SWNOVELS Before the Storm: Chapter 10
My body vibrates with anger the whole drive to the tunnels. It was a hard decision of who I was going to take care of first, but ultimately it had to be the men who could lead me to Annalise Lounder, the enemy we never realized we had.
Not until she kidnapped Snow and Wynter and tried to burn them alive in the church Snow and Elijah had married in just a few weeks beforehand. That was the first we heard of Everett having a sister, and of her feeling as if both our organization, and Elijah’s, should belong to her because it’s her birthright.
She’s a ghost, and I don’t say that lightly. Everett is the best of the best when it comes to hacking. He can find anyone, anytime, anywhere. But he can’t find shit on his sister. There are no records of her birth, or marriage to the leader of the Lounder Cartel. She hasn’t left any tracks or made any mistakes. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s leaving us stumped at every turn.
The brakes screech as I slam my foot to the pedal, barely waiting for the car to come to a complete stop before I’m climbing out. After I got Ayvah settled in her room, I quickly changed into a pair of black jeans and a black Henley. I don’t often get my hands dirty, but tonight I’m craving the blood of the men who dared to touch what doesn’t belong to them. It doesn’t seem to matter to the irrational beast beating in my chest that I didn’t know Ayvah until after they touched her, or that I have no right claiming a woman who has been through so much, all that matters is that their last breaths will be taken tonight, and they’ll never be able to touch her again.
Two guards stand at the entrance to the tunnels, a nondescript building in the middle of a vacant lot. No one would expect that the small building hides the entrance to the old tunnels that run beneath Chicago, where Tommy does most of his dirty work.
But tonight it’s my turn to shed some blood, and with each step I take toward where my victims are tied and defenseless, the monster inside begs to be set free. It’s not often I allow him to come out to play, but there’s something about seeing Ayvah hurt that has made it impossible for me to sit on the sidelines today.
Today, as the sun rises high above the city, I’ll be seeking vengeance for what they’ve done to any number of women in their time working for Annalise but will never have the chance to do again.
Screams echo off the walls as my shoes hit the damp stone beneath my feet. It’s eerie down here, but oddly I kind of like it. It’s peaceful down here without the people, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor. Down here I don’t have to pretend to be a put together CEO by day and a ruthless mafia boss by night. Down here, I can be the killer I hide from the world.
I shove the door open to one of the many side rooms that were used for god knows what when these tunnels were in operation and find Tommy standing over two men who are tied to chairs. Blood coats their faces and I growl. I explicitly told him not to harm them, but when you send Tommy to do a job, you can’t expect anything else.
He’s a cold, ruthless killer. I’ve known him for over a decade and I’ve rarely seen emotion reach his eyes. But he’s the best for a reason. He can extract anything from anyone with some well-placed torture. It’s a wonder what people will tell you as you skin them alive.
“Storm, about time you got here,” Tommy grumbles a moment before his fist connects with Adam’s jaw. His dirty blond hair has flecks of blood seeping into the strands, and his almost black eyes are crazed.
“Did you miss the ‘don’t make them bleed before I get here’ memo?” I ask as I close the solid steel door behind me.
Tommy shrugs, a cruel smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I thought I’d save you some of the work.”
I step forward until both Adam and Andrew can see me. They’re almost unrecognizable now, with blood dripping down their cheeks and angry bruises appearing all over their face and neck. Usually he has them stripped by now, so at least he waited to get to the good stuff until I got here. “Gentlemen,” I growl.
“Fuck you,” Andrew spits.
I had Everett do a background check on these two assholes and while they mostly came up clean as a whistle, likely due to Annalise, there were a few dark marks in their file, and a few weaknesses we can leverage. It’s easier to get the information you need when they have something they care about, because even if they care so little about their own lives that they’re willing to perish for what they know, they won’t sacrifice the people they love. Perhaps I would find that commendable if it weren’t for the fact that no one finds themselves in these tunnels unless they truly deserve to die, and every breath these two cunts take is wasted oxygen.
I sigh as I push the sleeves of my Henley up my forearms. “And here I was hoping we were going to be able to do this the easy way.”
“I wasn’t hoping any such thing,” Tommy scoffs but he doesn’t look up from the table of instruments he has set out to use on the two men. I swear the crazy fuck doesn’t leave home without his bag of torture implements.
I roll my eyes, moving to stand in front of Andrew. “As I was saying, I had hoped we could do this the easy way, but with that kind of attitude, I think Tommy here is going to get his way.”
“We’re not going to tell you shit,” Adam snaps immediately before he spits blood toward me, narrowly missing as it splatters across the bricks at my feet.
“Perhaps you’ll reconsider when I tell you about my friend here.” I motion to Tommy. “He can do things to you that you can’t even comprehend, things that if there was any possibility of you walking out of here, would give you nightmares for the rest of your shitty lives. But let me tell you about two of his favorite ways to drag information from men just like you. The first is by skinning them alive. He knows exactly which chunks to take and when to take them to maximize the pain of his victim but keep them awake and alert the whole time. The other is a little more gruesome in my opinion. I mean, don’t get me wrong, seeing a man missing every last bit of skin from his body, cock included, is pretty disconcerting, but watching them be flayed alive. The smell, the charred skin that falls off in chunks and makes it near impossible for our clean-up crew to mop up. That’s some fucked-up shit.”
Despite his face being covered in blood, I don’t miss the way Adam’s cheeks pale at my description. It may be a scare tactic in a lot of ways, but every word I spoke was true. Those really are Tommy’s favorite methods of interrogation, and they are as fucked up as they sound.
“You think you can scare us?” Andrew asks.
I chuckle, looking up at where Tommy has started sharpening one of his favorite knives. Oh boy, we’re in for a skinning. “I don’t need to scare you because the moment he starts slicing into you, you’re going to forget all the reasons you should keep your mouths shut.”
“You’re going to kill us anyway, why the fuck would we talk?”
“To save yourselves a whole lot of pain. But hey, it’s your prerogative if you want to be stubborn on top of fucking stupid.”
“Can I start yet?” Tommy groans. “This is why I like working alone, there’s much less chatting.”
“Be my guest.” I walk across the room and take the only other seat in the room. As much as I want to be the one that makes them bleed, I’m not as intricate as Tommy is, and that means there’s a risk my heavy handedness would end their lives entirely too soon. I’m also too emotionally involved in this, and if they say something derogatory about Ayvah, I will end them.
Tommy steps in front of Andrew, a wicked smile tugging at his lips. He looks deranged when he’s like this, with a wildness in his eyes he only gets when he’s torturing someone. I swear the guys never happier than when he has a knife in his hand and a victim to slaughter. “I’m so glad you chose the hard way.” Before he can respond, Tommy slices a chunk of skin off his forearm, and a bloodcurdling scream fills the small space.
The sound has anticipation rolling through me, and I can’t fucking wait to be the one that ends their miserable existence the moment they give me everything I need, and the sooner that happens, the sooner I can get back to the new object of my obsession.
I may not understand my feelings for Ayvah, but I know I’m going to burn this city to the fucking ground to keep her safe, and then I’m going to fuck her in the ashes.