Lethal Temptations (Tempted #5)(109)

The coughing won, and it took a few minutes for him regain his composure.

“Do you need a glass of water or something?”

“Water won’t cure what I have,” he muttered.

“Are you sick?”

He took a seat on the bottom bunk and glanced up at me.

“I’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, not sure what stage yet, but I’m guessing it’s pretty far off,” he took a deep breath. “It is what it is,” he brushed an invisible piece of lint from his jumpsuit.

“Christ, I’m sorry Vic,” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair. “Does your family know?”

“No, no point in telling them,” he answered. “My girls are finally happy, genuinely happy and they’re safe. They miss their dad but they’re moving on with life, as they should. Adrianna is about to give birth and is finally living her happily ever after with Anthony. And my Nikki, well, Michael paid me a visit and told me he was going to ask her to marry him. He’s a good kid, Val would be proud. Then there’s my Gracie, and I won’t tell her because she’s still hanging onto the years when we were young.”

He lifted his pillow, removed the pillow case and pulled a razor blade out.

“When it’s your time, it’s your time,” he said kneeled down on the floor and sharpened the edge of the razor against the concrete.

“What are you doing with that?” I whispered.

He lifted his eyes to mine and smiled widely.

“It’s Jimmy’s time,” he revealed.

“He’s here?”

“It seems like just yesterday you and Jack paid me a visit and we first concocted this plan,” he smiled nostalgically. “I always liked playing God, now I get to play it with that no good prick’s life.”

He viciously scratched the razor against the cement, obviously angered just thinking about Jimmy Gold.

I got his pain.

That motherf*cker ruined my life too.

The only difference is I have one to get back to and Vic didn’t. I felt sorry for him and I knew if I told him that I’d kill what was left of his soul. He didn’t want anyone’s pity.

“They’ll be coming to bring me to the chapel. Do me a favor?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Continue to sharpen this when I’m gone, but make sure you put the sheet up. You don’t have to worry about the guards but the scum we’re locked up with, they’re all rat bastards,” he said, taking my hand and opening my palm before dropping the blade into it and closing it.

“Nice and sharp, like the tip of a needle,” he instructed.

I glanced down at the weapon in the palm of my hand as Vic walked behind me and untied the sheet from the bars. I shoved the razor under my mattress and watched as Vic grabbed his bible. Two minutes later a correction officer took him to church.

Two minutes later I was devising a plan of my own.





Chapter Thirty-nine





Nice and sharp, like the tip of a needle.

His words repeated over and over inside my head as I mimicked the way he tied the sheet over the bars. I grabbed the blade from under the mattress and took a seat on the cold floor, letting the razor slide between my fingers.

So smooth.

I pictured Jimmy’s face as he sat across from me that day he showed up at the Dog Pound, provoking me to resurrect the devil I tried so hard to bury.

Victor tells me you’re familiar with the business, that, you used to be one of the biggest players in the game.

Even the mighty players fall.

Just look at Vic.

But I didn’t just fall, Jimmy Gold knocked me off my horse and dragged me to hell.

I’d like to think a man like you knows his product, enjoys it even, won’t you have a taste for me?

I scratched the razor against the concrete subconsciously as I relived the nightmare that nearly killed me. I recalled drawing my sleeve up my arm and tying the rubber band around my bicep. I could almost feel the needle prick my skin and when I closed my eyes I watched as my thumb pressed down on the top of the syringe.

There you go.

Just a little more.

All done.

I’ve been at war with myself for a long time and if I would yield Victor’s advice I needed to put my addictions to rest. I needed to go religiously to meetings when I got out and more than that I needed to hang on to the picture he painted for me. The woman home waiting for me and the dream of a family that could be mine.

But before all that, to give myself to Lacey completely I had to free myself from the demons that threatened to pull me away from her. I wasn’t like Victor; I learned the hard way money and power aren’t everything, not when you’re pulling your dead wife out of a bathtub. I had my own issues though and as much as I was addicted to drugs I was addicted to pain. I let people get to me through my heart and I’d have to end that by ending all the people who threatened to take my heart away from me.

Starting with Jimmy.

Ending with Boots.

I didn’t even give a f*ck about the G-Man anymore. If that man never got what was coming and lived to a ripe old age only to rot away in a cage, that, was good enough for me. Vic gave me a glimpse of the future, providing me with a wake-up call and a new dream.

I wanted the picture he had taped to the wall, but I wanted that photograph tucked safely into a frame on the nightstand next to my wife.