Page 31 of King of Cruelty

Creaky hinges assaulted my ears, peeling my lips further back from my teeth. My snarl grumbled low and long as Brother fucking Malcolm towered in the doorway.

Rage filled me. I knew they were out there smirking their asses off, but seeing it on his long, pockmarked face made me heave.

Long, oily black locks hung over his face, casting shadows across his eyes. He was dressed nicely in a dark blue suit, but it looked wrong on him. The arms hung too low, the pants were too high, and the waist was the wrong size going by the cracked-leather belt straining to keep it from sliding down his hips.

Clearly, he grabbed the first uniform out of their Brotherhood Lost-and-Found Box without caring if it fit.

I raked him up and down, taking in everything from the oversized gold hoop in his left ear to the fading bruises on his knuckles.

“Well, well, Hunt. Don’t you look ready to be served up and eaten?” He bit the air, moaning. “Yum.”

“And don’t you look like the mistake your mama still wishes came out the other hole?” I fixed my snarl into a mocking grin. “That’s a real nice earring, Discount Pirate. Really brings out the vacancy in your eyes and the ugly on your face.”

Bee, Shug, and Pixie laughed out loud. Never had a smirk been wiped off someone’s face quicker.

“You hang on to your jokes, bitch, because that’s all you’ve got! First, we’re going to blow up your whores, and then we’re going to waste your family. We’ll see who’s laughing when theBrotherhood rules Cinco, and the only thing you’re running is my dick.”

I rolled my eyes. “I bet that sounded all smart and menacing in your head. Stop running your mouth, you ignorant dumbass, and go and get your boss.” I smiled wide. “Poor Brother Abraham is out there in the woods, bleeding, and crying, and shitting his pants.”

Malcolm stiffened.

“If you hurry, you might just save him.”

“You’re lying,” he barked, roaring up on me. “There’s no chance you’d leave him alive, and there’s even less chance you’d tell me if you did.”

Another eye roll. “Of course he’s alive. I killed his henchmen, naturally, but Brother Brammy I shot in the gut and left cuffed to a tree root. I had to,” I said, shrugging. “Vito and Madison let slip just how important he is to the Brotherhood. I need to question him for info, but I also needed to rescue my Cardinals. There was no way I was driving back to the city with him and leaving them here, and there was no chance I’d risk him getting away while I pulled some serious heroics. Answer: Tuck him away until I’m ready for him.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Again, you wouldn’t tell me this if that was true.”

“Hmm, I’m pretty sure I would if I was captured, chained up, trapped in a room with Pirate Predator, and I wanted him to get the fuck away from me.” I glared at him right back. “Yeah, I’d give up my best bargaining chip to send a rapist in the opposite direction. No question. Brother Bitch Abraham isn’t worth being touched by the likes of you.”

Malcolm crouched down, getting in my face. “You’re going to want to be nice to me. No one said I’d be the one trekking off on your wild goose chase. I’ll just send the new recruits into the woods while you and I get to know each other a little—”

He touched my thigh and I snapped forward, smashing my skull into his nose.

“Argh!” He roared, blood spurting through the air as he fell back—clutching his nose. His heels drummed the floor as he wailed, crying and carrying on like the little bitch he was.

“I told you not to touch me,” I breezed. “This is on you.”

“You stupid fucking whore! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill—”

I dropped back on my hands and swung my legs out, clamping them around his throat. I didn’t give him a chance to cry out. Wrenching my body, I snapped his neck—ending his wailing in one swift act of brutality.

Slipping free of him, I beamed at Bee. “I’ll take that apology now. I’m no one’s damsel in distress.”

She granted me a wry smile. “I’ll save my praise, FGH, since you’re still chained to the same wall as me.”

“Not for long.” Propping my left foot on my right, I toed off my boot, then my sock. “Brother Dumbass told him to wrap me up and deliver me to the car.” I stuck my wriggling toes in his pocket. “To do that, he would’ve needed the— Ah-ha!”

I withdrew my foot, clutching tight to the keys dangling from my toes. “We’re getting out of here,” I said, talking to my Cardinals and the battered girl in the corner who lifted her head, lips trembling when she saw the keys. “I’m getting you all out of here. I promise.”

KENZIE

“You’re not going by yourself.”

“Of course I’m not going by myself.” I cooed at Laurel, making her giggle as I strapped her in her car seat. “Laurel is coming and so is Sienna. Can’t get any more not by myself than that.”

“Kenzie, please,” Bane spoke up. “Sunny’s right. We have no idea what that shit Frost will do when confronted. He could try to hurt you or the baby.”

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