“He needs to come back here when he’s finished because I need two soldiers to clean up when we’re done.”
Damian nods in understanding as we continue on to the room where Justin is blindfolded and strapped on his back, spread-eagle, on a metal table. His head jerks to the sound of the door when I let it fall closed, and Adriano silently moves to him, bringing his mouth closer to his ear.
“Boo!” Adriano screams, and Justin cries and yanks at his chains.
His panicked voice thunders between the brown walls. “Where am I? Who are you? You motherfucker, let me go!”
I remove my suit jacket and roll up my sleeves slowly, letting him brood in distress while I prepare to get even for him waterboarding me last night. The soles of my shoes echo off the dirty concrete floor.
Every one of the four private rooms is equipped with diverse tools, neatly stacked in a drawer in the corner. Without speaking, I take out the cutting tool with the sharpest blade and press the point of the knife slightly against the pad of my forefinger, testing the sharpness. Then I cut two pieces of duct tape with a pair of scissors.
Towering above him at his head, I make my presence known. “Justin Belfort.”
Adriano takes up position at Justin’s feet after taking his gun from its holster, arms tucked behind his back.
Justin sways his head anxiously from left to right. “Who the fuck are you?”
I slide the blindfold onto his forehead, and in a quick move, tape his eyelashes against his brows so his eyelids can’t close.
“What the fuck…” His watery blue eyes strain to focus.
Digging my fingers into his cheeks to still his head, I lean down so that he sees me up close, upside down. From behind me, I grip the handle of the knife with my left hand and show him the blade. “Hello there; I am the person you so generously waterboarded yesterday,” I state in a low voice.
The veins in his eyes are becoming darker and clearer as he desperately tries to close them, rattling in his chains and spitting while he protests, “Wh-What?”
Fucker! Not so tough now.
“Why did you take me?” I demand to know.
“I-I don’t know—”
Before he gets a chance to deny everything, I bring the point of my knife close to his left eye and graze it over the slime of his eyeball while holding a fierce grip on his cheeks. He screams out in agony, but I haven’t cut him. “I’m not a patient man. One question, one answer. For every denial, I’m going to press deeper,” I warn while starting to sweat from steadying the knife in my hand so close to his eyeball. My patience is already wearing thin because Fallon’s hurt, and I don’t know why. I can smell his fear, which spurs me on. “Why me?” I inch the knife away slightly.
Justin blows out an unsteady breath of relief. “Because he wanted to know what your connection to Michaels is.”
I continue hurriedly, “Who is ‘he’?”
“Ashton.”
“Ashton who?”
“Ashton Banks,” he reveals. “My eyes burn…argh.”
Covering my hand over his mouth, I look up to Adriano, whose eyes enlarge in surprise and recognition of the name, but I have no clue who Ashton is. “Banks?”
Adriano answers, “Alex.”
I frown and focus back on Justin, I press the flat side of the blade right under the skin of his left eye and slice it open. Blood trickles down the side of his face.
“Fucking shit!” he yells, tugging and pulling the chains continually. His screams resound loudly through the bleak room.
“What does he want with her? Speak quickly,” I order in louder tone.
“He wants her to pay for Alex’s death.”
“Why does he think she’s responsible?”
“Alex left him a note before he died,” he replies through uncontrolled breaths.
Collopy’s note is stirring up all kinds of shit! “Why take me last night?”
“We wanted to know if you might be the person pulling the strings in the investigation.” He inhales and doesn’t elaborate, so I press the blade harder against the edge of his eye, cutting deeper into his skin, almost wounding his eyeball. More red lines dribble from his eyes.
“STOP! Arghhhh… He-He doesn’t understand how she’s getting away with it. Her police file keeps changing.”
That is my doing. I didn’t make the note disappear in the beginning because of my resentment toward Fallon, so I told Adriano to do nothing until she came to me for help. However, I did tamper with the investigation just to throw the detective off. “Did you follow Fallon for Ashton?”
