The moment she was gone, I shoved off the wall but Benito was up and shaking his head for me to stay still.

“I don’t want you tampering with answers.”

I gritted my teeth.

“If he was going to do that, then he would have done it already. Come on, Benito. Enzo has always put the family first.”

Benito grunted. I couldn’t agree with Giancarlo this time. Not when my heart was still racing with the knowledge that I loved Tex. Fuck, for the first time in my life, I questioned my loyalty to my family.

If Tex’s name is listed what am I going to do?

I felt eyes on me and looked up, not remembering when I’d tilted my head down. Giancarlo stared at me and I couldn’t find it in me to reassure him, not yet.

“Time to wake up,” Benito said.

He smacked Chandler a few times, but the man only groaned. Benito pinched Chandler’s broken nose. His eyes flew open as a nasally shout left him. That was one way to do it.

Clarity was fleeting in his dull-looking eyes.

“How many of you are fucking me out of my money?”

Chandler’s head nodded to the side, and Benito slapped him again. “Answer me.”

“Th-three… no-now two.” His teeth were chattering as he lay there. “C-co-c-cold.”

“Who’s your new partner?”

My stomach clenched as I waited on bated breath.

“I’m so, so, so cold.”

Benito lit a cigarette and sucked in a lungful of smoke before putting out the red cherry against Chandler’s flesh. The sizzle crackled in the air before the man screamed.

“There, you’re nice and warm now.” Benito grabbed Chandler’s face and forced him to look up at him. “Name now!”

Every single time his teeth clanged together as he shivered brought more anxiety trickling down my spine.

“R-r-ro-ro… Rourke… Houghton.”

My feet were moving before my brain could register it. I stood next to the table as Chandler repeated the name as if it was the only thought going through his head.

I knew it wasn’t Tex.

Chandler started to convulse, his body shook, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. We stood there watching him going into shock, none of us racing to help him or ease his way to death’s door.

Time slipped by. What was probably only a matter of minutes passed as Chandler took his last breath. His fingers twitched, and I checked his pulse. I concentrated on the warm flesh as no pulse greeted my fingers. I dropped his bound wrists, and they flopped down lifelessly.

“Leave an example,” Benito said.

I grabbed the severed cock and pried open Chandler’s mouth. Shoving the limp cock down his throat was messier than I’d assumed. The member squished and folded under my fingers. Blood eased the way as I stuffed him like a Thanksgiving turkey. I grabbed my knife once more and carved the word thief into his flesh.

Blood rolled out slowly, the heart no longer pumping it through his veins. It made cutting him a lot easier. I moved around and shoved him a little way down the table. I traded out my knife for his kitchen meat cleaver. It had a good weight to it as I raised it and brought it down over his wrist with a substantial amount of force.