have to take this,” I said before hitting accept. “Black.”
“Car was rented by William Janson,” Cole said, his voice quiet.
Why’s that name sound familiar?
Shit.
Tommy Janson.
He’d been the squirrelly little shit caught stealing at Moonlight. The one who’d worked for Viktor Dobrow.
“Is it the same as last time, Sophia?” I asked, keeping an eye on my guest.
His own eyes were busy darting around my office and out the window, searching for something.
“Brother,” Cole said.
“Okay, put it on my schedule.” I hung up and smiled at the man across the way from me. Just like the smile he’d thrown my way, it was far from friendly.
I stood fast, and Janson jolted and tensed. Pocketing my cell, I rounded my desk and sat on the edge of it in front of him. “Tell me more about the boxers.”
He relaxed, leaning back in his chair. His expression morphed from loathing to victorious. “You’ll have to see for yourself.”
Even with me closer, he wasn’t smart enough to stay on guard. His focus drifted out the window to Juliet, gawking even as his features tightened.
“Trying to figure out how a bastard like me got someone like that?” I asked as I casually leaned back, rearranging my hands until I felt what I needed under my palm.
He gestured around, his jaw clenched. “I can guess.”
“No, it’s not the pool or the house or the clothes or any of the other shit my money buys her. She’s mine because I keep her safe. And I don’t let other bastards eye-fuck her, Janson.”
His brows shot up.
Couldn’t have planned that better if I tried.
Gripping my letter opener, I swung fast but with restraint because I didn’t want to kill him—yet. The sharp steel sank into its target, his eyeball making a sickening squelch as blood and fluid spurted.
His blood-curdling scream was music to my ears.
Ash threw the door open but stayed in the doorway.
Janson jerked back, the pointed steel dragging and more blood spurting.
“I could kill you right now,” I said calmly, gripping the handle. “Another couple inches and this is buried in your brain.”
His cries of pain didn’t stop, but his thrashing did.
“Do you work for Dobrow like your brother did?” When he didn’t answer, I twisted the opener until he retched. “Do you work for Dobrow?
“Yes!” I slid the steel free, and his hands covered the massacred eye. “You’re fucking crazy.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Especially when it came to Juliet.
My possessiveness got the better of me and didn’t think twice before stabbing him in the other eye.
The dumbass should’ve expected it.
Always protect what’s yours.
“Fuck!” he screeched before throwing up on himself.
“At least it’s not piss,” Ash pointed out.
Janson covered his face, bloody tears streaming.
“Why’d Dobrow send you?”
The only answer I got was another retch and more screams.
“Use the rental and take him to the plant,” I told Ash.
Ash lifted his chin, his anger palpable.
Despite Juliet and I insisting it wasn’t his fault, he had a lot of pent up rage and guilt about Carmichael getting to her on his watch.
Rage and guilt that was about to be transferred to that motherfucker.
Disappearing for a minute, Ash returned with two towels. He tossed one to me and shoved the other against the man’s face as he hauled him up.
Wiping some of the blood from my hands, I followed them out of the room and found Vera waiting.
Unfazed, she scanned me for injury, coming to the correct conclusion that none of the blood was mine. “Mr. Ash said you’d need me.”
I jerked my head toward the open doorway. “My office—”
“Maximo?”
My gaze shot to Juliet’s pale face as she took in the gore.
I fucked up.
Again.
“Close your eyes,” I barked, harsher than intended.
She did as I said, but asked, “Are you okay? That’s not your… right?”
“I’m good.” I wanted to touch her, but not with my hands coated in blood. “Keep them closed.”
Vera reached behind me to slam the door shut as Ash covered Janson’s mouth and dragged him down the stairs.
I took off for our bedroom and locked myself in the bathroom. After rinsing my hands, I pulled my cell from my pocket and called Marco.
“Boss,” he answered.
“I need you at the house.”
“Be there in twenty.”
I dialed Cole.
“What’s going on?” he asked by way of greeting, already on alert since I wouldn’t be calling if it weren’t important.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Need tech and possibly a GPS wipe.”
“Where?”
“The plant.”
“I’ll gather what I need and leave in ten.”
Tossing my phone down, I turned the shower on as hot as I could stand before climbing in. The scorching