail home safely.

Wait… “Where the fuck is Forest?”

“Oh, he’s outside,” Hartley said. “He wanted to walk around the grounds.”

“Sheldon,” I barked. He was around here somewhere. I’d caught a glimpse of him as we were walking the halls.

“On it,” I heard come from downstairs. He’d find him.

“Can he get hurt out there?” Hartley asked.

“Not unless there’s a bear,” Sylvan said. “But that’s unlikely. The entire property is fenced. Forest is probably out back by the stream that trickles through the property. It freezes this time of year.”

“As long as he’s okay.”

“We’d know if he wasn’t. There are a lot of cameras and security measures in place. If something trips one of the sensors on the fence, I’d receive an alert on my phone and so would Barry back at your home. Forest is fine. He’s probably enjoying nature.” He smiled and brought us to the next room.

I wasn’t overly worried about Hartley’s brother. Like Sylvan said, there was nothing here to get him and no one was climbing the fence at any point on the property without us knowing. But I understood Hartley’s worry after the shitty day we’d had. Well, that Vail, Forest, Sheldon, and Oleander had. Hopefully, the remainder of today was better, although I wasn’t making any bets.