all of that for you,” Frankie said dismissively. “You just tell her the offer came from me.”
Elsa nodded mutely like she didn’t even have words for what that offer meant to her and I placed the entire roll of hundred dollar bills down on her kitchen side before the two of us strode from the apartment and closed the door behind us.
“Sometimes I forget that this place is its own slice of hell,” Frankie muttered as we headed back downstairs and outside to find our car exactly where we’d left it, the gang members keeping a respectful distance from it while still casting looks its way like they wished they didn’t have to leave it alone.
We got in and Frankie set a course straight to the hotel where Duke was staying while I seethed, my muscles flexing and bunching with the desire to finish this thing. I was about to annihilate the last member of the five men to have abused my girl. I’d make him scream and bleed for her and I’d bathe in his blood until I fucking drowned in it.
Before long we were pulling up in the shadows of the hotel parking lot and Frankie turned to look at me. “I say we snatch him and take him somewhere where he can scream as loud as he likes and not a single soul will care,” he suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” I agreed heavily. I wanted to make this last as long as I could. He owed Winter eighteen months of suffering and I was willing to pay him back for every injury over a course of the night or more.
It didn’t take much for us to get inside the hotel unseen. Someone had left the rear door wedged open and we snuck inside, passing by the kitchens and slipping past a cleaner as he set his cart up with supplies from a large closet. I swiped his master keycard from the top of his cart and flashed it at Frankie with a triumphant grin.
We made it to the central stairs and paused, keeping an ear out for the signs of anyone awake, but the place was quiet. It was a nice enough hotel though not exactly high end, but I was willing to bet it wasn’t the kind of place where people regularly went missing or ended up with their blood splattered over the walls.
We made it upstairs, moving silently towards Duke’s room as we went.
I exchanged a loaded smile with Frankie as I used the keycard to open the door, my heart thundering in anticipation at the idea of waking this motherfucker up and seeing the look in his eyes as he realised his death had come for him.
Frankie took his cellphone from his pocket, smirking at me as he started recording, the light from it illuminating the dim room as I closed in on the bed where my prey lay snoring softly.
Duke turned with a murmur as if he sensed something was wrong and I got a clear look at his face, victory sailing through me as I confirmed it was him.
He was shirtless, the sheets tangled around his waist and spotted with blood which I was willing to bet belonged to Elsa.
He grunted again, shifting on the bed and I didn’t waste another moment. My hands wrapped around his throat and I slammed my knee down on his chest as I squeezed tight, making sure not a single sound could escape him as I cut off his oxygen supply and his eyes flew open in alarm.
I smiled down at him as recognition and terror filled his gaze and he bucked and thrashed beneath me, his fists knocking against my sides pathetically before he grabbed my wrists and tried to force me off of him.
But he was no match for me even before I’d gotten the jump on him and his eyes just bugged out wider as he desperately fought for a breath he couldn’t take.
“Winter sends her regards,” I purred as the strength left his limbs and the fear in his eyes was like a pure adrenaline shot to my heart as he lost consciousness.
I kept my grip on his neck tight until I was sure he was out of it, but released him before he could up and die on me. Oh no, Duke Polinsky wasn’t going to get away with a quick, easy, pain-free death like that. He was coming on a little trip with us to a nice, quiet, secluded spot