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We’ve always been eternal bachelors, never having any interest in the idea of spending more than a few nights with the same woman. We’d seen what Everett went through with Wynter, how much it fucking kills him to keep his distance, to put her needs above his own. Storm and I never wanted that for ourselves and having a woman in our lives is a liability, a weakness men like us can’t afford to have.
Emerson is my weakness. Already I find myself thinking about her needs long before I consider my own or the consequences, and that’s really fucking dangerous for us both.
And yet I can’t bring myself to let her go, even if I know it would be for the best for both of us. I don’t want to watch her live her life from afar like Everett does with Wynter. I want to be her life.
Storm leads me through a service entrance, down a flight of stairs, and through a series of tunnels.
“Where are we going?” I finally ask, taking in our dark, dank surroundings. The concrete under my feet is damp, the smell of mildew fills my nostrils, and I ache to turn around to go back to Emerson and her intoxicating scent.
“Everett called. He has a lead on the shipment. I got Tommy to grab the guy, but figured you’d want to be involved in questioning him.” Storm’s smile glints in the dim light. He doesn’t get his hands dirty often, being the face of Frost Industries keeps him busy, and we can’t have him being recognized. Me getting caught doing illegal shit isn’t ideal, but it won’t have the board trying to overthrow the family to save face.
“How long has Tommy had the guy? I don’t have a change of clothes with me and you know how he gets.” I chuckle. Tommy is a sick son of a bitch. He loves the chase, but he loves everything that comes after more. The blood, the tears, the death. He fucking lives for it.
“An hour.”
I blow out a breath. “Probably won’t be much left of the guy.”
Storm chuckles. “I spoke to him right before your stunt in front of the cameras and he said he was only up to breaking fingers, so there shouldn’t be too much blood just yet.”
“Don’t hold your breath. Last week I got the call he was about to grab a guy, and by the time I met him at the warehouse he’d skinned him alive.” I shake my head at the memory. The image of one of Russo’s men screaming bloody murder as Tommy sliced chunks of skin from his body would be burned into my mind for a while yet.
Tommy is the best hunter I’ve ever met. He can find anyone, track anyone, and grab anyone, but he also loves to get his hands dirty, and sometimes he’s a goddamn liability.
“Where the fuck are we?”
“The tunnels that run under Chicago. Most of them were filled in when they expanded the city, but there are still a few. Tommy uses them a lot to get around.”
“How the fuck do you know that?”
Storm shrugs. “Can’t have you having all the fun, big brother.”
I’m shaking my head when Storm pushes through a heavy metal door and the sound of a man screaming fills my ears. We’re definitely in the right place.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins as the screams grow louder. There’s something about watching the fear in another man’s eyes that has my body tingling with excitement. I fucking hope we can break him, have him telling us everything he knows in the hope of saving his own life, just to realize we’ll never let him live for his involvement in the missing shipment.
Everyone in this city should know the danger in fucking with the Saint James family.
“What do we know about this guy?” I ask as I shrug out of my jacket.
“Street name Dagger. He’s one of Russo’s mid-level guys. Important enough they’ll notice he’s missing, but not important enough to start a war.”
“Family?”
“Grew up in a foster home. No wife or children on record.”
Storm stops at the next door and we both take a deep breath. The screams are on the other side, so loud I’m almost certain Tommy is torturing him within an inch of his life.
Game time.
He pushes the door open and steps aside for me to pass him. Even though there’s no way Dagger is leaving these tunnels alive, it’s important I’m the one he sees first. I’m the enforcer in the family, and we don’t want Storm getting mixed up in that role.
The scent of blood and burning flesh fills my nose to the point I can almost taste it. I was hoping Tommy would have left the blowtorch at home, but no such luck.
“Dagger.” A menacing smile tugs at my lips as I fold my jacket over the back of a chair by the door, taking a moment to look around the space. I’ve never been here before, but that doesn’t mean we don’t use it. The walls are brick, but they’re old and brittle and covered in dirt and moss. The light comes from a spotlight directed at Dagger but easily illuminates the space around us. It’s not a huge room but big enough for what we need. Dagger is tied to a chair in the middle of the room, and behind him Tommy stands with his back to us, surveying the contents of the table.
I don’t need to get any closer to know he has his favorite toys laid out in front of him, choosing how he’s going to end this asshole’s life.
“It’s about time you two got here.” Tommy turns to us, his white T-shirt smattered in blood.
