Page 103 of Dismantle & Prevail
Boone and I wait patiently as he slowly regains consciousness. His face pales when he notices the collar around his neck and the chain in my hand.
“Talk. Now. I have two ladies I would like to get back to, and I’m tired of looking at your ugly face.”
Clay hesitates for a millisecond, and I pull on the chain. The metal spikes nicking his skin. “Fucking psycho!”
“I didn’t say stare into the void. I said fucking talk.”
For the hell of it; I tug again, eliciting another pathetic cry from him.
“Dammit Aries. You really are as crazy as she said.”
Boone and I look at each other, confusion written on both our faces.
Tug.
“Who said?” I ask.
Clay groans. “Tana. My damn wife!”
Bile rises in my throat, and I stay silent, allowing him to continue digging his own grave.
“All the stories she told me. She outlined every time you hit her and Rayne. Every time you stole her money, which was actually my money because she was my top seller. You almost got her killed multiple times because I thought she was lying. Then she came to me crying with a black eye and I saw that you really were an abusive dick. She begged me to get her, Rayne, and Nancy away from you.”
Blinding hot rage consumes me and I tug just hard enough to draw more blood. Stepping into him, my nose almost touching his, I tug the chain again. “You took my daughter away because some drug addict, manipulative piece of shit convinced you I was abusing her?”
Clay spits in my face. My fist drives into his stomach, and I step back just as puke spews out of his mouth. His eyes go wide and he stares at me crazed. “You are! She showed me proof! You proved it when you burned down my warehouse and cost me millions of dollars!”
“Let me guess, since we burned down your empire, you decided to get revenge by taking Aries and going after his girlfriend?” Boone asks, his tone dry and unphased.
“Yes! He deserved it! Why do you think I waited so long to come after his sorry ass? I spent the last few years rebuilding my damn empire. And if that little slut didn’t cause a damn bloody massacre, I would have gotten my revenge. She cost me over a hundred thousand dollars trying to kill his stupid ass,” Clay exclaims, tugging on his chains.
Boone steps forward, but I tap the side of my leg and he immediately halts.
Taking a deep breath, I let the room fall into an uncomfortable silence as I wrap the chain around my hand and clap. “Congratulations Clay. You are the winner of being manipulated by a known con artist. She had you wrapped in her web of lies so tightly that you didn’t see that she cost you your entire empire and now your life.”
Tugging the chain taunt, I watch as realization slowly falls over his face. A lone tear runs down his face, and I can’t help but smile.
“Sucks knowing all of this could have been avoided if you would have just sent a lackey to get rid of her, huh?”
Not caring what he has to say, I continue, “Before I end your pathetic life, what did you do to Nancy? My daughter deserves to know where she can visit the one person she knew loved her, even when she was suffering at the hands of her mother and her husband.”
Clay’s head bows. “She’s buried behind the warehouse. I caught her trying to sneak Rayne out one night and —-”
“No need to hear more.”
Clay’s head snaps up as if he can hear the finality in my voice.
Wrapping the chain around my hand once more, I pull him close. “I told you to keep my daughter’s name out of your fucking mouth. Have a miserable life.”
In one sharp tug, blood sprays in every direction as Clay falls to the ground with a thud.
I let the chain drop and slip the brass knuckles off my hand before using the bottom of my shirt to clear the blood off of my face.
A tap on my arm steals my attention and I turn to see Boone holding out his hand. “Don’t drop those. They are my favorite.”
Slowly, laughter fills the room and I pull Boone into my arms. Soon our laughter turns into low sobs.
“We got her back, brother,” Boone says, patting my back.