“Yes, but sometimes he stalked her himself.”
“Did you spike her drink at Cocktails & Heels?”
“Yes,” he confirms.
“And you two were following her last night to the coffee shop, and then followed me after she and I parted?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Ashton now?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Don’t you dare deny!” I told him I would fucking cut his eye out if he starts with denials.
“I-I swear I don’t. After last night, I was told to stay away from him.”
“Who the hell are you to him?” Adriano asks.
“No one. He doesn’t tell me what’s going on. He gives me a job, and I do it.”
Standing back, I release my grip on Justin as Adriano points his weapon at his chest and pulls the trigger. Three bullets to end Justin’s life.
I gesture to Adriano to move out because we have that damn gala before I can see Fallon, and he follows me. “It was staring us right in the face. So much could’ve been prevented! Fuck! I thought you looked into Alex’s family? Who the fuck is Ashton Banks?”
He’s quick to defend himself as we stride toward the exit of the warehouse. “His stepbrother, the guy who dissolved Charity Events. I did look into him, and we both agreed that I didn’t find anything of significance warranting us to dig deeper.”
“How could we have missed this?”
“You were also busy drinking the first week after she ended the relationship,” he counters heatedly. “Don’t start blaming me. I agree that I fucked up, but so did you. We haven’t exactly been on top of our game lately.”
I sigh in frustration as we cross the threshold because he makes a good point. “Damian, you can clean,” I command as we pass him. “Maybe Ashton Banks is the guy I saw at Club 7 with that silver cross pendant?”
“Could be.” Adriano fishes out his pack of smokes and with his teeth, he pulls one cigarette out to light it.
“If he’s a member of that depraved fight club, then I’m very worried about how far he would go to get his revenge. Every soldier must focus on finding Ashton, except the two teams looking for Collopy. Any update on her?”
Blowing the smoke out of his nose, he shakes his head and clicks on his key to unlock the doors of his BMW.
After we settle into the car, I immediately start making calls to track down Ashton. Then I send a picture of Ashton to the doctor so that he can keep an eye out for him at the hospital as Adriano hits the gas to rush us back to The Loop because we have to attend that Gala before I can visit Fallon.
***
I loosen the tie of my tux while making my way to my bedroom so that I can change and finally head over to the hospital when one of my disposable phones on the nightstand rings. “Yes.” In the rush to get to the gala, I forgot both disposable phones. I usually have at least one with me.
“Fallon is in police custody,” Doc informs me.
Dread immediately fills my entire body. “Since when?” I grab the other phone, and I see twenty missed calls and many messages. One of them informing me that Collopy is dead and Fallon has been arrested.
“I’m not sure, maybe an hour ago. I had already released her so you could take her without having to wait for the paperwork, but apparently a detective has arrested her. Your soldier has been trying to contact you.”
“Yeah, I saw. I’ll call you later.” I h
ang up to hurriedly contact Salvatore while images of Fallon alone in a cold cell feed my fury. “Fallon Michaels has been arrested for the murder of Kelli Ann Collopy. How quickly can you get her out?”
Salvatore is disturbingly silent before he answers, “I’m not sure I can now. I’ll have to look into it.”
“Use any means necessary because I swear to god, Salvatore, I’ll go crazy if she has to spend a night in jail.” I’m unable to control the tremble of my hands. “We discovered it has been Ashton Banks trying to avenge his brother’s death by fucking with Fallon’s life.”
A door shuts on his end. “I’m getting in the car now, and I have a feeling you won’t be able to stay away, but it’s better that you’re not seen with her at the police station.”
“There’s no fucking way I’m not coming too. You get her out of there or I’ll break her out myself!” I bellow, absolutely furious that I wasn’t informed sooner – even though it was my fault that I left the phone at home. They should’ve contacted me on my smartphone! I run to the elevator without bothering to change.
CHAPTER 18
Fallon
Where the hell is Luca?
