“Stay here. I will probably take a bit longer to disable Falcone’s guards,” Growl said as he pulled the blanket off me. He held a gun out to me. “Do you know how to use it?”
My eyes widened and I shook my head. He quickly explained the basics to me, then he got out, and I wished he would have given me a kiss in case he didn’t return.
Don’t even think that, I scolded myself. If Growl died, all of us would.
Growl opened the trunk and the dogs jumped out. I stayed crouched in the legroom but peeked out of the window. Coco and Bandit followed after Growl as he headed for the door. Someone opened it and Growl shoved a knife into the soft spot below his chin, then Growl was out of my sight.
It took endless ten minutes until finally Growl appeared in the doorway. Blood was trickling down his forehead and his shirt was ripped. My heart set out a beat at the sight, until Growl stepped out, holding Falcone by the collar. One trouser leg was torn as if Coco or Bandit had bitten Falcone there. I smiled to myself despite my tension.
The trunk was still open so Coco and Bandit jumped in without needing to be told. Coco’s maw was covered in blood. Bandit’s fur was too dark to tell what kind of liquid was wetting it but I had an inkling that it was also blood. They were fighting dogs after all.
Growl thrust Falcone into the backseat. The man’s hands were tied together with tape, and so was his mouth. He glared when he spotted me on the backseat.
Growl got into his seat and started the car. We needed to get away from the house as quickly as possible. Nobody tried to stop us as we left the premises. “Is everything okay?” I asked, scanning the cut on Growl’s head. It didn’t look very deep but blood was running down his face and getting in his left eye. He wiped it off impatiently. “I killed them all before they could ring an alarm.”
Falcone made a muffled sound. He looked pissed, but there was also a hint of fear that gave me a sick satisfaction.
I smiled grimly at him before turning back to Growl. “What about his wife and children?”
“His sons are in boarding school in England, and his wife is in Aspen.”
Good. At least, that blood didn’t have to be spilled. I didn’t like Falcone’s wife much, but she probably had suffered enough in her marriage. She didn’t deserve death.
Falcone tried to say something again. Growl parked on the side of the road and turned in his seat. He shoved the sleeve of Falcone’s shirt up, and pressed the knife into the skin a few inches below the crook of the elbow.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“He implanted a GPS tracker into his body so we could find him if he was ever kidnapped,” Growl said.
Falcone gasped in pain as Growl dug the small device out of his flesh with the sharp tip of his knife. The blood-covered tracker fell onto the backseat. Growl opened the window and threw the tracking device out.
Then he pulled off the tape over Falcone’s mouth and continued our journey.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to let him talk?” I asked.
Falcone panted on the backseat, the skin around his mouth red, and glared at us. “What did that whore do to wrap you around her fingers? I’d have thought you were immune to manipulation.”
“You manipulated me all her life,” Growl rasped.
“Did she tell you that? She must have sucked your brains out.”
“Be careful,” Growl warned.
He tried to push himself into a sitting position but with his tied hands that wasn’t easy. Eventually he gave up. Which was probably for the best considering that Bandit had stuck his head over the backseat and was only too eager for another taste of Falcone. “Is she worth losing everything? You could have become my successor. You still can if you kill that bitch now.”
I laughed. And Growl, too, smiled bitterly. “As if your men would have ever accepted me as their boss. I know what everyone is saying about me, even you. A bastard can never amount to anything but a henchman. I’m not stupid. I know what’s been going on behind my back. And you have legitimate heir, you don’t need me.”
“This life is all you know, all you have. If you risk it for her, you’ll be left with nothing. She isn’t worth it, believe me.”
Growl’s eyes bored into me briefly. “Yes, she is. She’s worth more than you and I. She’ll be worth losing everything.”
My heart swelled with love, and at the same time my stomach tightened. This wasn’t meant to happen. Falling in love with a man like Growl was the worst I could do, but it was too late now. I couldn’t deny my emotions for the man next to me.
“I should have killed you when you were a useless boy. You are worthless. The son of a cock-sucking whore. If you don’t work for me, what will you do? There’s nothing you can do. You are a monster. You’ve always been. I knew it when I first saw you when you were a screaming ugly baby.”
Growl pulled into a deserted parking lot. The store had been closed for a long time from the looks of it. Growl jumped out of the car and dragged Falcone out of the backseat, then pushed him to the ground. Falcone cackled.
I got out of the car as well.
