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He slowly pulls himself to sit, eyes and movements still groggy from being knocked out.

“Xander, Xander. Your little bitch dog here was right—you really have no idea what’s going on.”

Jac moves. He grabs what little blonde hair Aidan has in a fist and slams him back into the pole again. Aidan groans, his legs pulling up into his stomach.

“Bitch dog?” Jac snaps while he continues pulling Aidan’s head back. His head slips to the side of the pole, and it looks like Jac might actually snap his neck as his face starts turning red from the lack of air.

“Jac,” I bark. He snaps his wild gaze to mine and pushes Aidan’s head forward, letting go of his hair.

Aidan pulls in a few breaths of air before speaking. “You’ve been so distracted by some blonde-haired pussy that you’ve let your little empire start slipping.”

I’m trying really fucking hard to keep my composure. If I had it my way, fucker would already be dismembered and down the bottom of a river somewhere.

I look to Jac, silently communicating to him to refrain from completely obliterating this prick.

Jac walks to stand beside me, seemingly leisurely, but I see the stiffness in his step.

He is dying to get his fill of crazy.

“So tell me, Aidan. What the fuck have you done with our money and drugs?” Jac asks as casually as possible.

Aidan cackles again, and I think my body is on the verge of exploding from restraining myself.

“You thought it would be that easy to get information out of me?”

And that’s all the permission I needed to poke the beast.

I grab a small salt shaker and a wedge of lime from behind the bar and return to Jac and Aidan. Aidan moves his leg, wincing from the pain. Before he can continue, I slam my hand down on his ankle, pushing his leg back onto the floor and pouring the salt into the gunshot wound. He yells in agony, but it’s not enough.

Not for what he did to Camila.

Not for what he called Jacques.

I squeeze the lime into it next, and the wound starts fizzing, making a sizzling sound. His yell turns into something more intense, enough to break eardrums. I grab his discarded gun from the floor and jump back onto the stage, pressing the barrel of it deep into the wound. I’m met with resistance, so I add more pressure. His flesh squelches, and his screams intensify.

“FUCK! Okay, okay,” he manages to get out through gasps. I look at his red face, the veins popping out of various places on his face and neck. A bead of sweat rolls down his face as I stop moving the gun deeper.

I can feel Jac watching me with surprise. I don’t like to do the painful part. That’s Jac. But the first thing I thought of when I saw Camila in his grip was how I was going to kill this motherfucker.

Aidan regains his bearings, still panting, but he rolls his neck and gives me a shit-eating grin with bloody teeth.

Jac sighs and swiftly stabs his knife into his thigh. He screams in pain.

“I’m only going to ask this one time. Who do you work for?” Jac asks, enunciating every word.

Aidan glares at him. I hold the salt shaker above Jac’s knife as he twists it, making Aidan shake and attempt to cover his scream. He squeezes his eyes shut as the salt moves deeper with the knife, his body convulsing away from the pole.

He can’t contain his yell any longer, so he lets it out.

“You.” Aidan jerks his chin towards Camila. “Luke’s coming for you. Run while you have the chance, bitch. I’d take you with me, but we both know I’m not getting out of here.” He turns to face us again, gurgled breaths leaving him. “Jayden was a sneaky bastard. He’s working for that crazy ex of hers.”

Our heads whip towards Camila just as glass shatters on the floor. Her eyes dart to everyone but me.

And that fucking hurts more than anything I’ve ever been through.

Chapter 27

Xander - Aged 11