Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 178343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 892(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 892(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
This piece of shit is going to pay for what he’s taken from me and for what he’s done to her – my beautiful girl.
Mine. She should’ve been mine from the start.
I won’t be lying awake the next ten years wishing I hadn’t let him off so easily. I’m not going to marinate in my remorse over not making it hurt as much as possible. I will not look my beautiful Violet in the face and see that damage he’s done to her without knowing down to my depths I made sure he paid for what he did, for the three years he took from us. The three years he hurt her.
There’s no way this debt will be cleared. Not even with death. But I’m going to do my fucking best to get it down to as close to zero as I can by taking days, weeks, or even longer to make him pay.
You do not fuck a bookmaker around with cheating at a game of chance. Not ever. And you do not fuck me around by keeping the woman who is everything I want away from me for three long years, hurting her, damaging her sense of self-worth while you do it.
I do not fucking think so.
The rage I’ve felt the last few days has been worse than anything I’ve felt. Even when I found my mother dead.
Every time Violet jolted in fear, every fucking time she scratched at her neck freaking out because of stress, it was because of that fucker.
“You need anything else, bro, you know who to call,” Tino says, shaking my hand.
Nino gives me a back slap and I hand him an envelope of cash.
“Thanks again guys. Appreciated.”
They know without being told that I don’t need anyone’s presence this time.
I’ve been friends with these guys since I was sixteen years old. We don’t go for beers so often these days, don’t have dinner at one another’s houses, but I know who they are deep down and I trust them.
I eyeball the cold storage space. It’ll need more fortification. A strong door. I’ll figure that out later.
I step inside. He’s there in the corner, mouth taped, wrists and feet secured, eyes reminiscent of Max’s that night.
The fear in this fucker’s eyes is mildly satisfying.
That night with Max, I felt cold, detached.
Tonight, I’m feeling a fuck of a lot different.
“Raymond.”
He’s scared. Good.
“Figured I’d gone soft, eh?” I ask, scratching my jaw thoughtfully, leaning against the doorframe. “Figured you were gettin’ away with fucking me over when I gave you chance after chance?”
He’s visibly shaking.
“Shoulda known, Ass-wipe. Makes sense to play the long game. You sure did, didn’t you? Played for three years.”
His eyes search my face, and it’s clear he doesn’t know that I know. Not yet.
“Three fucking years,” I repeat, then shove my hand in my pocket and pull out a coin. Holding it up between my thumb and index finger, I stare at it, knowing his eyes are on it, too.
“It started with a coin. Didn’t it? Fuck, she was beautiful that night, wasn’t she? On that dance floor. Not a care in the world. In that sexy little wine-colored dress? Those curls? Fuck.” I shake my head and then I flip the coin and catch it, cupping it over my other wrist.
“But then you won her in a bet and her life went to shit.”
I moisten my lips. “Heads or tails, Raymond?”
His eyes have changed.
“Doesn’t matter, does it? Yeah. Didn’t matter what was called that night either, did it?” I lift my cupped hand and glance underneath before I shake my head in disappointment. “Didn’t matter because you saw me lookin’ at her, decided you wanted to have one up on me somewhere, anywhere in your shitty, small life, and the only way you could do that was to fucking cheat. Right?”
He shakes his head vigorously.
“Didn’t matter how that coin flip went with me because you planned it so you’d win. Didn’t you?”
More vigorous head-shaking.
“Didn’t you?” I roar.
He’s trembling. Hard.
Good.
I lower my voice, go back to regular volume with little to no inflection.
“I told her how it could’ve gone, how it could’ve been her and I from that night, how I took a bet that wasn’t my style and she tsk’d and then… then… you know what comes next don’t you, Ray?”
He shakes his head frantically.
“You know. Think for a second. She knew about those coins. She enlightened me about how she found ‘em in your laundry. She told me a lot of shit about you. How much she loved you, and believed in you. How you hurt her over and over.”
I snicker and shake my head.
“Had the love of a woman with a heart of gold. The body of a goddess. And brains in her head, too. But guess what, shit stain? She’s mine now. Yeah, she’s mine now, but she coulda been mine back then. And her life is gonna be very fuckin’ different from what it was with you, man. And you know what else? Your life from now on? It’s gonna be very fuckin’ different, too.”