the room, lying face down on it like I knew I’d be ordered to. I didn’t realise I was crying until I tasted the tears on my lips.
The door shut as another pair of footsteps entered the room. A ripple of disgust ran through to my core as Orville rested his hand at the base of my spine. His fingers were soft, like he never put them to hard work. He wasn’t a man for heavy tools. He liked little knives and pins and anything delicate enough to be held in his girlish hands.
“Hey, little bird,” he chuckled. “He cut you up real good today, huh? Don’t worry, Orville’s here to look after you.” His fingers trailed over my flesh in that way that said he wanted to possess me, but Duke would hang him if he crossed that line. That was their one, golden rule. Nothing sexual. And I couldn’t understand it. Though I was endlessly glad for it. But what possible reason did they have to protect me from that while subjecting me to everything else their vindictive little minds could come up with?
I scented alcohol in the air and a moment later Orville pressed a soaked cloth to my back. I bit my tongue, clamped my eyes shut as my flesh seared with the fires of hell and waited for it to be over.
This couch was not designed to be slept on. Especially not by a man of my size.
I grunted a curse as I shuffled about, trying to make the lumpy cushions squish into something vaguely comfortable while trying to ignore the crick in my neck from having my head awkwardly perched on the arm of the damn thing for half the night. The half where I’d managed to get some sleep. Though it had been fitful at best.
At least with Tyson on guard by the door I wasn’t worried about Duke and his band of merry fuckers creeping up on the cabin again while we slept. That dog was worth his weight in gold for that reason alone. The fact that he was my one true and loyal friend only made him more valuable to me.
I cracked my eyes open and took in the sliver of pale blue light creeping beneath the curtains. It was probably still earlier than I would have usually gotten up, but there was no way I was going to be able to get comfortable enough to doze off again in my current position. I pushed myself upright with a groan, stretching my arms above my head and trying to force some of the ache from my muscles as my spine realigned itself.
I shoved my fingers through my overgrown, black hair and ran a palm down my face as I tried to think over my options.
Winter was still curled on the floor by the wall, the blanket she’d taken from the bed wrapped around her thin frame.
I crossed the room towards her silently, years of practice running jobs for the Calabresis helping keep my movements silent as I padded towards her on bare feet. There were more times than I could count where I’d needed to sneak up on someone and kill them quietly without making a scene. Though I’d had plenty of practice in making men scream too. The reason why I’d been the best was knowing which kind of death suited which mark. Of course, now I was questioning all of those deaths at my hands. I’d been sent to kill those men by a liar. A man I’d trusted and who had turned out to have the blackest heart of all…
I scrubbed a hand over my face to banish those thoughts and focused on Winter laying on the floor.
She looked so small as I stood over her. Almost childlike in her fragility, though I’d seen that unbreakable spirit shining fiercely in her eyes, so I knew well enough that she wasn’t actually weak. To have survived what she had there was no way she could have been. In fact, I was starting to suspect she was one of the strongest people I’d ever met. And that just made my hunger to spill blood on her behalf even stronger.
I knew now who had done this to her. And better than that, I knew where they lived.
Duke and his men commandeered the huge gold mines, filled with heat lamps and fuck knows what else they needed to grow as much of the drug as their superiors wanted and more. The