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A tremor thunders through me, and my arms flex. The chain holding me is thin. It feels weak, like a cheap bike lock or something like that. There’s no sturdiness to it. These people are amateurs and bullies. It’s pathetic.
“Or should I say dog?” Ralph chuckles. “That’s my payment, Colt, for helping my new friend in the car business.”
“Wait, no.” Eduardo shakes his head. “You can kill the other.” He nods at Dante. “Colt has some value as a prisoner.”
“So does he,” I snarl. “He’s a valued member of the Marino Family.”
“Shut up, Colt,” Eduardo says.
I breathe, working my arms, feeling the flex in the chain. I look at the shorter masked man until I see his posture change, like fear is spiking through him, and then I turn to the other one. Both of them tense up.
“My name is Colt Walker,” I say. “All the stories are true. Everything they say I did, I did. All the lives they say I took, I took. I’ve killed twenty-nine men. I’ve been shot, stabbed, burned, and sliced. Imprisoned for years. Nobody has stopped me yet.”
The men are shaking now but trying to hide it. They have heard the stories about me, then.
“If you leave now, I won’t kill you. You have my word, but if you stay here, I’ll do everything I can to kill you. Now, or once I’ve escaped.”
Eduardo chuckles, smirking. “You’re insane, Colt. You’re not escaping shit.”
Ralph raises the gun, holding it awkwardly. Whatever evil things this scumbag has done, they weren’t with firearms. “He’s not doing anything.”
“Last chance,” I say, looking at one man and then the other.
They exchange a look, then turn and head for the stairs. Eduardo runs after them. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, boss, but it just ain’t worth it.”
“I’m not getting killed over this foolishness.”
“You’re a Serpent!”
“There are no serpents anymore, Don Eduardo. I’m sorry. That was over before you were even a man.”
Eduardo reaches for his gun, then keeps his hand still when the men stare coldly at him. Their posture is ice.
“Fucking cowards,” he grunts, returning to Ralph.
I feel the chains, sense my moment, feel the strain, and watch the gun barrel. I’ve trained my entire life to be sharp and attuned to everything despite the chaos and pain.
“Not him,” Eduardo snaps. “Kill the other one. Then we’ll get moving.”
Ralph licks his lips. “But I want this one. Please. I’ll make you the richest man in the city. Movie stars come to my lot.”
“Not Colt. I can trade him. Luca will pay hundreds of thousands. Kill the other rat.”
Eduardo grabs Ralph’s arm and pushes it toward Dante.
I explode from the chains. Dog and pig rattle around my head as time slows, and I rush the two men. They turn with fear flooding their eyes, their true cowardice showing now, when it matters most, their real judgment as men.
Instincts take over. I grab Ralph’s arm, twist it violently, grab the gun, and fire a shot through Eduardo’s eye as he reaches for his gun. He falls like a sack of skin packed with stones, and then I swivel on Ralph, my head rushing, my ears ringing with the gunshot.
“What did you say about my woman?” I roar as he cradles his twisted wrist. “What the fuck did you say?”
He whines like a coward when I drive into him with a brutal right hand, pounding him right across the mouth. Teeth fly from him, clattering to the floor. I elbow him across the eye, and then I see red. When I wake up, I’ve hit him at least five, six, seven more times.
I stand up, kicking him in the gut, then grab the gun with my blood-slick hand and bring it to the side of his head.
“You’ve killed women.”
“They enjoyed it.”
“They enjoyed dying?”
“It’s what came before. They liked that but had to die, just like your dog.”
“You want me to fucking kill you?” I growl, twisting the barrel against the side of his head. “You know you wouldn’t survive an hour in prison with real criminals. Real demons.”
Ralph spits. I move out of the way, then grab his wrists. He screams when I touch the arm I bent around earlier, but he doesn’t seem to be in as much pain as he should be. Dragging Ralph across the room, I toss him on the floor, then take the chains securing Dante and pull them loose.
My woman wants him to face justice. My woman wants this bastard to pay.
After carefully lowering Dante to the floor, I grab the chain and wrap it in thick, painful loops around Ralph’s wrists. Then I search his pocket, grab his cell phone, and call Luca.
“Yep?” Luca answers right away. “Who is it?”
“It’s me,” I tell him. “The man watching Ralph, the favor I asked you… Where is he?”
