Page 110 of Fighting For Light
“After multiple fingers, his ear, and when Cordi stabbed him? I doubt it.”
Liam shrugs and levels his stare on our new guest, who’s keeping it together pretty well. He’s white and about six-feet, with brown hair and brown eyes. He’s fit and wearing all black.
The door opens, and Emerson steps through, putting his gun in his back waistband. He doesn’t stop, he just charges the enemy and rips the tape off his face. “Start talking. Now,” Emerson commands.
“What do you want me to tell you that you don’t already know?” He sighs, overconfident.He’s hiding something.
“Indulge us,” I tell him in a bored tone.
“We were sent to get Esmarie Coldwell, so that’s what we did. Well…tried.”
“Who hired you?” I ask him.
He attempts a shrug despite his hands tied above him.
Emerson punches him in the ribs, and a crack echoes. “Wrong answer. Try again,” I mutter. He grunts and tries to take a deep breath.
“You didn’t bring me all this way for me to tell you I was hired by the Costas.”
I flick a look at Liam. That’s different. He’s not a Costa goon. He’s a hired gun. That changes things.
“You’re right, we didn’t. I would rather you tell me who exactly hired you, as in a name.” He scoffs.
“They don’t give names.”
“Did you make contact through the web, phone, or face-to-face?” Liam asks.
“That’s not how it works. The only reason I know it was the Costas is because he sent a few of his men for the extraction team.”
“How did you get involved with them then?” I ask.
“Could you at least let me down? My arms are pulling out of their sockets, and it’s very uncomfortable.”
I chuckle dryly. “I’m happy to make your stay here more uncomfortable if you don’t answer my questions.”
He sighs and looks between me and my brothers. “What’s your last name?”
“If you knew who you were coming after, then you would already know that information.”
“I do know that information. I wanted to make sure I knew who I was talking to.”
“You know exactly who you’re talking to, so out with it. I’m tired,” Liam says.
“They hired me to get Esmarie Coldwell through whatever means necessary and take her to Massachusetts. But they told me not to kill her. I figured it had been a while since I’d done asmash-and-grab kind of job. I wanted something fresh,” he says with a sadistic grin.
Emerson growls, and I don’t stop him as he pummels the man’s face. He does his best to avoid Emerson’s fists but doesn’t get far. “Don’t break his jaw, One, we need him to talk,” I mutter. He breathes in and out like an angry bull and takes a step back. The man spits at our feet and smiles with blood coating his teeth.
“Where were we?” he asks. “Oh, yes. No, l never met them face-to-face. I don’t usually discuss business like that. Why expose yourself unnecessarily? That just seems silly.”
“You’re one smug bastard,” Liam says.
He studies us like we are him. “So you guys do your own dirty work? I figured if you were anything like Coldwell, you wouldn’t get your hands dirty.”
I make eye contact with Emerson.Interesting.
“We are not our father,” I reply coolly.
He looks between all of us. “No, no, you are not.”