Dabbing my face with the tissue, I listen to Wade trying to break me down even more. The rush of anxiety shoves my physical pain away for a moment.
“Who attacked you?” He returns to his seat and peruses me with perceptive eyes. “Do you even know what’s going on?”
To break his stare, I keep swiping my cheeks but don’t speak. Should I stick to Luca’s story about some random attacker at my house? Or should I confess it was Collopy?
“Have you heard of the Chicago Syndicate? It’s the Chicagoan Cosa Nostra.” Wade twists his mug on the table and leans back. “Are you part of the Syndicate?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I clear my throat.
Disappointment is aimed my way. “Kelli was killed last night, and you end up in the hospital with obvious fight wounds. Did you have a fight with Kelli and kill her?”
“No. I was found unconscious in my apartment and then woke up in the hospital. When would I have killed her?”
He opens a yellow file. “Her time of death is difficult to precisely determine because of the state of her body, but the timeframe from the pathologist does make it possible for her to have been killed before you were taken to the hospital.”
How is that possible? She must’ve been killed immediately after leaving my apartment then. When did she leave my apartment; right after I hit the table? “What do you mean ‘the state of her body’?”
“She was pulled from the river, but the pathologist did find a small fragment of your DNA under her nails. You don’t have an alibi during the timeframe of her death. I have to ask these questions, even though I’m fairly certain you didn’t kill her, but her closest colleagues will be on top of this case.”
The way he’s studying me is unsettling.
“And it’s unknown how many officers are being paid off by the Syndicate, but I do know Collopy was working for them.”
My body is beginning to protest, and oh dear god, my nose is throbbing violently now. “Don’t I get a lawyer? A phone call? What are you going to do, Wade?”
His lips thin in frustration. “Yes, in a minute. I need a chance to talk to you alone first – before someone less trustworthy from the department can question you. What am I missing here, Fallon? You have no prior criminal record, but suddenly your name pops up everywhere in murder cases. I’ve asked you before if you’re part of the Syndicate, but that also doesn’t make sense.”
I decide it’s time to shut my mouth again while I try to figure out who to call. My father? No, I don’t want him involved. I’ll call Luca; he’ll come through. He wouldn’t have helped me this morning if there weren’t still some feelings left. His protectiveness was palpable.
Wade’s phone interrupts, and he swipes his screen with his forefinger. “Fuck!” He stands up. “I’ll be right back.”
I quickly state, “I want my phone call.”
“You’ll get it when I get back.” He steps out, visibly upset.
Can he even do that? Don’t I have a right to that call immediately? Leaning forward, I place my elbows on the old, damaged wooden table and drop my head in my hands. Everything is happening so fast that my brain is still trying to catch up, and my distress is reaching its maximum level while I wonder what’s keeping Luca.
Please don’t let me down and come soon, Luca.
After a few minutes, I hear the latch of the door click, so I crane my neck and am met with someone other than Wade. I frown, then my eyes widen – I’m looking at Alex’s brother, the guy who shut down Charity Events.
What the hell is he doing here?
He closes the door quietly and paces to me in two measured steps, towering over me next to my chair. His eyes are blazing with malicious intent, sending terror waves to my stomach.
“Wade—” I try to scream.
His fingers twist in my tresses, tugging my head back as I gasp in pain, and he covers my mouth with one hand. “You’re a cop killer, or so they think,” he whispers casually in my ear. “They were more than happy to grant me five minutes alone to rough you up so they don’t have to get their hands dirty.”
He jerks me up, pulls my arms back, and locks my wrists with metal cuffs.
“Wh-What do you want?” I breathe through my pain while struggling in his hold as he harshly bends me facedown over the table with his hand on my neck. I have no idea why he’s doing this to me.
“Because I’ll be damned if you get away with killing my brother. You are a fucking nobody!” he whisper-shouts and covers my body with his from behind.
The weight of him against my back has me immobilized as his breathing becomes louder. Cupping my neck, he pulls back slightly and fumbles with his dress slacks.
