Savage Lover: A Dark Mafia Romance (Brutal Birthright Book 3)

It’s been the longest fucking week of my life. Six slow ass days have gone by since I sent Vanessa back to her fucking father, and I haven’t heard a word from her.

If not for her ring, I wouldn’t know if she were dead or alive.

She is definitely alive. She’s stressed out, and not sleeping much according to the device, but she’s alive.

Not that I’ve gotten any sleep either lately.

To keep myself busy, rather than fucking up Vanessa’s plan before giving her a chance, I’ve been contacting more PIs all across the country, hiring them to search for Madison.

And I’ve also spent my time getting updates from my men about the coming and goings of two pieces of shit. Tonight, I finally told them to drag their sorry asses down to the basement. They may not deserve all my wrath, but they’re the ones who are going to get it for now. Vanessa’s ring probably only has another day’s worth of charge on it at most. And if I have to see her pulse and blood pressure spike one more time, I’m going to lose my fucking mind. I don’t know if it’s her father or his men hurting her, but they’re all going to be dead soon.

“Mitchell,” I drawl as I pace in front of the bastard, swinging a metal bat in my hands. Sitting under a fluorescent light, the rest of the basement bathed in darkness, he looks scared shitless, as he should be. “I wish I could say it’s nice to see you again, but we both know that would be a fucking lie.”

“What am I doing here this time?” the slacker whines. “I moved out of Van’s apartment; I stayed away from her; I don’t have any new gambling debt. Why did you drag me out of a gorgeous woman’s bed to do this same old song and dance?”

That’s right. For the past few days, he’s been shacking up in a hotel with some young girl, barely legal drinking age, who is enjoying blowing her trust fund in Vegas with late night partying.

“You see, Mitchell, I have techs who noticed some very large deposits in your bank account recently. Which is odd, isn’t it, since you still don’t have a job?”

“You’re hacking my accounts now? What the fuck?”

“Vanessa gave your sorry ass a second chance you didn’t deserve, and you went and fucked it up.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve got a new girlfriend who is loaded.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up. The deposits didn’t come from the girl you’re mooching off. In fact, I already know who gave you the money. I just want to hear the words come out of your mouth.”

He doesn’t respond, so I lift the bat to my shoulder, then swing it down with all my might, nailing both of his shins at the same time.

“Ow! Fuck! Motherfucker, that hurts!” He winces and squirms in his restraints, unable to do anything to stop me from hurting him with his hands restrained behind his back, ankles tied to the legs. It’s similar to the way I tied up Vanessa the other day, but not nearly as sexy. Mitchell has stains all over his tee, there’s still bits of food in his long, untidy beard, and I’ve been around dumpsters that smelled better.

“Now do you want to tell me who you talked to and why? Or should I give you a little more motivation?”

He presses his lips together, pissing me off because he’s wasting my time.

“Eli…” I start before remembering the deranged fighter isn’t here anymore. Maybe I was too harsh with him after my fight with Vanessa.

In fact, he may actually be able to help me with my plans for later. If I had to guess, the kid’s still in town, despite me ordering him to leave.

“Titus,” I say instead. “Flip the lights on and then reach out to Eli. Tell him if he can find me four or five cage fighters who want to earn a million each tonight, then all will mostly be forgiven.”

“Yeah?” the big guy asks.

“Yeah. I’m in a forgiving mood,” I reply. To Mitch, I place the end of the bat to his chest. “Just not for you. And you see, I already know you ran your mouth about me and Vanessa to Kozlov. I just need to know who your source here in the casino was before I kill you. So, you have two choices. You can either die fast, or you can die slowly.”

With the phone already to his ear, Titus flips the switch to light up the other side of the basement. When Mitchell sees the man hanging upside down, he swears under his breath.

“Kozlov decided he wants to die slowly, the blood gradually dripping from his minor wounds that I’ll open up again and again, using various, painful methods, every day until he’s dead.”

“Jesus,” the grungy fucker mutters as he stares on in horror.

“Not even Jesus can save you now. So, fast, or slow? What’s it going to be, Mitchell?”

Turning his face to me, I can see the white of his eyes when he says, “Look, Dante, I’m sorry, okay? I was pissed at you and her. We had a good thing going, and you came along…”

“You were pissed at me and her? I paid off your goddamn debts!” I lean down to yell in his face. “And you think you had a good thing going with Vanessa? She never gave a shit about you. The only reason she saved your sorry life was because she’s a good person, unlike me, and unlike her father, Yuri.”

Gaping at that, he whispers, “Holy shit! Her father is Yuri? Yuri Petrov? Then why didn’t she just pay off my debts?”

“God, you’re a fucking idiot,” I tell him. “Too bad for you, Vanessa isn’t here to stop me from putting a bullet in your head this time.”

“What? Wait! She’ll be pissed if you hurt me!”

“Good thing I learned a few tricks for making her forget why she’s angry. Now. Who. Told you. About. Us?” I grit out each word slowly.

When he doesn’t answer my question, I drop my bat. The loud aluminum on the hard cement floor echos around the empty basement, startling the bastard. I reach into my suit jacket to pull out my gun from the shoulder holster instead.

“I can put a bullet in plenty of body parts that won’t instantly kill you,” I warn him. “You’ve got three seconds to decide. Three. Two—”

“Wait! It was Gavin! Gavin told me that he’s the one who set me up with Kozlov’s girls, and that you were obsessed with Vanessa and shit. He said he heard that she loved sucking your dick. That’s it. That’s all I told Kozlov.”

Wow. It looks like Gavin is a dead man too. Was he with Eli when I sent that photo of Vanessa’s mouth on me? That was stupid of me.

Since the jackass told me exactly word for word what Kozlov eventually confessed Mitchell told him, I decide to give him a quick death. Vanessa would want that for him, even if he’s the reason her father may not ever believe we weren’t fucking consensually. I should’ve brought Mitchell and Kozlov in sooner, even if it meant Yuri finding out. No telling what Vanessa has been through this week because of this son of a bitch running his mouth.

“Enjoy hell,” I say to Mitch before I lift my gun. Aiming it at his head from less than five feet away, I pull the trigger. My ears are still ringing when his head falls forward, gone in the blink of an eye.

“Damn, Dante,” Titus mutters when he comes over. “That’s the second suit you’ve ruined today.”

“Worth it,” I tell him as I sheath my gun. “Were you able to reach Eli?”

“Yeah. He’s on his way, sounded certain he could get the four or five fighters you asked for within an hour.”

“Great. Get this mess cleaned up.” I lift my arm to wipe the moisture from my cheek on my suit sleeve, leaving a crimson stain on the material.

“Then what, boss? You got plans tonight for Eli and those fighters?”

“Oh, I’ve got plans, all right,” I tell him as I head for the elevator. “Tonight, I’m going to get my wife back.”