RYDER (Slater Brothers 4)(68)

“You’re a ragin’ f*ckin’ lunatic.”

“My son was murdered, of course I’m a lunatic.” Big Phil argued. “You think losing your child keeps you sane?”

Kane stumbled upon his ‘precious son’ violating a little girl; he deserved a medal for ending the waste of space’s life, nothing less.

I shook my head. “Your son was a dirty paedophile who hurt children, it was justifiable what he got. I personally think he got off too eas—”

Big Phil cut me off with a bang to the face. It was so forceful, that the knock caused me to surge backwards, tipping the chair until it fell and hit the ground. I cried out in pain as fire spread across my cheek and pounding pain erupted at the back of my head.

“I’ll kill you right now if you talk about my son like that again, do you hear me?”

Death—to just be gone from this Earth, was what I wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask for it. I didn’t acknowledge Big Phil’s warning, I only continued to whine in pain.

“That’s why you’re here,” he pressed. “I can’t have Aideen, and your sister is always with Nico. Alec and his woman are together constantly as well. That other girl in your group is single, and Damien has no one so that left you. I thought you would be as hard as the others to snatch, but I’ve come to learn a lot about Ryder’s routine, and yours. He leaves you alone a lot with only Damien for protection when you aren’t at the hospital. That was the weak link in your chain, and I took advantage of it.”

It sent chills up my spine that a stranger knew so much about us. It was a feeling I couldn’t describe—it made my already churned stomach twist once more.

“So that’s the answer to that question,” I said, curtly. “What’s the answer to me other one?”

I yelped when the chair I was bound to was pulled back into an upright position, and the blindfold I wore was yanked from my face. My instant reaction was to close my eyes until they adjusted to the light. It didn’t take long because the room I was in was dimly lit, and thanks to the window facing me, I could see through the net curtains that it was dark outside.

How long am I here?

I felt a presence to my left, so I turned and looked at the man who stood next to me. He was taller than the brothers with a normal build, but his face was severely scarred. He reminded me of Freddie Kruger, and that thought didn’t bode well with me. I refused to show it though.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

He slapped me across the face, and then laughed.

“I think you’re a bigger pain in the ass than Aideen was.”

I scrunched up my face in pain before I turned my head back in his direction and glared up at him. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You shouldn’t,” he countered. “Mouthy pieces of ass give me headaches, and you and Aideen are a cut above the rest. I don’t understand what Ryder and Kane see in you both.”

I wasn’t fazed by the insult.

“You won’t ever want to meet Bronagh or Keela then, they’re worse than us.”

Big Phil lips quirked before he walked away from me and moved over to a fireplace across the room. He opened up a small bag of coal, threw two or three pieces into the already lit fire along with some wooden sticks. He reached over and lifted a poker from its stand and used it to move around the fire contents.

I used his distraction to take in my surroundings. I was surprised at what I saw because for some reason, when he said he brought me to his apartment, I envisioned it as being small, dark, cold and dirty, but it was the complete opposite. The sitting room I was in was really spacious and even with the lights dimmed, you could see everything clearly—the decor was beautiful. I wasn’t expecting such an evil scumbag to be living in such a nice place.

“Why’d you pick such a nice place to live?” I asked, still glancing around.

“Because I have standards,” Big Phil replied in duh tone.

I rolled my eyes.

“It wasn’t nice when I moved in,” he continued. “I decorated it because once Kane is dead, I plan on ending my life too. My son is gone, and once his life is avenged, there is no reason for me to exist anymore. I want the place where I’m going to die to be comfortable… the condition it was in before didn’t cut it.”

If I didn’t know what a scumbag he was, and what a monster his son was, I’d think him a pretty great father.

“I won’t kill you,” he suddenly said, regaining my attention.

He was still hunkered down in front of the fire, but the poker he had a few moments ago was still in the fire—the pointy end was anyway.

“Why not?” I asked, curious to know why.

I wasn’t pleased with his answer because if he didn’t kill me, it meant I would leave here and go back to my life of nothingness.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were sad with my answer.”

I shrugged. “I rather die than listen to you talk, but you can’t blame me.”

I wasn’t letting him know a thing about my life, it would only give him more information about me, and he had enough of that.

Big Phil laughed. “Smartass.”

I looked away from him and scanned the room once more. If I wasn’t going to die here, then I needed to figure a way out. The door leading out of the sitting room was closed, and the only other exits were two windows in the room. I wasn’t sure how high up the apartment was, and from my angle, the window I could see out of, there was no fire escape next to it so I had no way down even if I somehow managed to get free and get it open.