Page 80 of Souls and Sorrows

Sort of.

The memory of the shameful look on her face the other night plays on a loop in my mind, suggesting that maybe I don’t know what to do to repent. Expensive flowers and dinners and jewelry haven’t made her budge, and I feel like we’ve taken a million steps backward.

I’ve neverbeenembarrassed. I didn’t realize it felt like sludge, surrounding you until everything but your eyes, nose, and ears were left out, allowing you to bask in paralysis when all you wanted was for it to consume you.

I should’ve just flipped her over and eaten her until I was ready to go again, but the instant mortification pissed me off. As if there’s something wrong with my wife being so goddamn hot that all it takes is a few seconds in her sweet mouth before I’m blowing my load.

She hasn’t spoken to me in days. I’ve taken to just watching her dance in the studio during my lunch breaks at the office, wishing I could just explain what my issue is—the fear of disappointing her.

Instead, I stare at her lithe form on my computer all day, sometimes fucking my fist if she heads home and gets in the shower early. And while I think I might be content to simply exist in a world where she’s the only viewing pleasure, her refusal to engage with me is starting to grate on my nerves.

As if I’m being punished because she believes I don’t want her when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Still, I can’t deny that stringing her along seems to have curbed her desire to stray. If hurting Ariana is what’s necessary, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her in my possession.

“Let’s try this one more time.” Crouching down, I brace one hand on my knee, using the other to tilt Officer Butera’s chin up with the sledgehammer handle. “You couldn’t get a judge to sign off on the search warrant for Ariana Ricci because they failed to see proof of probable cause in her involvement in the Tallericos’ disappearance. But you still chose to pursue her as a suspect.”

One of Butera’s eyes cracks open slowly. The other is purple and swollen shut from the impact of my fist earlier. “Captain wanted answers.”

“And he didn’t care that your process wasn’t, in any way, legal?”

He scoffs. “Why doyoucare? Clearly, you’re not such a stickler about the law.”

“I give a shit about the law when I’m paid to do so.” Tapping the wooden handle against his jaw once, then twice with more pressure, I watch with a sick sense of satisfaction in my lungs as he grimaces, turning away from the onslaught. “What I care about is that you put your hands on my wife. Tried to intimidate her. Cuffed her to a table like some common criminal. As if you didn’t think it would matter.”

“We didn’t think it would,” he rushes out. “Everyone on the force knows you bought the girl.”

The handle pushes harder against his chin, indenting the skin. “Yes, I did, and I paidhandsomelytoo. Paid to give her my last name, to fuck her, and for no one else to touch her ever again.”

“Please,” he says, trying to squirm away. “I have kids at home. Just let me go. I’m sorry we took your girl in, but like I said, wehadto. Someone is determined to find out what happened to Fiero and Cosetta, and I think it has to do with Ricci Inc. going under.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, uncomfortable with the underground acknowledgment.

He doesn’t immediately give me an answer, which I find irritating. Standing up to my full height, I blow out a breath, swinging the sledgehammer; it arcs in a perfect crescent shape, colliding with his other intact knee.

Bone splits, and Butera chokes on his saliva, crying out to God.

Sighing, I walk to his side and grip the short hair at the nape of his neck, wrenching his head back. “If you weren’t such a bad boy, maybe he wouldn’t have forsaken you.”

Some of the hair begins to pull from its roots, and Butera lets out a sob. “Fuckinghell, Primrose. I don’t know anything else, I swear. Just that the company is disappearing, and Ricci’s men have been getting snatched from the streets. Witness protection, murder, you name it. Things are awry.”

I frown, processing that bit of information. I’ve already had the company’s on-book assets liquidated and started the process of transferring the funds into Primrose Realty’s accounts instead. That way, when I file a forfeiture complaint, I can base it on the viability of the business that developed a good portion of the East Coast.

But none of this is supposed to be happening yet.

Looking down at Butera’s bruised, bloodied face, I know why.

Vitus.

He’s probably going behind my back and trying to get rid of things before I can take over.

Blowing out a breath, I pull my phone out and pull up the tracking app, checking Ariana’s location. Unsurprisingly, she’s at the studio, and I exhale slowly with relief. The tracking device stays online so long as she has a pulse.

Crouching down, I re-pocket my phone and tilt my head at the officer. His head hangs forward, chin touching his chest, and he whimpers as I reach out, pushing his face up.

“Stop drawing it out,” he says, pinching his eyes shut. “Just kill me.”

I stifle a smile, patting his cheek. “In good time. Now, tell me what you know about the Tallericos.”

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