Concede (The Diamond Empire Book 1) by Kathy Coopmans (bts book recommendations .TXT) 📕

I will do with them whatever the fuck I please. The same goes for your brother. Kill him, Aidan, and make it painful. Make this monster pay!” Roan roars, placing the ring on the pinky of his right hand, and leans back in his chair with a look that says he’s composed. But I know that look. Seen it many times. He’s disturbed. Shaken, and he’ll live the rest of his life feeling guilty when he shouldn’t have to.

A muscle in my jaw tics, and rage builds like deep currents of water when I shift to stare into the ring. I want in there so badly the need to draw blood has my beast screaming like a banshee.

My vision starts to blur as flames curl and lick my chest. The agony he put Victoria through and will for the rest of her life has my fingers itching to unsheathe my knife and shoot a dart full of CO2 into his head and watch it explode. Not giving a flying fuck of the consequences.

My brain goes into overdrive, picking every moment Victoria has spent crying, grieving over what this narcissist took away from her. The pain he’s caused.

My pulse hammers, muscles stretching thin, knowing I’m less than a couple of feet away from the pig who could have wrapped his hands around a scared little boy’s neck. I imagine him raising a knife, twisting it around in front of Deidre and Danika before plunging it into their bodies.

“If you think this is over by killing me, you are all sorely mistaken. My brother already knows I’m missing.” Mikhail’s gaze flicks toward Aidan.

“If he doesn’t, he will as soon as he opens a box containing your hands. I’m going to hurt you, and when I decide you’ve had enough, I’m going to sever your limbs from your body. Tell me where Maxim is hiding. If you do, you won’t feel a thing.” Aidan shrugs, staring down at his prey.

Mikhail’s lips spread into a sinister razor-thin line. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

That remark cost Mikhail a kick to his face. He falls onto his back, laughing hysterically. I’d imagine growing up on the streets. He’s used to all kinds of pain. He likely enjoys it.

Sick motherfucker.

“I’m not going to argue with you. It’ll do me no good. I fucked up and got caught. I’m not going to give you any information. I’m not going to beg for my life, but I promise each one of you that going near my daughter will get you killed. I’ve stayed clear to protect her. That does not mean she’s unprotected.” Mikhail spits out a wad of blood, hops onto his feet, and glances our way. “Consider that a promise. A warning. Go near her and prepare to meet me in hell.”

Aidan punches him in the stomach, sending him back against the ropes. Mikhail staggers a second, then laughs again.

“You live up to your name, Aidan. That stung. Not as much as the sting inflicted on you, you might kill me within the next few minutes, but you will never shed me from your flesh. I’ll live there like a leach sucking you dry every time you think about your family. Aren’t you curious to know who I killed?”

Aidan’s face pales, and Dray tenses. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as he pulls out his gun, resting his arm on his leg, and points it directly at Mikhail.

“I’m the one who killed your wife and daughter. Gut them like a couple of two-bit whores. Your daughter cried her eyes out and begged. I can still hear her screaming for her husband and little boy. Your wife tried to soothe her. Such a good little mother. It did neither of them any good in the end.”

Aidan flinches at the taunt to inflict emotional pain. He doesn’t try and hide it. There’s no way he can when it’s bone-deep. There is nothing Mikhail can say to make it worse.

Anticipation for bloodshed pulses through the air. The need to end this man’s life so thick we’ll drown if Aidan doesn’t kill him within the next few minutes.

Fury ignites in my veins and burns to the tips of my fingers. I need to hear Mikhail howl in pain. Pain I thirst to conflict.

“Don’t try getting into my head. The door is wide open, waiting for you to step inside. Just come on in; you’ll see and hear what’s happening in there. I suppose I could invite you in and give a demonstration.” Aidan pulls a switchblade out of his back pocket, flicks it open, takes several steps back, and sails it through the air hitting Mikhail in his upper right arm. He doesn’t scream. There’s only a twitch at his jaw as blood gushes, dripping down and onto the floor.

“I’m already in your head. You and I are the same. We’re killers. We know how to fuck a man up with words intended to scar.”

“I’m nothing like you. For starters, I wouldn’t have gotten caught. I would have planned my revenge to take everyone down at once. You fucked up asshole. You killed my wife and daughter out of spite and hate. If you don’t think I won’t retaliate by going after the only thing you care about, you are mistaken. I will do the same to your daughter as you did to mine. The only thing I regret is you not being here to witness a taste of your own medicine.”

Aidan’s lips peel back into a snarl as he pulls out another knife from the same pocket and sends that one into Mikhail’s other arm. This time his face tweaks with a glimpse of pain before he conceals it with a sneer.

“Is that right? Last I heard, none of you kill women. Test me from hell and watch the plan my brother and I came up with trickle-down onto someone else in your precious Diamond Empire. Maybe there’s a plan in motion