us is throwing our back out,” Ash said, already hefting Dobrow’s dead weight.
Or soon-to-be dead weight.
We hauled him down the thin path and dumped him on Cole’s backseat. Cole and Ash dealt with Carmichael’s body while I grabbed a bottle of cleaner and rag from the trunk. I wiped everything down, including my blood from the fence and ground.
It was overkill—no one would look into Viktor Dobrow’s disappearance. Even if they did, the area was likely covered with so much DNA, there would be no separating it.
Returning to the car, I tossed the supplies in the trunk and slammed it shut.
Ash took a look at my shoulder—it was just a graze but it burned like a bitch. “We need to clean that.”
“Once we get there.”
Cole rounded the car. “The plant?”
I shook my head. “I have a better idea.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Perfect
Maximo
STANDING IN THE fenced-off construction site, I looked down at the men secured inside the deep but narrow pit. I didn’t smile.
With them out of the way, Juliet would be safe. No looking over her shoulder. No reminders of her piece of shit father or her life before me.
She’d given me her trust.
I was giving her peace.
Which was why I didn’t smile.
I grinned.
Circling the hole, I waited out of view.
An unseen monster in the dark.
My anticipation cranked up when one of them finally croaked, “Where am I?” He coughed, his hoarse voice louder when he yelled, “Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Shut the fuck up,” a different voice bit out.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Someone with a fucking headache who doesn’t want to listen to you crying like a little bitch.”
I stepped closer, though they didn’t notice me as they struggled against their bonds, trying to get free.
Viktor Dobrow looked pissed.
Mugsy Carmichael looked ready to piss.
And William Janson looked… at nothing. He couldn’t see.
Smirking, I kicked some dirt in—a hint of what was to come. Two of the three men finally looked at me, and I kicked another pile their way.
“No, no, no,” Carmichael blubbered.
“What was that? What’s happening?” Janson shouted, terror shaking his words.
Dobrow was silent, but his expression quickly morphed from anger to panic-stricken as he realized what was about to happen. When he finally spoke, his tone was thick and earnest—the voice of a desperate man. “I can pay you. I have family who can get you anything and everything. Whatever you want. Ransom me. I’m worth more to you alive than I am dead.”
It was bullshit. While we’d waited, Cole had done the electronic research and Ash had spoken to a few contacts so we could prepare for potential retaliation.
There’d be none.
Dobrow’s men were already fighting over his throne of garbage. His limited family had cut him off long ago.
No one would pay a cent for him. Even if they would, there was no amount that would make me consider keeping him alive.
He’d tried to fuck with my business.
For that alone, he’d die.
He’d tried to take Juliet.
For that, he’d die a painful, terrifying death.
“I’m going to build my office on this spot,” I shared. “I’ll add to my empire here. I’ll make billions here. I’ll live and breathe and fuck Juliet on top of your grave. And soon, I’ll forget any of you ever existed.”
With the knowledge I’d won in every way possible consuming their last thoughts, I picked up the hose and held up my hand.
The men screamed, their faces red as their mouths moved frantically. Their useless words were lost in the rumble of the mixer. And as wet concrete filled the hole and their lungs, their useless lives would be lost soon, too.
Slowly.
Agonizing.
Exactly what they deserved.
Once they were covered, I lifted my hand and the flow stopped.
There was nothing but satisfying silence.
Steve—the head of the construction company—started the excavator and filled the hole the rest of the way with dirt, tamping it down and packing it in until it looked like the rest of the area.
Climbing out, he came over. “We’re pouring foundation this morning. By the afternoon, this will be covered.”
“You good with me staying until then?”
“Figured you would.”
I handed him an envelope filled with a shit-ton of cash. “Thanks for coming in early. I owe you.”
“No, I still owe you.”
Since I’d gotten him out from under the mafia’s thumb before they’d killed his wife and kids, I was betting he’d never feel like his debt was repaid.
Tucking the envelope away, his solemn expression lightened to a grin. “But if you’re feeling generous, I’ve been trying to sneak Maria away for a weekend at Nebula. If you