Page 33 of The Villain

I walked up to the table, my palms landing on the top like a goddamn crack of thunder, and he jolted.

“What the hell, man? Where am I?” he snapped petulantly.

“Did you try to kill your ex-wife?” The words bubbled like acid between my lips.

He shook his head and fidgeted in the chair. “She’s not my ex yet.”

My hand launched forward and clamped around the front of his throat. Instantly, he gasped and choked for air.

“And you’re not dead…yet,” I countered, letting him fight for a sliver of breath before I let go. “Did you try to kill your ex-wife?”

He glared at me, face red, nostrils flared. But there was nothing he could do.

I tipped forward. “Don’t make me ask again.” I tipped forward. “Because when I try to kill people…I don’t try.”

“You can’t kill me,” he said hoarsely. “You’re law enforcement.”

I chuckled. “No, I’m not.” I turned my arm so he could see the patch on my jacket. “Vigilante. So, I answer to no one.”

He tried to hide it, but he started to shake in the chair.Fucking coward.

“I didn’t kill her. You have no proof.” He jostled the cuffs.

“I have a laundry list of gambling debts that you owe and the life insurance policy you took out on her after she told you she wanted a divorce, and the fact that divorce is supposed to be finalized this week. That’s all I need,” I said low, lifting my hand in front of his face and stretching out my fingers, just waiting for him to give me an excuse to strangle him again.

“Alright.” He turned his head and ducked as I reached for him. “Alright. Just stop.”

“Did you plant the bomb on her car?”

Slowly, he looked up at me, pure rage leaching over a face that looked increasingly gaunt before he snarled, “Yes, okay? First off, she deserved it for what she did to me! Trying to keepthat house—for what? And then leaving me? She wasnothingwithout?—”

My fist finished his sentence, sending him and the chair flying back into the wall before toppling over. Behind me, I heard the door open, but I was already on Brandon, hauling him up against the wall with one hand and landing my knuckles into his cheek with the other.

“You never deserved her.”Crack.

“Dare—”

“You don’t deserve to live.”Crack.“I’ll spare you prison?—”

“Enough.”Harm bodily hauled me back, his arms hooked under my shoulders. I struggled for a second, my chest heaving as Brandon crumbled to the floor.

“Get him away from me,” he shrieked, his nose broken and bleeding as he tried to worm closer to the wall. “He tried to kill me! He tried to?—”

“You’re fine,” I spat.What I’d done was nothing compared to what he’d done to her. “I’m fine,”I muttered to my brother who reluctantly released me.

“Calm down, Mr. Martins.” Hazard appeared and dragged the other man back into his chair. “Tell us exactly what you did.”

“I want a deal.” He turned and wiped the blood from his nose on his shoulder.

“The deal is that prison spares you from those loan sharks taking a limb.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, his head swiveling mindlessly. “Fuck.”

“Thirty seconds, or they leave you alone with me again.”

His head jerked to me and he stared for a long second—too long. “Is this a setup? Who are you people?” He looked wildly at Harm, then Hazard, and then me.“Is this because I failed?”

Failed?

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