Hot Revenge Box Set 4

The Wolves and the Nightshades…

Gang names…

?

‘Wolves’ has masculine overtones, a touch of the machismo about it. I can see that as a gang name.

But Nightshades?

What gang calls itself Nightshades?

Poison is a woman’s weapon…

Chewing my potato, I retrieve Sola’s text on poisons.

Nightshade…

Also known as Belladonna… ‘used historically as medicine, poison and cosmetic…

Cosmetic?

I read on… Belladona…’Beautiful lady… the juice used historically in Italy to enlarge the pupils of women to enhance their appearance…

Fuck me…

I flick a page or two: Symptoms of belladonna poisoning… dilated pupils, rash or flushed skin on the face, neck and upper body, accelerated heartbeat, epileptic spasms, vomiting…

*****

James

“What do you think?”

Michael raises brows. “Klempner?”

“Of course, Klempner. D’you think he’s alive?”

He scratches into his scalp. “With the kind of life he's led… leads… I suppose it was only a matter of time before he walked into one of these situations and didn’t walk out again.”

“I suppose. Still, it’s hard to imagine him going down with some half-crazed woman. I mean, drug barons, criminal overlords, yes. Experienced mercenaries or assassins… You can see how they might have outclassed him. But some half-cocked girl with a grudge? How could she have gotten the better of him?”

“That’s not really the question is it?”

“No?”

“No. The question is, how is Mitch handling it?”

Guilt clutches at me. “Not well.”

*****

Klempner

behaving as though our previous

gold dragons. It’s too loud against the curly, mid-brown hair and subdued, flesh-tone lipstick. But I’m

hell did you

be a fucking wow in

are we going to talk about today,

trying to sit a little more comfortably, straightening up against the wall. “What

It works, but now my weight is on my backside and I was never bulky. There’s not

snaps, “You’re

pay attention with concrete rubbing a hole in

comfy?” Pleasure gleams in

you know I’m not, but if your idea is to keep me incarcerated in the dark for as long as possible, Juliana, you'd better let me have some

her teeth, then props her chin on her

“A chair?”

not having a chair. I didn’t bring you down here to enjoy lounging

damp concrete. If they get infected which, in these

and smiles. “We'll see. Perhaps I’ll give you something… since you're

*****

I stare into the

This is it then.

it all…

Mercenaries…

Murderers…

Machete-wielding savages…

hundred bastards just like me…

I survived the lot.

captured by one

…

…

No… Not stupid…

Vengeful…

Depraved…

Insane…

Yes, insane…

I don’t find something

than a sack of

exactly a medical diagnosis, but encapsulating all

What's her intention?

What does she want?

To kill me?

I'd already be dead.

no. Or at

what does

Power.

enjoy wielding power