Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,61

them first. Think it’s the least I can do… you know, make sure you all get to be together in the afterlife,” Lazarus said.

“They ain’t done nothing,” Brett objected.

“They raised your sorry ass. That’s enough to pay a price, I figure. Unless you’re willing to redeem yourselves,” Lazarus said as he examined the claws on the ends of the fingers on one of his hands.

“She’ll kill us,” Brett whined again. “She’s psycho about her son. And she’s got connections!”

“Not my problem. My problem is an innocent woman sits in jail paying for a crime she didn’t commit,” Lazarus said. “You feel me?” he asked.

When none of the three answered, and simply stared at him, he continued.

“Did you see him kill the man?” Laz asked.

“Yeah, I did,” the friend said. “Then I ran when the front door opened. Jumped over the back fence and kept running.”

“And you?” Laz asked Brett.

“I saw him stab the guy. I didn’t stick around to see if he died or not.”

“Who robbed the neighbors?” Lucas thought to ask.

“We did,” the friend said, his eyes downcast and his voice quiet.

“Why were her fingerprints on the electronics the police found? Was she helping you hide it?” Laz asked.

“No, sir,” the friend said. “We wiped it all clean and stacked it in the living room. She must have moved it after the fact.”

“You going to turn yourselves in? Or you gonna watch me hunt down your family and kill each one before I slowly let your life drift away?” Lazarus asked.

“I’m going to turn myself in,” the man answered.

“What’s your name?” Lazarus asked, picking up the wallets and flipping through them to look at the driver’s licenses.

“That one’s mine, sir,” the man said. “My name’s Mark. I’ll turn myself in, and I’ll testify that Talie’s innocent of all of it.”

Lazarus gave a single nod then turned his attention to Brett. “And you? What’s your choice?”

“You already have Mark to testify, what do you need me for?” Brett asked, his panic level rising again.

“Corroboration, dumbass,” Lucas said, popping him in the back of the head.

Brett looked from his wallet that Lazarus now held, flipping through it, to his cell phone still lying on the table and knew he had no choice. He’d have to do what these two monsters wanted, or sacrifice himself and his family. “Fine. I’ll turn myself in, too,” he said.

“I’ll be in jail, but that don’t mean you’ll be safe. My mama will take care of you both,” Frederick mumbled around his shattered jaw.

“What’s that?” Lazarus asked, chuckling.

“I think he’s threatening them. Or us,” Lucas said. “Something about his mama getting even or something.”

Lazarus laughed. “She can try. I get bored a lot. Well, not a lot, but from time to time.” He looked at Lucas. “You think it’s a lot?” he asked

“Yeah, it’s a fair amount of time you’re bored,” Lucas said.

“Anyway,” Lazarus said, giving Frederick his undivided attention, “When I got bored, I need something to take my frustrations out on. I don’t get to have much fun anymore. I hope she does come after me. It’ll give me something to do, to play cat and mouse with your precious mama. Maybe I’ll fuck her a bit first, you know, before I finally kill her.”

Frederick tried to lift his beaten body up off the sofa in his rage over the threat Lazarus made to his mother.

Lucas laughed behind him, and reached out, yanking him back into his seat on the sofa. “Sit your weak ass down.”

“Don’t hurt my mama,” Frederick said through the bloody drool still streaming from his chin.

“Here’s the thing…” Lazarus said, leaning forward. “I don’t hurt women. But your mama, I don’t think she qualifies. She’s kinda like my mama — she’s deserving of whatever comes her way. Courted it, you might say. And because of that, I’ll do whatever the fuck I feel like where your mama is concerned. Not you or anybody else can stop me.”

Frederick sat where he was glaring at Lazarus. After a few minutes of bravado, Frederick finally looked away.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought — pussy,” Laz said.

“Fuck… you,” Frederick managed to get out between painful panted breaths.

“Aw, shut the fuck up,” Lucas said from behind him, as he reached out and pistol whipped Frederick from behind, causing him to slump unconsciously onto the sofa.

“Hmpf,” Lazarus said, looking over at Lucas.

“He was beginning to bother me,” Lucas explained.

“Me, too,” Laz agreed. He looked around the room, then back at the three males. “Here’s what’s going to