Total pages in book: 4
Estimated words: 3816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 19(@200wpm)___ 15(@250wpm)___ 13(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 3816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 19(@200wpm)___ 15(@250wpm)___ 13(@300wpm)
He and Ex slowly pulled back their hoods. His gaze stayed on his partner while he took in his surroundings.
“What have you done, Meridian?”
He didn’t speak. Oftentimes, he liked to observe the emotions he could elicit from a man who had none.
Ex lowered his weapon when he saw the dead guards at every entrance.
“And the rest of the Jade clan?” he asked.
Meridian hummed a satisfied groan. “Buried in shallow graves…alive.”
Ex stood beside the small table Meridian had positioned in the center of the floor. His partner gave him a side-eye at the two silver dome-covered plates and the already lit long-stemmed candles.
Ex ran his gloved hand over the white linen tablecloth before throwing Meridian a look that said, What the actual fuck?
Meridian stalked toward his vicious lover until he was almost on top of him. He gripped Ex’s throat and stared in amazement at the deadly perfection, his sole reason for living.
Ex leaned into him, drifting closer until their foreheads kissed and he was breathing life into him. His partner’s touch was strong enough to move his mind from death to desire.
The deserted warehouse smelled of decades of mold and recent carnage. It was dark and picturesque, with the moonlight and candles casting frightening shadows along the walls.
Meridian couldn’t wait for Ex to see what awaited him beneath the covered plates.
“Meridian, how the fuck did you do this?”
Meridian’s voice was tortured with yearning he wasn’t supposed to possess. “Do not ask questions that require no answer, Xavier.”
A current of intense need hit Ex in the gut so hard he struggled not to double over. He gasped into Meridian’s mouth, his lips trembling.
Smoke smoldered in his partner’s onyx eyes, passion dominating his touch.
Ex removed the single rose from between the candles. He didn’t smile, didn’t fall into Meridian’s arms. It wasn’t how they showed affection.
He pressed the silky petals to his nose and inhaled the sweet, earthy fragrance.
“A black rose…fitting for my raven.”
Their eyes met, a powerful energy rippling between them.
Ex turned toward a sight that made unabashed evil thoughts pound against his temple.
Meridian removed his touch and allowed Ex to feel the full force of the rage and fury taking over his mind. He reached inside his tactical vest and extracted his butterfly blade.
“Meridian.” Ex’s wrath burned in his throat, making his voice grittier and deeper than normal. “Your generosity overwhelms me, dark angel.”
Ex stared hard at Caesar Grey, the founder and leader of the Grey Jade crime family, sitting hunched over in a high-backed chair with his wrists and ankles bound.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Xavier,” Meridian whispered.
Ex froze.
His partner was a stoically serious man of few words and even less personality. So when Meridian did speak…Ex reacted.
His fists shook with a warrior’s battle response.
The center of his world had done the impossible for him. Meridian had caught and gift-wrapped his current obsession for him to torture and kill…on Valentine’s Day.
Romantic motherfucker.
Ex took deliberate steps across the dusty concrete floor, closing the distance while contemplating his most sinister forms of punishment.
The crime lord shook his head, his pupils blown wide at the site of Ex’s blade.
He didn’t stop until Caesar had to tilt his head back to look at him.
Ex squatted to change the direction of his view, studying. He’d never had his enemy served up on a platter.
Meridian hadn’t beat him much, only primed him for his arrival.
Caesar mumbled some desperate nonsense behind the wads of duct tape over his mouth.
“Do you know how many families’ lives you’ve destroyed?” Ex tilted his head, his voice void of all humanity and compassion. “Hmm, do you? How many innocent daughters and sons you’ve taken from their homes in the middle of the night like the fucking boogeyman.”
Caesar’s cheeks pumped in and out in an attempt to breathe through his panic. Or perhaps he was hyperventilating.
“I was never afraid of such things,” Ex confessed, staring lovingly at his blade. “The boogeyman was afraid of me.”
Ex snapped his hand out and sliced through the T-Rex duct tape over Caesar’s mouth, then ripped the rest of it away, taking pieces of beard and skin with it.
Caesar hollered in agony, the sounds of his pain and fear ricocheting off the steel walls.
“That’s right.” Ex closed his eyes and sighed with relief. “I wanna hear your screams.”
“I’m begging you, don’t kill me. I can make you rich beyond imagination.”
His pleas fell on deaf ears.
“I’m about to show you the epitome of imagination.” Ex raised one brow. “Because I know exactly how many lives you’ve sold that made you rich. Faces I’ll never be able to forget.”
Tears and snot ran down Caesar’s ugly face.
“Stop your bitch-ass crying. Have some pride…because there will be no mercy.”
“You didn’t have to kill my brother, man,” Caesar bawled, glaring at Meridian. “He was never a part of any of this.”
Ex’s voice was calm. “Do not mourn your brother. You’ll be together real soon.”