Growl grabbed Falcone by the throat. “You’ve done enough damage. I won’t listen to you anymore. You will die today.”
“My men will kill you. You can’t stop them all. They’re probably already looking for me.”
I froze. How?
Growl narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying.”
Falcone’s smiled widened. “I have a second tracker somewhere in my body. After the thing with her traitorous father, I decided I needed additional safety measures. Someone will wonder why I’m leaving my house and then they’ll find me.” Falcone fixed me with a terrifying look. “Your little sister will suffer badly.”
I released a harsh breath.
“It’ll be a while for your men to notice you aren’t in the house. They have no reason to check your tracker,” Growl said but he didn’t sound sure.
“We have to find Talia,” I begged.
Falcone smirked. “I won’t tell you.”
Growl smiled grimly. “Oh, you will.” He turned to me. “You should return to the car. This will get ugly.”
“No. I want to watch.”
Growl hesitated but then he took out his knife and knelt beside Falcone. “I’d love to do this slowly,” he murmured in a voice that reminded me why I’d been scared of him at the beginning. Why I should still be scared of him. “But we’re out of time.” He silenced Falcone with tape again, grabbed Falcone’s tied hands and pushed the tip of the knife beneath one of his fingernails.
My eyes grew wide when I realized what he was going to do, and then Falcone’s muffled scream sounded already and blood was spilling over Growl’s knife. I retched and turned away, my chest heaving in an attempt to stop myself from throwing up.
Another muffled cry. I began shaking, and slowly raised my hands and covered my ears. I’d wanted this, had wanted Falcone to suffer, but I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t bear seeing Growl as the monster I didn’t want him to be. Falcone deserved this. He was the reason why Growl was capable of such atrocities in the first place. Now he got a taste of his own medicine.
A hand on my shoulder made me gasp and I whirled around to find Growl watching me with haunted eyes. “We need to go. I know where your sister is. It’s not far from here.” I peaked behind him to where Falcone was lying on the asphalt, clutching his bleeding hand against his chest and crying. When he noticed my scrutiny, he scowled. He would kill me if he got the chance, that much was certain. “That was quick,” I said relieved.
Growl scanned my face, then nodded. “He’s not used to pain. It makes things easier.”
I wondered how often Growl had done this before and at the time I knew I’d never ask him.
“I couldn’t watch,” I whispered.
“That’s good. You are a good person.”
“I’m not,” I said. “If I were a good person, I wouldn’t want him to suffer and die, but I do. I’m only too weak to watch.”
Growl touched my cheek. “It’s better, believe me.”
“Will you kill him now?”
“No. We might still need him as a shield. And we should hurry.” He dropped his hand and loaded Falcone back in the car, not caring that he got blood all over the seats. Growl’s shirt was already covered with it. But before he got in the car, he changed into a fresh shirt.
After a five minutes drive, we arrived in front of a unsuspecting house. “This is where your sister is kept,” Growl said. “I’m not sure what to expect.”
“That’s why I should stay in the car,” I finished for him.
Grown nodded. “I will be back soon.” He pulled Falcone out and began to drag him toward the house but Falcone struggled. He managed to free himself. I quickly got out of the car.
In that moment, another car pulled up. Cosimo was behind the steering wheel. He opened the door of his car.
Falcone stumbled a few steps away from Growl. I was about to call a warning, but Growl grabbed Falcone and cut his throat. Bile rose in my throat as blood spilled out. But this time I couldn’t look away. “Now you know how it feels,” Growl rasped.
Falcone dropped to the ground in a puddle of his own blood. My eyes flew back to Cosimo. He watched with wide eyes, then his gaze moved from Falcone to Growl and he got back into his car and began backing off. “Growl,” I called.
Growl cursed, but didn’t stop Cosimo from escaping. “I can’t shoot him. It’s too loud. Stay here.” With those words, he ran toward the house, gun drawn. I picked up the gun Growl had given me and crawled on the backseat, shuddering at all the blood there, but I wanted to be at Talia’s side.
I counted the seconds until suddenly Talia came running my way. “Here!” I screamed and her terrified eyes focused on me. She fled toward me and flung herself into the car. I clutched her against me, thankful to have her back.
Shots rang out. Growl limped toward the car and half fell into the seat. He pressed his lips together as he started the car. “Get down,” he ordered, and only a second after Talia and I had crouched in the backseat, a bullet tore through the window. Talia screamed, and I hugged her more tightly. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.” I hoped I wasn’t lying.
