Prisoned - Marni Mann Page 0,98

didn’t know what was going to happen.

But I knew I couldn’t live here anymore.

Thirty-Eight

Garin

Two Hours Ago

“You piece of shit,” I spewed, spitting the words in Anthony’s face.

The boys had done a hell of a job torturing the ever-loving fuck out of him. Every toe but the big ones had been severed and tossed on the ground. He’d been forced to eat his own earlobes. Then, all his teeth were pulled out. The guys didn’t even have to tape his lips shut; Anthony had nothing to bite them with.

“Fuck you,” he gummed back at me.

“Fuck me?” I laughed. “Yeah, fuck me that I didn’t figure this out earlier, and I had to wait so long to kill you.”

As I rolled up my sleeves, the blood on my knuckles caught my attention. I fucking hated that a piece of him was on me. My hands had been inside his sister this morning. If I hadn’t had his blood all over me, I bet my fingers would have still smelled like her.

The only good part about all this was that it had brought Kyle back to me.

“Why did you do it?” I asked.

His eyelids were swollen, but he still looked at me. There was no life in his eyes. Just a dead stare, as if I’d already killed him. “Fuck you, Garin.”

I pulled so hard on a chunk of his hair that I felt his scalp tear. “Give me an answer. You’re going to die in this room anyway, so there’s no reason to keep it a secret.”

He didn’t scream like most of the men who had been brought in here over the years. He didn’t try to fight his way out of the ropes that bound his limbs to the chair. He didn’t cry. He didn’t even shit himself, which I’d seen happen before. He stayed still and looked at me with those dead eyes.

“I worked so fucking hard,” he finally said.

“So?”

“So, Paulie was going to give it all away, like you pieces of shit deserved some of it.”

“You mean, Paulie was going to tell the bosses?”

“Yeah, motherfucker.” When he spit, a clot of blood dripped down his lip. It ran across the front of his shirt and landed on his lap. “He was a pussy. Couldn’t handle doing business without you guys wiping his ass for him.” He spoke slow, and without teeth, it was hard to understand him. “When I found out he was gonna tell you guys, I killed him. I wasn’t sharing nothing with you. I did the work, took the risk. You weren’t gonna get a fucking cent of it.”

“And look where that got you.” I clenched my fists together and stepped back, so I could get a good look at him. “What about Billy?”

“What about that fucking junkie? He was asking all around town about Paulie’s murder. I got tired of hearing whispers about it. Then, I found out he was fucking one of my top girls. It had to stop, so I got rid of him.”

I gritted my teeth. “He was my best friend.”

“Yeah?” More blood dripped from his lip. “Some fucking friend you are. You left him in Jersey where you knew he was going to die.”

I wasn’t going to let this piece of scum make me feel bad for my decisions, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to justify my actions to him or anyone else. I’d done everything I could to help Billy. I didn’t care if Anthony knew that or not.

I walked toward his chair again, stopping inches from his legs. “I was with your sister this morning.”

“This morning? That’s impossible. I told her to stay the fuck away from you.”

It was only minutes before his death, and this asshole still wanted to control Kyle.

“It’s not impossible.” I pulled out my cell phone and clicked on my photos, bringing up a picture of Kyle and me.

I’d taken it when we got back from dinner last night. We were in the living room. She was sitting on my lap, my face kissing her neck. In the photo, I’d included plenty of the background, knowing I was going to show it to Anthony.

“Look familiar?” I watched the anger spread across his face. “I’ve been there, at your house, since I flew her home from the hospital.”

“She’d better not have given you nothing.”

I leaned in, getting really close to him. He smelled like death already.

“She gave me everything I wanted. I know all about the houses and cars and her business. And I