Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 47

47

L owell was hanging from the ceiling by a rope around his wrists. It was obvious that the boys hadn’t been too gentle when they’d brought him in.

He was banged up with a swollen eye and bruises over his bare chest. He was stripped down to his boxers and coated in sweat.

And, oh, awesome, he’d pissed himself.

Well, that was to be expected, considering he’d been here a while. Regent had a few things to take care of tonight before coming here. Including questioning Santé about Patrick McMahon.

He actually thought Santé was telling the truth when he swore that he didn’t know him. And Regent had decided not to burn his club down.

For now.

Victor had sent the guy they’d had trailing Kimmy to grab her from her apartment. Disturbingly, he’d found her body in the bathroom. It looked like she’d overdosed on sedatives.

But Regent wasn’t sure that was the truth.

Victor had found a photo of Patrick from a few years back and while she wasn’t entirely certain, Jilly thought that he was Trip. His girl was doing a bit better. But she still had shadows in her eyes. Sasha’s betrayal had really rocked her. And then learning about Kimmy’s death had added to her pain.

He guessed that might be why she was acting oddly. She was dressing in new clothes, though they didn’t really seem to suit her. And she’d stopped touching him as much . . . at least outside the bedroom. No running at him when he got home nor throwing herself into his arms. Or insisting that he tell her goodbye before he left the house.

It was odd.

And that worried him. For some reason, she wasn’t confiding in him. Was it what had happened with Sasha? Or was it more than that?

Did she need something from him that he wasn’t giving her? Regent hated to think that he wasn’t giving her whatever she needed.

All he wanted was for Jilly to be happy and settled. He just needed to figure out how to make that happen. Maybe she simply needed time.

However, he wasn’t sure that was it.

He missed the way she’d run to him. How she’d seem so happy to see him. The way she’d barge into his office without knocking.

Yeah . . . he especially missed that part.

Unfortunately, right now, he had something else to concentrate on.

“Lowell Jackson or should I call you Brad Duncan? Or Lyle Jones? Bruno Daniels? Bruno? Really?”

“What do you want? Who are you?”

“Well, Lowell, I’m someone you don’t want to mess with. And, unfortunately for you, you messed with me.”

“I don’t even know you! How could I have messed with you?”

“Ahh, but you know who Jilly Crane is, don’t you?”

Lowell blanched. “This is about Jilly?”

“This is about Jilly. My Jilly.”

“I’ll give her all the money back, I promise. Just let me go! You can’t do this! I’ll be missed.”

“Aww, Lowell, that’s where you’re wrong. No one will miss you. Because no one knows the real you, do they? Kenny Malcolm?”

“You know my real name?”

“I know everything about you, Kenny. Where you grew up, who your family are, when you were born. And I even know the day of your death. Today.”

The other man started crying as Regent stepped back and Basilien moved forward.

Basilien had some rage issues.

Beating on assholes helped him work through them.

Regent worked through his rage by putting a bullet in the asshole’s head once Basilien was done.

It did wonders for his fury. And he had plenty of that at the moment.

Regent climbed into the car a few hours later. He’d changed clothes in the basement. And washed his hands.

“You’ll tidy everything up?” he asked Victor who was sitting next to him.

“Yeah. A concerned citizen is going to make a call to the cops about a hit-and-run. They’ll find Lowell’s body and Sasha’s car down a ditch, with her unconscious in it. We’ll have the car hit him to make it believable. And some CCTV footage. Oh, and Sasha is rip-roaring drunk and high on drugs. So, no one will believe what she says. Besides, she knows that if she does talk, she’s dead. And so is her mother.”

Good. Two birds. One stone.

Now all they had to do was find Patrick and things could go back to normal.

Well, as normal as it could be for the Malone family.

His thoughts went back to Jilly. He’d given her tonight’s spanking before he’d left. She had the perfect ass for spanking. Then afterward, he’d laid her on the bed and feasted her until she was begging him to let her come.

And because he was a pushover for her, he had.

He turned to Victor. “Have you noticed Jilly acting differently lately?”

Victor raised his eyebrows. “You mean how she seems to be on edge?”

Good. So he’d noticed it too.

“She’s acting strangely. She’s been dressing in clothes that don’t really seem like her. I know she doesn’t really know her style, though. So perhaps that’s something she needs help with.”

“Gracen and Aston could help her, Thea too. Could be good for her.”

Regent nodded. “True. But it’s more than that, though. She doesn’t run to hug me hello or goodbye. And she doesn’t seem to smile as much. I’m worried that she’s . . . that she’s not happy.”

“A lot has happened to her lately.”

“Yeah. Learning of Sasha’s betrayal was hard, so was Kimmy’s death. Growing up with Orlando Crane has left scars. Things I’m not sure she’s dealt with.”

“She could talk to that same therapist that Lottie spoke to.”

Regent nodded. He should talk to Lottie and see what she’d thought of her therapist.

Then he would speak to Jilly.