Chapter 1
KANE
His face had gone red and blotchy from crying for the last hour, and I knew my men were getting tired of constantly cleaning his nose. If they didn’t, it would drip into his mouth and that was even more disgusting. Though it wasn’t as disgusting as when he wet himself in fear and a little splash of it got on my sneakers. I made sure he really bled for that one.
His hair was matted with blood, and his clothes were soaked in it. Well, the scraps of clothing that were somehow still attached to his body. His eyes were puffy and more red than white right now, several new jagged scars all over his body and my favourite of all, the Kyro’s ‘K’ branded into his chest. If it wasn’t rough around the edges from when he struggled while we were branding him with the metal rod, it would almost look like a tattoo.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen.
“Please, Kane. Please let me go! I promise I’ll get your stash back. Every part of it. I–”
His whining and pleading was really starting to grate on me. It was a rule of mine not to work past 10 in the evening as then the work day and my personal life blurred together, but for Diego Matthews, one of my top dealers, I had made an exception to this rule. Now, I really regretted that.
Not only was I tired after such a long day, but it was only getting later and we were getting nothing out of Diego. The only thing he was achieving was giving me a bigger headache than I already had.
“What do you want us to do next, Boss?” One of men asked, looking just as frustrated as I felt. “We could chop off a finger?”
I pursed my lips and regarded Diego for a long moment. His nose was running again, and as disgusting as it was, we were all beyond caring at this point. Tears streamed down his face and it had become increasingly easy to ignore his pleas and cries for help. He wasn’t sorry. He couldn’t fix things. He just wanted his life to be spared, but that wasn’t how the Underworld worked. And it certainly wasn’t how me and my brothers worked.
“Please, Kane. Please–”
“Shut him up,” I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Let’s chop off two fingers. One from each hand. At the same time.”
“No!” Diego’s eyes widened so much that it looked like they would fall out of their sockets. That was going to make the cleanup even harder. “Don’t chop off my fingers. I’ll answer all your questions. I’ll tell you the truth!”
I lifted my hand to pause the operation and glanced over at my brother. He, along with three of our men had accompanied us on this torture session. It was excessive, and Klaus and I would have been able to get the job done by ourselves, but those three had caught Diego so it was only fair that they got to be a part of the fun. Only, any real fun was yet to start.
Klaus Kyro, the second of the Kyro brothers and the middle child, younger than me by 2 years stood against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Out of the three of us–me, Klaus and Khaos–Klaus was the quietest. He talked, but not much, and it was only to selective people. When it came to us, his brothers, we couldn’t get him to shut up at times but around anyone else, he was very guarded and put a lot of thought into the words that came out of his mouth. Like right now.
I tipped my chin toward my brother and asked, “What do you think, Klaus? Should we hear them out?”
Klaus shrugged, not giving me an answer in front of our men, but his eyes spoke volumes. There was mirth swimming in the deep blue orbs that had specks of brown in them in certain lighting–all three of us brothers had the same eyes.
I nodded at him before turning back to Diego.
“You’ve got 30 seconds, and don’t even think of lying to me. If you do, I’ll start with the pinky finger on your left hand and finish with the same finger on your right hand.”
Diego gulped and nodded his head frantically.
“I wasn’t lying earlier when I said that the supply was stolen. There’s a traitor among my men, and one of them has been stealing from me for 6 months. I’ve been trying to figure out who it was, but you came to me before I had the answer. I’ve narrowed it down to 5 men and–”
“Is anyone falling for any of this?” I snorted, and several ‘no-s’ echoed from around the room. “We don’t believe you, Diego. You know what that means for you,” I grinned.
“Okay. Okay!” Diego yelled. “I’ll tell you the truth.”
“I don’t believe you, but go on.”
“I got into some trouble with the Mexicans. They’ve been giving me trouble and threatening me and my family. I haven’t been able to give you your money because I’ve had to pay them off, but they keep coming back. They–”
Klaus shot me a look, telling me he was at the end of his tether and not falling for Diego’s bullshit for a second. Neither was I.
I clicked my finger and one of our men stepped forward to shove his phone in front of Diego’s face. It was a snippet from the surveillance video of my warehouse that Diego ran. He was involved with the Mexicans all right, but they weren’t giving him trouble. He was selling my supply to them–the finest on the market and unable to be bought anywhere but from us as it was all cooked in-house–at a discounted rate and pocketing the money without having to do any real hard work.
It was smart until he started doing it all the time and my accountants picked it up. He could have even gotten away with it if I didn’t spot the Mexicans selling Kyro puff. I took it as a personal insult, put a search out for Diego who was smart enough to go into hiding, but he wasn’t very good at that either. He was found within two hours and now, here we were.
