Page 103 of Bound Bride
I don't let up. Three powerful, swift kicks to his chest break ribs and then I grab him by the collar once more and haul him up.
"You manipulated me," I snarl through rage and blood from a cut on my lip. "You tortured mywife, killed my men. There is no ending where you walk away from this."
"You're so fucking…pathetic," Lev gurgles. His face is a patchwork of swollen flesh, split skin, and bruising but hatred still burns in his eyes. "Should've fucking stayed in Russia, c-cunt."
"Why?" I snarl, shoving him into the wall as footsteps gather behind me. "It wouldn't have made a difference to a cockroach like you. You lost so much to me in such little time, so that tells me all I need to know about how fucking weak you and your family are. Your brother is dead. I will kill you and then I will hunt down your other brother and I will flay the flesh from his bones for what he did."
Lev tries to push me away but he's weak and dazed. It doesn't stop him from laughing though as blood drools out of his mouth. "S-Sure."
"Tell me." I bring my face close to his. "Did you rape Rose?" Those four words pierce out of me and I know no matter what the answer is, it won't change what Rose suffered. It won't soothe what she went through but it will make me feel better.
"Nah," Lev gasps out. "My brothers, sure. I wasn't into that." His eyes widen despite the cut above his brow. "I-I was the one who made her afraid of the dark." His lips pull into a wide, bloody smile, and it's the last straw.
I throw him to the ground and kick the shit out of him with all my strength. His gut, his chest, his crotch, and his head all get blow after blow as my fury rains down on him.
Halfway through beating him to death, I realize it won't be enough. He won't ever suffer enough for what he put her through.
Eventually, Lev is delirious enough that demanding Mathew's location from him finally lands me an address dribbling from his broken jaw.
His weakness takes him and he fully collapses at my feet, dying from three bullets to the skull.
Silence falls.
My fists ache, my clothes are soaked in his blood, and the restriction of my shirt only irritates me further, so I quickly rip it from my body with a gasp.
I don't feel any better.
Everything is too hot and my chest remains so fucking tight that all I can do is pant while glaring down at the mess before me.
"Boss?" Ethan's gentle voice cuts through the smog and I jerk my head up.
"I did not know," I say and my voice remains strained. "Rose. I did not know she was scared of the dark."
Ethan's brows dip. "Neither did I."
"It is not enough." I gaze down at Lev's corpse. "Killing them will not be enough."
"I know," Ethan replies. "But it might be enough for her."
Her.
Rose.
Killing her tormentors might, to some degree, help her.
Even if her love for me is a lie, even if her affection is rehearsed… my love is real.
I'm not so blind that I can't see the twisted, terrible situation she found herself in but I loathe how it makes me doubt every touch.
Every kiss.
With Mathew's address in my mind, I turn away from Lev's body and accept a clean shirt from one of my men. "Let us go and bring an end to this."
The address Lev gurgled out in his last breath is an abandoned apartment block condemned for demolition.
There are no signs of life when we arrive, and as my men pour into the parking lot and surround the building, the quiet chill in the air sends shivers down my spine.
Luckily, anger keeps my pain at bay and I barely feel the throb of my knuckles or the stiffness in my gut from Lev's blows.
