Boss (Killer of Kings #7) - Sam Crescent Page 0,24
kill using this, it was only supposed to be for them. I had complete control until it was snatched away from me. I was a child when these men passed me around, raped me, beat me. I was the entertainment when they got drunk. I was going to make sure they suffered. I’d been well-trained, but I couldn’t take them all out, so I used the drugs. I used their greatest asset against them. I’m not ashamed of what I did. What I am ashamed of is believing I could wipe its existence from the face of the fucking earth. That was my one and only mistake.”
Tears were in Xavier’s eyes. Scarlett sobbed. The men didn’t look ready to kill her. Not anymore.
“Don’t pity me,” she said. “What your friend is going to go through isn’t pretty, and we don’t have a lot of time. This took twenty-four hours, seventy-two at the most, but I don’t know the full compounds, and the last time I checked, these were not reversible. All of the cases I’ve read about, the men and women couldn’t be saved.”
“I’ve got the doctor running a full tox screen,” Boss said.
“We need the scientist. Only he would know how to treat it.”
“There’s no guarantee of that though, is there?” Scarlett asked, her voice shaking. “This was designed to kill. You said so yourself. Why create an antidote?”
Graciella looked at Boss. “Because if this is the same scientist I used, he once told me that no one would create something where there was a risk of it coming back and biting them. For every dosage, there would be an antidote. In fact, we argued because he took longer than I wanted. He wouldn’t give me the drugs until he was sure he had an antidote. I don’t have any. I had no intention of taking the stuff, so I didn’t bother to get some. If I did, I’d have given it to you.”
“How can we trust you?” Killian asked. “All you have done is cause us trouble. We’re cleaning up your mess.”
“You think I’m not trying to clean this up? Why do you think I’ve moved as much as I have? Why I happen to appear when the cases of the crazed druggies are rife? I’m following it. I’m trying to trace it, and this is all I’ve got.” She held up the mints. “This is the biggest clue.”
Her hands shook.
“We need to talk,” Boss said. He put a hand to her back and started to walk her out of the room but Xavier stood in front of the door.
The pain in her brother’s eyes was clear to see. This was torture to her. He was the only family she had left. It was one of the many reasons why she tried to ignore him. Seeing him now, it was hard to stay cool and aloof.
“I hope one day you can forgive me,” he said.
“Xavier,” she said.
“Now is not the time,” Boss interrupted and nudged her forward.
“There’s nothing to be forgiven for,” she said.
Opening the door, she let Boss take the lead, guiding her to where he wanted her.
Boss came to a stop at an office. They stepped inside and she looked around. There were no cameras and there were several machines where doctors used x-rays.
Hands on her hips, she looked at him. “I didn’t want this to happen. I hope you believe that. I’m not a monster.”
“Why won’t you kill me?” he asked.
“Really, you want to know that?”
“I don’t need to know it today, but it’s a question you’re going to have to answer. For now, tell me all that you know about Viko.”
“You think he’s distributing the drug?” she asked.
“I know Viko and he’s the kind of guy who would mask drugs as something else. It helps get them through shipping into the country and doesn’t require backyard dealings.”
“Viko didn’t do this.”
“You sound confident. How do you know?”
She took a deep breath. “Because … the debt to him, it goes deeper than his protection of me.”
“What do you mean?”
She didn’t want to reveal another man’s business. She took a deep breath. The only way to finally combat these drugs was to work together. “Viko’s tracing the drugs as well. He has been for a couple of years. What you don’t know is he once had a daughter. I won’t get into the details, but she had a boyfriend and … well, he got her into drugs. These things got to her, and she died. Viko, for