Drew presses the tip of his knife to Jamison’s bare chest. “Your feeble threats are boring me, and you don’t seem to realize the power has shifted in our favor.”
“You’re just like all those other elite assholes. Underestimating women.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Xavier says. “But it’s possible you overvalued your fuck buddy’s worth.” Xavier snatches the cell from Anderson’s hand.
“She’s not my fuck buddy.” A malicious grin creeps over Jamison’s mouth. “She’s my wife.”
Shocked silence rings out for a few seconds. Drew is the first to react, silently communicating with Xavier before he refocuses on our prisoner. Xavier hides the cell behind his back as Drew speaks. “Commiserations. I’m surprised you’re not begging us to end your suffering.”
“You’re fucking your cousin? Gross,” Xavier says.
We found information on Denton’s computer files confirming Jamison was his brother’s only child. At some point, Jamison legally changed his name, and the employee file at Techxet is clearly cleverly fabricated because he was one of the first employees I checked up on.
“First cousins are permitted to marry in Bama,” Jamison confirms. “And trust me, there is nothing gross about what she lets me do to her.”
“Such a charmer,” Lauder deadpans.
“Does she know you were cheating on her with me?”
A dark chuckle escapes his mouth. “Who do you think came up with the idea to fuck you over? I wasn’t sure how I could entice you away from Hunt until he handed me your ass on a silver platter.”
I know I exposed Xavier. Made him vulnerable to this sick prick, and I’ll never forgive myself for that.
“You were shit in bed,” Xavier says. “And you’re a lousy hacker because you left Denton’s internal system wide-open for the taking.”
“Your touch makes my skin crawl,” Jamison snarls. “Why else do you think I always made you bottom and I insisted on fucking you from behind? I had to pour liquor down my throat and pretend you were Alessandra to go through with it.”
I’m calling bullshit. I saw the way he was with Xavier. He was super handsy and affectionate, and no one is that good of an actor. I know how easy it is to fall for Xavier. How lovable he is. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jamison caught genuine feelings, but the asshole will never admit to it.
“Fucking faggot.”
Xavier kicks him in the face, sending more blood spraying from his nose and trickling out of his mouth. Jamison hisses in pain, blood dripping down his chin as he laughs. “You make me sick. You’re so fucking pathetic. You and Hunt belong together. Two fucking inept pussies who deserve one another.”
Removing my knife, I slam it through Jamison’s thigh, purposely missing the artery because this skeezy fuck isn’t dying before we get intel out of him. He howls in pain, and the sound is music to my ears. “This is how it’s going down,” I calmly say. “You are going to shut your fucking face unless we ask you a question. You will tell us everything you know, and in return, we won’t let Drew and Charlie sate their bloodthirsty natures on your body. We’ll make your death painless.”
“I’m not telling you jack shit. Fuck you, queer,” he pants.
I yank the knife out and he roars as blood oozes from the wound.
“I bet you’ll do it for your wife,” Xavier snaps, shoving the screen of Anderson’s cell in Jamison’s face. He shows him the early part of the recording with Alessandra, cutting it off before the good part. “You’re right. We do have her. We found the photo of you two and figured you’d need an incentive.”
“Tell us everything and we’ll let her go. That’s the deal,” I lie.
“I have no guarantee you won’t kill her either, so why the fuck would I talk?”
“She’s a cunt and everyone in this room has a reason to want her dead, but we don’t murder women,” Xavier lies convincingly.
“We do torture them though,” Drew adds. “What condition she is in will depend on you.”
“Bring her to me. Show me she’s alive.”
Drew chuckles. “Not a chance in hell. The slut stays where she is. We give you our word we’ll let her go if you tell us what we want to know.”
“No.” Jamison shakes his head. “No deal. I don’t believe you.”
“I figured you might need another incentive,” Xavier says, shoving the screen of his own cell in Jamison’s face.
“You fucking asshole!” Jamison yells, thrashing about on the chair as he stares at the familiar kitchen. This was Xavier’s idea, but it was a long shot. Jamison is super close to the single mom who raised him after his father—Denton’s brother—died when he was a baby. We weren’t sure if it was true. Everything he told Xavier might have been bullshit, but we took a chance. Diesel sent two guys to his mom’s house an hour ago. They won’t hurt her, but Jamison doesn’t know that.
“Talk,” Drew says, dragging his knife down Jamison’s left arm.
Jamison grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut. “I’ll tell you everything, but you leave my mom alone and you let my wife go.”
“About that.” Xavier thrusts Anderson’s cell in Jamison’s face again. “We lied.”
An anguished howl rips from Jamison’s throat as he watches Drew murder his love on the screen.
“We’ll make sure your mom gets both your ashes,” Xavier supplies.
“Provided she’s still alive,” I add, slicing my knife across his cheek. “Talk. Right now, or we’ll get them to kill her while you watch.”
His eyes are as black as the dark night sky outside as he pins them on me. “I will come back from the dead and haunt you for this.” His gaze flits around the room. “That goes for all of you.” Pain flashes in his eyes, proving he’s not completely devoid of emotion.
Drew drives his knife through Jamison’s ball sac, and a collective wince rings out in the room. Blood gushes down Jamison’s legs as he yells. Tears leak out of his eyes, and he’s panting heavily. “I’m all out of patience, dipshit.” Drew looks at me. “Give the word. Let’s just cut our losses and run. I’m done with this.”
I whip out my phone.
“Stop!” Jamison shouts. “This was all my uncle. It was all Denton. He planned this years ago.”
“Why?” I ask, keeping my phone in my palm.
“For ultimate power and control.”
“He wanted the presidency,” Charlie surmises.
Jamison nods as blood drips from his nose, his arm, his cheek, and his thigh, pooling on the ground. “He helped all of them because they were moves on a chess board he designed. Why else do you think I gave you that intel last year?” he says.
I had wondered about that earlier.
“Mathers wanted us to find Nessa so we’d end up taking out Montgomery,” Jackson says, pushing off the wall and coming toward us. “We did his dirty work for him.”
Jamison smirks, and Drew punches him in the gut.
“Everything you did played into Denton’s hands.”