Treachery

I shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. Shouldn’t smile to see the public destruction of two men who dared cross a line that was drawn in the sand to start a battle they didn’t know they were fighting.

But I am smiling.

And I do enjoy it.

Only because wrecking the world of both Clayton and his dad was so damn easy, a child could have done it.

Little hint: If you’re a dumbass, never step up to a group of people who’ve made it an art form to destroy lives.

We all have our own particular talents. Mine just happens to be the design of the board and placement of the players. I’m the devious mind behind the game, the puppet master pulling the strings. But I can’t do it without the rest of the Inferno.

Well, I could, but it wouldn’t be as much fun.

A large majority of the destruction has played out in the media over the past month.

We waited to execute the plan until the money was in Luca’s account and the divorce was finalized. The ink on the final order wasn’t even dry when I told the group to get this done.

Stage one involved mangling Clayton’s business, Jase and Sawyer doing amazing jobs to burn every bridge Clayton had with his biggest accounts.

Unfortunately, I only got to watch from the outside. The scandal went public after a few of his clients ran to the media.

Apparently, Clayton, after being so frustrated from losing his wife and Melody, decided to reach out for new love interests.

Over the course of several days, he emailed the wives of his clients explaining his now single status, and attached dick pics to the emails to show them just what they’re missing.

Jase and Sawyer sat smugly while I cracked up watching the news reports.

Proud of their work, they explained that they had Taylor hack Clayton’s business email. Once they had that, they sca

Clayton, of course, made a public statement denying the entire thing. He claimed his email was hacked, that those weren’t pictures of his penis, and that he had his IT department and other investigators looking into the problem.

Unfortunately for him, Melody gave an exclusive interview confirming that those pictures were of his less than satisfying cock, while at the same time, the investigators came back with the findings that the emails were sent from the IP address at Clayton’s house.

I have no idea how Taylor does it, but that last detail was crucial. Clayton’s business was sunk.

I expected nothing less, though.

My boys are that good.

Still, Clayton had the option of ru

At least until phase two started, pulled off by Gabriel and Mason.

Sadly, digging up dirt on Clayton’s father wasn’t difficult, especially with our fathers. Although not as exciting as phase one, the information given to us by our families of the insider trading and other shady side dealings of the senator, were brought to light.

Clayton’s father had a bad habit of influencing laws and witnesses in congressional matters to his financial benefit.

A full investigative report was published by a large media outlet. The timeline and other documents provided were enough proof so that there was no denying the allegations.

Obviously, his father had to resign his seat immediately. A criminal investigation begi

Until tonight.

The poor bastard is so desperate at this point, and so angry, that rather than focusing on hurting Luca, he’s now after Melody.

We knew that would happen, and she’s in a safe place with plenty of money to cushion her lifestyle before she can return to normal again. However, she’s a damn good actress.

Ten minutes ago, Melody called Clayton crying over the loss of their relationship, begging for his forgiveness and admitting she hated everything she did to him, but had been forced into doing it by none other than me.

I gave her that last line, not only because it was believable, but also because I wanted Clayton to know my hand had been all over the mess that had become of his life.

We’re outside his neighborhood now waiting for him to pull out onto the main road after Melody gave him a secret address where she can be found.

“How the fuck long is this going to take?” Jase barks, his patience wearing thin with seven of us crammed in the back of a white van. We’re not small guys, so sitting out here for as long as we have has sucked.

“He should be leaving any time now,” I answer, a growl to my voice as well because Shane’s knee is digging into my back.

Gabriel’s driving the van, and Mason took the passenger seat beside him. The rest of us are stuffed in back. We drew straws to see who sits where, and it pissed me off when I lost.

“There he is,” Gabriel says, the van slowly pulling forward when Clayton is at a far enough distance not to see us.

The motion only jams Shane’s knee against me harder, and I turn to shove at him.

“Seriously, Shane, why are you up my ass?”

“Where the hell do you want me to go?”

We both stare behind him to see the twins sitting side by side already wearing the masks we use for the gauntlet. A bit creeped out by the look of them, I scoot forward to give Shane more room.

After twenty minutes of following Clayton, we’re approaching a less congested area of town, my fingers tapping against my leg with impatience.

“How long is this shit going to take?” I turn to glance back at Shane.

“Give it another five to ten minutes. I disco

“I swear to God if you fucked this up like you fucked up the job with Luca’s car-“

“I didn’t fuck that up!”

“Children!” Gabriel yells over us. “Clayton’s pulling over now with his hazard lights on. Well, a dimmed version. Nope. The car’s dead now. No lights at all.”

Fucking perfect.

“Anybody around?”

“Just us,” Gabriel answers.

“You know what to do.”

The gauntlet begins...now.

The van pulls to a stop, and we throw the side door open, four of us jumping out one after the other as we storm toward Clayton.

He lets out a high-pitched scream when the bag is dragged over his head, his arms flailing and legs kicking as we drag him back to the van.

While we do that, Shane runs up from behind us to pop the hood of Clayton’s car, reco

Thanks to the location Melody told Clayton to go, we’re only another twenty minutes from the place the twins set up for the gauntlet.

“What the fuck is going on?” Clayton yells, his words muffled from the bag, and probably because I have his face crammed against the van floor.

Jase laughs. “It looks like you pissed off the wrong guys, fucker. Tell me how much you liked those peen shots we found for you.”

Clayton struggles, but I jam an elbow into his back.

“Keep moving, and I’ll hand you over to Ezra and Damon.”

His body goes still.

Smart man.