I hoped it would be fun while it lasted because Diego wouldn’t work in the Underworld ever again. I would personally make sure of it.
Diego started crying long before the video stopped playing.
“Please forgive me, Kane. It was an honest mistake. I got greedy, but I’ve been trying to fix it up for a while now. I’ll return–”
Diego continued with his pleas and excuses, promising to fix his ways and never cheat me again, but the damage was done and I was already out of a lot of money. Not to mention that he was giving me a headache from all the talking.
I wasn’t known for being forgiving or gentle. I wasn’t known for reacting to apologies well and giving people second chances.
No. I was known for teaching those who crossed me a harsh lesson so others wouldn’t dare to even think of doing the same.
The higher up they are, the harder they will fall. And right now, that was specifically applicable to Diego who would fall hard and made an example out of so others wouldn’t think of doing the same.
They didn’t call me the King of the Underworld for no reason.
“Enough with the bullshit. I’ll go easy on you because I’m feeling generous, Diego,” I grinned sadistically. “Which finger is your favourite?”
“What? I–”
“Which finger is your favourite?”
“M-my thumb, I g-guess” he answered in a shaky whisper. “But why is that important?”
“It’s important because that’s the finger you’ll be losing tonight. You have 1 week to get me my money for the stolen supply, Diego. And interest at 20%. If you don’t, I’ll personally cut off all your fingers and toes and then get started on the rest of your body parts. I’ll send each part to your family one by one until they wish they were dead as well.”
“20%? That’s fucking crazy!”
“That the only part you care about?” I snorted. “I’m being generous. Take it or leave it.”
“What happens if I leave it?”
“You won’t live to see the start of the next hour,” I grinned. “My men will make sure of it.”
Diego gulped and frantically shook his head. “I’ll get your money back, Kane. I–”
I wasn’t interested in hearing the rest of it. I knew Diego wouldn’t be able to return my supply or pay me back, even without the interest.
“I’ve already got the blood of 2 men on my clothes right now, and I’m not in the mood to add another. So, who would like to do the honour?” I asked my men.
All three of them volunteered and since I was in such a generous mood, I let them cut off a finger each. Including his thumb because that was Diego’s favourite.
“I’m knackered,” Klaus groaned. “Please tell me that’s the last thing we have to do today because I’m late for my appointment with my bed.”
I quirked a humoured brow at him. “Late for an appointment with your bed, or late for an appointment with a woman?”
“No woman tonight. I’m too tired,” he groaned. “What about you?”
“I’ve been celibate for what feels like forever.”
“2 years isn’t forever.”
“It sure feels like it,” I snorted.
“Tell me why you’re celibate again? That’s so unlike you. You used to have a different woman warming your bed every night.”
“That’s more like Khaos. I’ve never been that bad.”
“Women nowadays are crazy. The last bitch tried to cut my dick off in the middle of the night.”
“Ouch,” he winced. “Why?”
“She claimed I was cheating on her, but I didn’t even know her name.”
“You can’t be cheating on her if she’s number 10 in your harem.”
“You’re funny,” I snorted. “But seriously, that life isn’t for me anymore. Hasn’t been for a long time, but I was in denial.”
“Women aren’t your thing anymore? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Khaos joked.
“I don’t want groupies or multiple girlfriends anymore. I want a wife.”
I know how ridiculous that sounded, but the longer I was celibate, the more certain I was that I wanted a wife. Someone to love and hold whenever I wanted. Someone waiting for me to come home to them every night. Someone to enjoy lazy Sundays with. Someone that I could trust and love. Someone that I could call mine without worrying about them cheating on me whenever my back was turned.
I wanted someone I could grow old with and fall in love with more every day.
Even to my own ears, it didn’t sound like me at all, but the older I got, the more monogamy became attractive until it was now the only thing I wanted.
“Hate to break it to you, but you need to get a girlfriend before you can get a wife. And you’ll need to convince her to marry which may prove difficult with that ugly mug of yours.”
“The 2 of us could pass as twins so you’re only insulting yourself right now. But I’m serious. I’m 37 and only getting older. I’m tired of all this dating bullshit. I want a wife.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Khaos looked as if he didn’t believe me before, but he was starting to now.
“And I don’t know what to do. That’s why I’ve been celibate for 2 years now.”
“It’s looking like you’ll be celibate for the rest of your life.”
“I fucking hope not,” I groaned.
Our conversation was cut short by my ringing phone.
“Talk,” I grunted into the phone.
It was one of my men. “We found him, Boss.”
“Him?”
“Hart.”
Layla Knight
27.11.2023
