Soulless Devil (Sons of Valentino #3)(13)

“What?”

“You. You’re really hung up on this girl. It’s not like you,” he says.

“I’m not hung up on anyone,” I deny.

“If you’re not hung up on her, then you’ll come out tonight, pick up some random piece of ass, and get the fuck over whatever hold Little Miss Sunshine has on you.”

I glare at him. I know he’s trying to goad me into a reaction, which is why I don’t respond to that. “You can always jump out, you know. You don’t have to come with me,” I tell him.

“Yeah, okay. Like I’m going to miss all the fun.” Luca smirks. We’re on the way to the warehouse to pay a visit to the fucker who drugged Livvy. Luca found and kept him on ice for me. “I’m keen to see how you’re going to explain all this to Pops, though?”

“He’ll understand. He wouldn’t stand for any girl being drugged, Luc. You know that.”

“Maybe, but how interested is he going to be to learn that you’ve suddenly grown a heart and it’s full of rainbow and sunshine. Mom will be planning your nuptials quicker than you can blink.”

“Fuck off. She’s my tutor. That’s all.”

“Does she know that?” I don’t answer, but he keeps talking anyway. “Right, well, when you’re done lying to yourself, let me know so I can say I told you so.” He laughs.

“Whatever.” I pull into the parking lot and groan. “What the fuck are those two doing here?” I ask, glaring at our older brothers, Theo and Matteo.

“Ruining any chance of fun we had. Like always.” Luca rolls his eyes.

I turn the engine off and jump out of the car. Matteo is aiming his shit-eating, smart-ass grin at me, while Theo is sending us his usual pissed-off glare. You’d think I just ran over his cat or something. “You know, when I was told my delivery was in the warehouse, I was curious because I didn’t place any Amazon orders. Imagine my surprise when I called Pops and found out he hadn’t been shopping either. So we dialed Matteo, and nope, the request didn’t come from him. Which leaves you two morons. Care to tell me what the fuck you ordered?” Theo asks.

“Does it really matter if I’m spending my own money?” I counter.

“It does, when your funds are attached to my bank accounts.”

Okay, all this riddle talk is starting to piss me off. “The fucker in there date-rape drugged a friend.” I lift one shoulder up.

“What friend? You don’t have any friends?” Matteo presses.

“Fuck off. I have plenty of friends, asshole. Now, if you two don’t mind, I have shit to do.”

“By all means, don’t let me stop you from opening your package.” Theo holds an arm out towards the door to the warehouse.

Rolling my eyes at his dramatics, I walk past both him and Matteo and enter the building, heading straight for the back room where I know this asshole will be tied up. And, sure enough, when I enter, the fucker is hanging from metal chains, piss stains spotting his jeans. From the looks of it, the retrieval company already did a number on him.

“Do you know who I am?” I ask, stepping right up to him.

“Should I?” he asks back.

“You should always know the name of the man who’s going to kill you,” I tell him. “Romeo Valentino.” I watch as recognition and fear cross his face in equal measure.

“I don’t know anything. I didn’t do anything,” he says.

“Really, you don’t remember being in a club last night? I guess you also don’t remember slipping drugs into a girl’s water bottle?”

He violently shakes his head no.

“Because I sure as fuck remember you sitting right next to her. Strawberry blonde, tight little black dress, bright-blue eyes? Ring a bell?”

“She needed to loosen up a bit, man. Girl was frigid as fucking ice.”

My fist connects with his mouth, and his lip splits open on impact.

“Ah, fuck,” he yells.

“That’s just the beginning. That girl happens to be a good friend of mine. And you know what happens to people who try to fuck over friends of mine?”

“No.”

“I’d tell you to go and ask them, but no one in that position has been able to talk again.” Bending down, I retrieve the knife from my boot. “You know, I’ve always been fascinated with how quickly a body can drain of blood when you slice the veins in the ankle.” I turn towards my three brothers, who are all standing there with curious gazes locked on me. “You want to take a wager on how long it will take?” I ask them.

“Ten grand, I say five minutes.” Theo is the first to speak up.

“I’ll match your ten and say seven,” Luca counters.

“Four minutes,” Matteo adds.

“Considering he’s usually the one with the knife…” I gesture to Matteo. “I’m going with his bet,” I say to the nameless asshole. “Let’s find out, shall we?” I smirk at him.

“What? No, stop. I’m sorry! I didn’t know. It won’t happen again. I swear.”

“No, it won’t fucking happen again,” I tell him as I reach for his left leg. He kicks and thrashes it around, trying to escape the blade.

He can fight all he wants, because nothing is going to stop me. All I can think about when I bring the knife’s edge to his ankle, cutting right into the vein, is a passed-out, helpless Livvy and what would have happened to her if I wasn’t there. He screams in agony. Dropping his leg, I move onto the other one, repeating the process. I then push to my feet and walk over to the button on the wall that operates the pulley system he’s presently chained to. The metal clinks as I press the button and his body is lifted higher in the air. His feet hang loosely as red liquid drains from the open wounds. I step back and watch the minutes tick by on my watch. When the flow stops and his body hangs lifeless in the air, no longer swinging with his piss-poor efforts to save himself, I turn around and smile at my brothers.