“I didn’t…” My cheek is pressed against the cold surface. “No!”
“Shut the fuck up.” He puts extra pressure on my neck, causing the side of my nose to connect with the table, which sends shooting pains through me that blacken my eyesight. “I want to give you something to remember while you’re rotting away in prison, bitch. And I happen to have a weak spot for struggling females, so please keep fighting. You’ve already got me rock-hard.” His fingers dig into my ass cheeks, and he pulls my sweatpants down, taking my panties with them.
I struggle uselessly to get free, but with my hands cuffed and my already injured body, he overpowers me easily. “NOOO… Stop!” I scream, and he shoves a white cloth into my mouth, which I try to push out with my tongue.
A gush of uncontrollable tears leave my eyes while his ragged, foul-smelling coffee breath is hot on my neck, and he kicks my feet apart, nudging my entrance to violate me.
I let go of the last ember of hope as this vile man pushes himself into me, tearing me in half when my body rejects his invasion, and I drop my eyelids from the horror. The sensation alone is horrendously painful enough, and I don’t want to see any of him while he abuses me.
“If you fight it, it will only hurt more.” And I hear him spitting, then wetness covers my core as he pulls back slightly and forces himself in more. I hear a sick smile through his grunting. “Nice and tight, just a tad too dry.”
The table rattles and my shirt hikes up as my body is pushed up and down. My teeth dig into the cloth as I desperately try to escape in my mind, but the misery is too much. The revulsion of what he’s doing to me sends cramps and sickness to my stomach. I heave, but thankfully nothing comes out or else I would be forced to swallow my own vomit with the fabric crammed in my dry mouth. A cold rush of air hits my exposed, burning bottom, and my arms fall beside my limp body when he releases the cuffs after he’s finished. Seconds, minutes, hours, nothing has meaning in this moment when all I want to do is escape.
Is this my life? Then I’d rather die.
Time is blurred but eventually the door creaks open and I’m still in the same half-naked position because i
t’s too painful to move.
“Oh my god!” Wade pulls up my pants, careful not to touch my skin.
I didn’t even notice Ashton leaving.
Wade helps me up slowly and removes the cloth from my mouth. “What happened? Who did this?” Concern laces his tone as he gives me a once-over and holds me up by my arms as my legs sway. He adjusts my shirt, giving my back some of my stripped dignity.
“Help me… Get me out of here,” I plead in a small voice.
We lock eyes. Mine are teeming in tears, and his are filled with compassion and bewilderment.
“Who did it?”
“Alex’s brother.”
His brows furrow in shock. “Not one of the police officers?”
I shake my head in denial.
“Fuck this shit! The message I got was a decoy. Someone, probably one of the cops, must’ve arranged to get him alone with you. Nobody can be trusted in this fucked-up precinct.” He pauses to rub his neck and stares at me before adding. “I’m giving you an alibi and getting you out of here. We’re going to the hospital. Wait here; I’ll be back in a minute.”
Extreme panic torments my state of mind. “No, no! Don’t leave me.” I clutch the front of his shirt because I can’t risk being alone here again.
“Okay. Uhm…We leave through the back. Can you walk?”
I nod, and he allows me to lean against him as we step out through the back exit of the dark precinct without running into anyone.
When we reach his car, he helps me into the passenger seat, and we drive to the hospital in silence.
I’m dirty. I’m numb. Even my tears have stopped flowing.
CHAPTER 19
Luca
I sit in my Maserati, twirling my phone in my hand, as I watch Salvatore enter the precinct from across the street.
Hurry up!
Anxious prickles run up my spine while I wait for answers, but to my surprise, Salvatore walks back out within five minutes, so I hurriedly jump out and meet him halfway. “And?’ I bark, not hiding my discontent.
He stops in front of me with obvious irritation carved in his features. “She’s gone.”
For Luca (Chicago Syndicate Book 2) Page 12
