The crimson mist of vengeance soothed me. The thought of Ashtyn being drugged by her mom enacted an uncontrollable rage within my soul. Eve Hawthorne would have to be dealt with. She wasn’t getting away with trying to sell her daughter to this pervert.
Reynolds was tied to a chair in one of the torture rooms in Ethereal. Yeah, there was a lot to unpack with all this. I didn’t know Uncle Gio owned a club in Castle Grove. I also didn’t know he used the lower level as a place to get information out of people. Or provide a bit of payback for betrayal and thievery within his businesses. When he whispered to me about having to return the favor, I nodded in agreement–I would do anything to help him after he took out Pete and helped get Reynolds away from Ashtyn. I’d have to repay him someday but that was future West’s problem.
The fluorescent lights illuminated the tool cabinets and workbench filled with a variety of different weapons and methods of torture. Everything was neat and organized. This wasn’t their first rodeo.
Kane stood next to me with a bat propped on his shoulder, a smirk on his face. My cousin had a thirst for blood like I did, although he took things a bit further. He was knee-deep in my uncle’s line of work–like I said, I never asked for details.
“You want the bat, cousin?” Kane tapped the wood bat against his boot. It was wrapped in barbed wire and stained with splotches of different shades of red–a laNegan fromThe Walking Dead.
“Sure, he won’t need his kneecaps,” I chuckled as I took the bat from him.
“You’ll both go to prison for this! Do you know who my father is?” Reynolds groaned as blood trickled from his face.
Kane lit up a cigarette and laughed. “Do you know whomy fatheris? He’s cleaned up plenty of your father’s messes. He has so much dirt on him, he could bury his ass by morning. He won’t do shit to save you.”
I swung the bat, landing on Reynolds’ knee with a resounding crunch that made my stomach clench. Reynolds screamed out, tears flowing down his face mixing with snot and blood.
“I should probably save some of this for Ashtyn,” I mused. Ash was up on the third floor with Dani, using one of the many apartment-like rooms on the third floor to clean up and change her clothes. When Ashtyn mentioned wanting to rid all traces of Reynolds from her body–fucking prick–Kane volunteered to call hisfriendback and have her let Ashtyn use her room on the third floor.
From what I learned so far, Ethereal had three floors. The first was the club–with a bar and dance floor, stage, and full equipment setup for aspiring singers and bands. The second was agentlemen’s club–complete with stripper poles and dancing cages. There were also private rooms, much like Aces, but all the activities were consensual. The third was like a hotel. No one lived in the rooms full time, but they were used by my uncle’s employees–and not the ones who worked in the club. They were for his enforcers, his undercover plants, and the men higher-up in his business.
I wasn’t going to ask why Dani had a room up there.
And then there was the lower level, which required a handprint and a retina scan in the elevator to open.
“I want another turn,” Remington said. He was still seething and covered in Reynolds’ blood from the punches he threw earlier.
We had all gotten a few jabs in–literally–but I didn’t want to kill the guy, I just wanted to make a statement.
Don’t fucking touch what’s mine.
“I want his teeth,” Beck said casually. He held a pair of pliers in his hand, opening and closing them with a wicked smile on his face.
“None of that shit,” I said. “Everything we’re doing is repairable. He knows that we have the footage of him with Ashtyn tonight, and if he goes near her ever again, it’s getting sent to the police, along with every news outlet in the country.”
“You’re letting him off too easily,” Kane said, sucking on a cigarette.
“Can you find out when the girls will be down here? I don’t think he’s going to be conscious much longer. I want Ashtyn to get a turn before the doctor shows up.”
Kane nodded and pulled his phone out, dialing Dani to find out their ETA. “You about done upstairs?”
I heard some yelling on the other end of the phone but couldn’t make out what was being said.
“Jesus Christ, West wants to know when you’re bringing his girl down here. Don’t fuckin’ chew my ear off about it.”
More yelling.
“Just hurry up! The fucker’s passing out,” Kane said before ending the call. “They’ll be down soon. And don’t worry about this one. I have smelling salts to keep him lively.”
Not even a minute later, the elevator in the hallway opened to reveal Ashtyn and her pissed-off sidekick. Ashtyn’s dark hair was up in a ponytail, and she wore a pair of tight black jeans and a black t-shirt tied at the waist. Dani was still sporting the dominatrix getup that she wore earlier. Her heels were so tall and pointy that they should be classified as deadly weapons.
“We were already on our way down,” Dani said with a scowl directed at my cousin.
“And how the fuck would I know that?”
“You have cameras. Everywhere. And I know you stalk them.” She rolled her eyes before looking at Reynolds, his head lolled to the side and eyes swelled shut. “Daaaaaamn.”
“You did all this in twenty minutes?” Ashtyn asked with a smirk.