eye.
“Go!” I yell when he doesn’t move. He jerks away, then scurries away to take his position against the wall.
I have some aggression I need to work out, and Miller is going to help me with just that.
“You know, while I worked for Lorenzo, he was very keen on making sure nothing, and I do mean nothing, scared the men who worked for him.”
Miller nods, acknowledging what I’ve said. The sweat forming on his forehead, and the faraway look in his eyes tells me he is listening intently.
“Do you have any fears, Miller?” I ask, my voice menacing.
Miller looks like he is about to piss himself. What a pussy! He is shaking like a leaf in the wind. Where had John found these men?
“No, sir.” He sounds determined, but one look at him says he is lying.
“We’re going to test this theory out.”
I look down at the knife in my hand. It’s lightweight and the blade glistens in the light. Suddenly, the need to sink it into flesh is overwhelming. I can just imagine the blood dripping from the blade as I sink it repeated into flesh.
“Mack,” Eli calls, concern clearly found in his voice.
“What?” I question with raised eyebrows.
“What are you doing?”
“Never question me, or it will be you who is on the receiving end of this knife. We may have worked side by side once, but here I’m the boss.” My words aren’t a threat—they’re a promise.
Eli says nothing, simply giving me an unapproved look. Fuck him.
Gripping the end of the knife with so much anger, I am certain I’ll break it, I turn my attention back to the coward. I narrow my eyes with precision, scanning his body. Where would he bleed the most?
My mind drifts back to the very first time Enzo ever asked me that question.
“Mack! When I tell you to do something, you do it. There is no reason to fear these small things. Death is always following these people.” He all but yelled at me. I was only nineteen. He had been killing for years, and this... this was my very first time.
I hadn’t landed the knife right, so the person was struggling. Their death would be painful.
“He’s hurting though,” I tried to say. I wasn’t a child, but watching someone bleed to death… It did something to your heart. It pulled the strings tight and made it beat fast.
“What’s your point? He deserved to die. What are you scared of?” Was it a trick question?
“Nothing, sir,” I immediately answered him. I didn’t want to be the next one with a knife in my neck.
“Good, because being scared is a weakness. You’re to be afraid of nothing, not a fucking thing, when you’re in my kingdom. Do you understand?” he questioned. I nodded my head as I watched him lift his foot. What was he doing?
Then I heard the crunching of bones, the splatter of brain matter, and blood against the ground.
“This is what we do to people who are weak… scared,” he snarled, staring down at what was left of the man’s body. I never even got the man’s name.
Pulling myself back to the present, I stare at the man before me. He is weak. Scared. Useless.
With complete control, I arch my arm back and throw the knife. It flies through the air, barreling toward Miller. His eyes grow large, and I can practically hear his heartbeat from where I’m standing. With a low thud, the knife sinks into the wood directly above his head. He isn’t just a coward—he is a liar, too. He is fucking terrified.
“You’re a liar,” I spit the words with venom. “You said you were scared of nothing, but it is clear to me as I watch you shake in your fucking skin, you are, in fact, scared of something…” I smile because I’m a fucker like that. Nothing gets me harder than making people pay for what they did wrong.
“Give him a break. He just started with us—” Eli is trying to reason with me again.
“Breaks are for the fucking weak.” Taking a deep breath, I smile before throwing the next knife. It lands just millimeters from his throat. Hmmm…. his throat… yes, that’s where the next one will land.
“Are you going to beg?” I mock. At the very least, he could go out feeling like a man. If I had one thing to thank Lorenzo for, it was his ruthless ways. He taught me any emotion outside of killing was unneeded. When I finally put