Pennies (Dollar #1)(78)

The shears were sharp.

His neck was supple.

The two met and did what supple and sharp did.

His throat sliced open, revealing the innards of gristle and esophagus before blood welled and joined the mess of Pimlico’s in an avalanche of red.

A gunshot exploded above my head, whistling past and embedding in the large oval window behind me.

The glass shattered, raining outward, letting sea breezes enter the otherwise calm space.

“Get the f*ck out of my house and I won’t kill you.” Alrik shuffled from the kitchen, both hands on his pistol, his fingers shaking on the trigger.

He still thought I’d deliver what he’d paid for.

Even after this.

I laughed. “If you were half the man you think you are, you would’ve shot me.”

He scowled. “I’m a better man because I didn’t.”

“No, you’re just a greedy bastard who still thinks our deal will go through.”

He blanched. “I paid. You agreed. Of course, it will go through. I need that f*cking yacht!”

“Need and deserve are two entirely different things.” Moving around the couch, I trailed my fingers briefly over Pimlico’s blood-soaked cheek. “Our deal was void the moment you mutilated a young girl.”

“She’s mine to do with as—”

“As you please.” Raising my hand, I painted her red, red life-force on my cheekbone, dousing myself in the pain of the person I was protecting—just like those of my lineage. We’d fought for empresses and queens. We’d given our lives in the service of others and avenged those who’d wronged us.

This was no different.

The many lessons I’d indulged in came back, flowing like magical memories through my veins. I missed my sword, but my hands would do in this case.

“You went too far this time, Alrik.”

“You have no authority to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“Yes.” I moved closer to him. “I do.”

His arms trembled. “Think again.”

The flinch of his muscles gave me all the warning I needed. He pulled the trigger and another bullet did its best to break the fabric of air and speed.

I ducked effortlessly then charged forward, ploughing into him with my shoulder, crunching him against the kitchen bench.

All the oxygen in his lungs exploded. The solid thud of his spine hitting marble had a good probability of leaving him disabled.

He dropped to his knees, only to scramble breathlessly back to his feet.

Didn’t disable him, after all.

Oh well, no loss.

My brain turned off as I reached forward and plucked the nuisance gun from his grip. I tossed it onto the couch beside Pimlico.

Immediately, she crawled for it, holding her mouth with one hand and doing her best to support the heavy weight of the black pistol with the other.

I wanted to tell her I’d protect her, help her, but my intentions weren’t that of a kind man. I’d come to steal not free.

She didn’t need to know that. Not until I had her exactly where I wanted her. Not until she was healed.

Alrik swung at my face now he’d been stripped of his weapon.

His fist connected only because I let it.

Pain was used as power in my training, giving animalistic instincts ammunition when bodily harm threatened.

I could kill him fast or slow.

If I had my way, it would be slow.

But Pimlico wouldn’t last for the hours I’d like to torture. I didn’t have the time to starve him for years with mental and physical abuse. He was getting off f*cking easy.

For now, for her sake, it had to be quick.

My hand soared forward; my fingers jammed into his larynx.

He choked.

While he buckled over, doing his best to suck in a breath, I grabbed his shoulders and crunched his face onto my knee.

With killing hands, I seized his chin, ready to snap his spine.

I was disappointed how fast three lives had been snuffed out. This cold dispatching did not satisfy me.

But this wasn’t about me.

It’s about her.

A feral sound warbled behind me.

I froze, looking over my shoulder.

Pimlico draped over the back of the couch, blood everywhere, both hands holding the gun. She shook her head—the most response I’d ever earned—as her eyes dropped to Alrik scrambling in my hold.

“You want to do it?”

She nodded.

Her shaking was too much. She wouldn’t be able to aim.

But I wouldn’t deny the only thing she’d ever asked of me.

“Fine.” Moving around Alrik’s body, I hoisted him up using his jaw and nape, threatening to break his neck. “Stand, you worthless sack of shit.”

His feet slipped on the tiles, but he did his best to obey. “You don’t have to do this. You want more money? Have it all. You want her, take her. I don’t f*cking care.”

“It isn’t about that anymore.” I smiled. “It’s about karma and paying for what you’ve done. If it were up to me, you’d suffer for decades—just like you made Pim and countless other girls suffer. But we don’t have that luxury, so consider yourself f*cking lucky.”

Pimlico never took her eyes off him, her finger feathering the trigger. She gagged as more blood flowed, forcing her to vomit red over the back of the couch. Wiping tears away, the gun wobbled as she tensed to shoot.