Page 63 of Psycho

Standing outside, as the firefighters work to get the fire out, Bones gets right to work.

“Any idea what this bullshit is about?”

I swallow hard, a thick feeling in my throat before I speak, when Kage’s words about regret come back to me, and hit me far differently than when they were spoken.

“Regret is a poison like cancer. It kills slowly, painfully. It eats away at you, until there’s nothing left.”

Telling Bones the story of how I pulled Jimmy into our world, sounds worse to me than it did in my mind, when I made the call. And there it is.

Regret.

My brother rubs his temples, staring at me incredulously, and his voice reflects how I currently feel about myself.

“Jesus Christ, Psycho. You sold her?”

I shake my head.

“I told him the deal was off.”

Bones narrows his gaze at me, disdain written all over his face, and sounding in his voice.

“I’m going to guess Jimmy didn’t fucking agree, Massimo. You don’t dangle bloody meat in front of a rabid fucking dog, and think when you tell him no, he’ll tuck his tail between his legs, and go home. That is not how men like Jimmy Valentine work.”

My other brothers watch our standoff with worried glances, because they know I may not be welcome in the family business anymore, but I say the only thing that keeps circling my brain.

“I have to find her.”

Reaper holds my sobbing mother, and that’s another person I’ll have to deal with after this. The heartbreak in her gaze is heavy. I didn’t know she was Hadley at the time, but I think that will be little comfort to anyone.

Bones drags his hand down his face, the agitation with me nearly palpable. I did this. This was all me.

“I need to call Max Esposito. What you have dragged us all into, is something we don’t have experience in, but he does.”

I’ve heard of Max, and his team of vigilante assassins, but never met him. Rumor is, he started as a man that took jobs like any assassin, and when he found his long lost sister, everything changed. Finding her altered his business, and now they have a team that only goes after traffickers, and their buyers. I thought at some point, Bones said he was retired, but I don’t say anything, because I don’t have a fucking clue where Hadley is, and I’ll take anybody’s help.

The guilt gnaws at me as I rub my chest in circles, as if there’s any way to make the pain subside. I did this.

If he beats her.

I did it.

If he rapes her.

I did it.

If he tortures her.

I did it.

If he kills her.

I fucking did it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

HADLEY

He stands over me, belt in his hand, greasy blonde hair and an equally slimy grin, but it’s his words that drench me in fear.

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