Page 48 of Hades

I fucking hoped they put up a fight. I was well past ready to put some of this aggression where it belonged. Waiting in a dark house for the second night in a row was not how I pictured this plan playing out, but it was finally about to pay off.

“Has to be them,” Dagger whispered. “This neighborhood is a lot like my own and most of the houses are pitch black by eleven.”

I nodded. “So it has to be them,” I said, my voice thick with violent hope. My hand slid to the holster on my hip and removed it. The feel of the cool metal against my palm was soothing and my heart rate slowed, ready for action.

A full minute passed in absolute silence before I heard it, the click of the front door as it opened. I inhaled sharply and let it out slowly, gripping my gun a little tighter. And then I heard it, the familiar crunching sound of fists connecting with soft tissue, with bones. Grunts cut through the silence followed by the familiar sound of two big bodies falling to the ground.

The back door opened next.

There were two of them based on their footsteps. The sound grew louder as they turned down the hall, and then they started whispering.

My eyes met Dagger’s and he nodded just as the knob turned.

We were ready.

The door opened slightly and the barrel of a gun appeared first.

I pounced, grabbing his wrist and yanking him forward and down. The gun fell from his hand and slid across the floor. He landed a blow with his other hand that grazed my cheek. It was a quick distraction, but not quick enough. My grip tightened on his wrist, tugging it back until it snapped.

“Fuck!” He shouted and dropped to his knees. “Just give us the girl.”

“Fat fucking chance, asshole.” I pulled my arm back and unleashed half a dozen blows to his face. I punched him for the shit Raven went through for three years. For the fear that’s been reignited in her since they killed that girl. For the ways I fucked up recently and felt powerless to change.

“Stop,” Rocky called out, but I didn’t stop. I was blinded by rage, white hot and burning throughout my body and the only thing that soothed the burn was burying my fists in his face. “Goddammit, Hades, stop!” he grunted.

The next thing I felt was hands gripping my arms and tearing me off the Russian motherfucker. “I’m not done!” I shrugged out of their hold and dove for him again, but all three brothers pulled me back. “He deserves…” I began but I couldn’t finish the rest of that sentence.

“I know, brother.” Rocky’s words held patience and understanding, two things I knew I didn’t deserve in the moment. “He deserves a hell of a lot more than the beating you just gave him, but this ain’t part of the plan.”

All the fight left my body at the reminder of the bigger picture. “Fuck,” I growled. I pointed at the man, bloody and gasping on the floor. “Today, you live.”

“Two others weren’t so lucky,” Gio said wearing his signature smile. “Buck up, asshole, you get to live today.”

“For now,” I spat, still glaring at him.

“Come on, we need to do this shit right.” Dagger clapped me on the back before he and Rocky picked the man up and dragged him to the living room where two of his men lay with bullets in their heads while the other was barely alive.

“What do you want?” His question came out in heavy, labored breaths and his eyes were wide with fear and something else.

“Easy,” Gio said and kicked his foot. “You just have to deliver a message to your boss.”

The man spit out a mouthful of blood and shook his head. “He does not receive messages. Only results.” His breathing was labored but he wore a smile. “You might as well kill me here and now.”

I smiled at the plea I heard in his tone. “Where would be the fun in that?”

Hollywood strolled back into the front door with furrowed brows and pinched lips. “Found this shit in the back of one of the cars.” He held up zip ties and a bottle of chloroform.

My jaw clenched tight as my mind flashed with images of what they had planned for Raven. They were gonna drug her and tie her up before carrying her off, back to that sick Russian fuck. Not on my watch.

I turned to the asshole on the floor and picked him up by his hair. “I don’t give a fuck if your boss kills you, just tell him to meet her tomorrow at noon. Lavender Leaves. Got it?”

He nodded quickly, happy to still be alive. For now.

“Repeat it back to me.”

The man nodded again. “Noon. Lavender Leaves.” He swallowed hard, as if he wasn’t sure if I would kill him now anyway or if he had another hour or two to live. “Can we go?”

I flicked a gaze to Rocky, who was staring at me like I was somebody he didn’t recognize. I held his stare until he gave the slightest nod, and the two assholes darted for the front door as fast as they could.