Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“There was no way out, though,” Elio said when Matej pulled himself together again.
“No,” Matej said, shaking his head. “I got off one shot before my brother was on me. Then…” he said, waving at the basement.
“Why would Jan do this? These were his people too,” Elio said.
To that, Matej shook his head. “This is all my fault,” he said, and I couldn’t imagine that kind of burden on your shoulders. “I kicked out Jan last month,” he admitted. “He was… bringing shame to this organization. He could have left. With grace. He had more than enough money to feed his appetites. But that wasn’t good enough.”
“He has a crew,” Elio said.
“Men I had cut off many months or years ago,” Matej said. “For similar reasons. I didn’t know Jan was still in contact with them.”
“He might not have been,” Elio said. “He could have just been pissed off and sought them out.”
“He didn’t have to do this,” Matej said, sniffling as he looked toward the wall, trying not to break down. “I need to go. I need to find him.”
“We know where he is,” I said, making Matej’s gaze shoot to me.
“You do?” he asked, brows pinching, and I wasn’t sure if it was typical sexism, or if he was just confused because he didn’t know who I was.
“They stole from me,” I told him. “So, I’ve been looking into them.”
“That’s why we’re here, actually,” Elio explained. “If not for him stealing from Saylor, I’m not sure we would have found you in time.”
“What did he steal?” Matej asked, something in his voice deep with feeling. I almost felt like he was asking because he planned to make it right, pay for what was lost.
That, unfortunately, wasn’t the big problem at hand now.
Not when men this psychotic were so heavily armed.
“I’m an arms dealer,” I told him, watching understanding and horror move across his handsome face.
“Do you have any reason to believe Jan would be batshit crazy enough to try to take down the Costa Family?” Elio asked.
At that, Matej’s gaze slid to Anthony, putting the final pieces together.
“A month ago, I would have said no. Now? I don’t know what he is capable of. Can we move upstairs?” he asked.
“Ah…” Elio said, looking over at us.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Anthony piped in.
“They didn’t… clean up,” I told Matej, the only one of us willing to give him the horrible truth.
Matej’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath, then carefully got to his feet, seeming as surprised as I was that he was able to stay on his feet.
“I heard it,” he said. “I can handle seeing the aftermath,” he said, taking his first few determined steps across the basement.
With that, Elio shrugged before moving to throw an arm around Matej, taking on some of his weight as Anthony and I went ahead, checking the area again before he made it to the top of the landing, sweat dripping, looking close to passing out.
“I need more fluids,” he said.
“Let me just set you down in the living room” Elio said, deciding it was the least terrible of the crime scenes. Though, looking at it again with fresh eyes, I was pretty sure there was brain matter on the top of the cabinet under the TV.
Elio nodded toward the kitchen, and all three of us moved in there.
“What now?” I asked. “We can’t just leave him here, weak as he is, with this mess everywhere.”
“No,” Elio agreed. “I was thinking of taking him to a hotel or somewhere he can rest and recover. But I don’t know if he’s going to agree to that. He’s stubborn. Has a lot of pride. This is his home. These were his people,” he said, waving toward the blood.
“We could clean it,” Anthony said, making me turn to look at him, brows scrunched. “Matej isn’t going to go to the police over this,” he explained. “He’s going to want to handle his brother. So he will need all of this cleaned up. It wouldn’t be the first crime scene I cleaned.”
“Mine either,” Elio admitted.
None of us realized Matej had mustered his strength and moved out of the living room until we heard him in the doorway. “What are you—“ His voice trailed off as his gaze moved around the kitchen, taking in the spray, the castoff, the handprints, like we all had less than an hour before. But for us, there was no emotional attachment. Matej not only knew men had died horribly here, but who they were, and what they’d sounded like as they’d been slaughtered.
I watched his Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard before forcing his gaze over to us. “What were you discussing?”
“Getting you somewhere safe. Then cleaning this up,” Elio told him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Matej said, the lift of his chin telling me that he was going to put a foot down about this.