Page 7 of Veiled Vengeance

“Human! Human trafficking! Your two little roommates have been fucking things up for us for years! They’ve raided my parties in Bushwick and Hoboken.”

Pierce rests a hand on the metal table and leans. “It’s a good thing they haven’t found the prep houses on Long Island.”

“Shut up, Pierce!” Anthony turns back to me. His eyes are deranged; he’s quickly losing control. “Tell me what the FBI knows.” He rests the blade on my arm and applies pressure, but he doesn’t break the skin. It’s a threat—a horrible threat, but a threat, nonetheless.

“What kind of details are you looking for?” I put a little quiver in my voice. Spencer whimpers and calls out for me again, but I ignore her. Anthony is so focused on me that he doesn’t hear her either.

“Do they know about the prep houses on Long Island? Do they know about the officials we have under our thumb? Do they know about the list? Has Spencer given them the list?”

Here goes a shot in the dark.

“Your client list?”

“Yes!” His face blazes with barely restrained rage.

Definitely an idiot and losing control. He’s given me more information in the last few minutes than we’ve learned in the last few years.

I change the subject. “The news is calling you ‘The Bride Butcher.’”

“Stupid name. I should professionally crucify whoever came up with it,” he sneers.

Pushing the subject further, I give him more of what we know. “You’ve murdered five women from the east to the west coast. Selling women isn’t enough for you? You have to murder them too?”

His eyes glaze over as he gets caught up in his memories. “Actually, it’s seven, and I was just trying to find Spencer! Every state I visited, every city, I looked for her. It took me over two years to find her. There were times I thought I spotted her, but it always turned out to be another.”

“You killed women because you couldn’t find me? That’s your excuse?” Spencer chimes in.

“You shouldn’t have run!” Spittle flies from his mouth as his attention and wrath turn to her.

Not good.

“I gave you everything. Everything! You wanted for nothing! And you decided to test me by forcing me to play this ridiculous cat-and-mouse game!” His ire is thrown at Spencer like a spear. He means to cut her to the quick, but his delusion doesn’t account for the fact that she doesn’t love him.

“So, you killed them and put them in my wedding dress? You apparently love me so much that you killed and raped them?”

“Spencer,” I warn. She’s entering dangerous territory. If his fantasy shatters, Anthony will lose all sense of control and lash out at the object of his affection.

Her.

Spencer’s eyes are wide with shock as she ignores me. “You’re insane,” she whispers.

Anthony raises his hand to strike, but I yell out before he can strike.

“Do you really think I’d tell you anything? Anthony Cole. Orphan. University of Texas graduate. Rich from Mommy and Daddy’s money. You think that just because you have money and privilege, you can fuckingsellpeople.”

Anthony’s eyes darken, and a knowing smirk grazes his lips. He shows no remorse for any of his actions. “And what about you, FBI Agent Asher Wolfgang Dawson? Your mother was nothing more than a two-dollar whore, pimped out by your father.”

I grind my teeth together to prevent myself from giving him the reaction he wants.

“And then there’s your college sweetheart. Rachel? You shared her with your dirty friends, too, just like you tried sharing my Flower. Is that why she killed herself? She couldn’t stand the thought of spreading her legs for someone who was practically born in the gutter and couldn’t provide the lifestyle she was accustomed to living?”

My gut clenches as I recall finding her lifeless body with one of my belts wrapped around her neck.

Condescension oozes from his voice. “Or was it because of the assault from the football captain? Poor little Asher couldn’t save Rachel from her own mind after that. And Rachel couldn’t handle the stain on her reputation it brought, could she?”

My breath billows from my teeth, and my knuckles turn white.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

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