Shattered Vengeance (The Alderidges Book 2)

Six: Sadist

PRESENT

ARIEN
(Age Thirty-Two)

I grew restless with every passing day.

Horace and James have disappeared. I have been searching for them for as long as I can remember but they are nowhere to be found.

I have already butchered every other person who was involved and I enjoyed watching them plead for mercy as I dragged out their death.

Past me would never believe the sadist that I have become now.

Past me had dreams, ambitions, and life goals. Past me was compassionate, caring and enjoyed life. But past me was dead.

In place was a cold, cruel, sadist man who felt nothing but rage and pain.

A lot changed over ten years. I expanded Ragnar with the help of Asael and...Elmer who was an essential part of our organisation and a pain in my ass.

He was fiercely loyal to both Asael and me but was as stubborn as Asael, he always took his side whenever it came to correcting me.

God knows how many times I have tried to fire him but that man never leaves, I even threatened to kill him but he only laughed at that.

As for Asael, he left England two years back and came to the States, specifically NYC to become a professor at this alma mater aka Aurelius University for reasons way too stupid for me to voice.

Also, he fell in love with his 'student' and blah blah blah. It's disgusting how much he is whipped for her.

I focused back on driving because if I ended up in an accident, he was going to chew my head off.

I flew over to New York because I had a lead, not a very exact one but at least I had something.

So, I arranged a meeting with the leader of the Ludovica Mafia who happened to be currently in Brooklyn along with his family for a holiday and I somehow managed to get a meeting with him.

For only ten minutes but I'll make it work.

Parking the car outside the address he emailed me, I stepped out of the car and inspected the mansion in front of me.

I told the guards at the gate my name and they let me in after checking me for any weapons.

As I walked up to the front door, it was pulled open by a blonde man who scanned me suspiciously from head to toe.

I stared at him blankly a moment later, he gestured for me to follow him inside.

I could hear lots of voices coming from the living room but I silently followed him down the corridor to a door where he gestured for me to go in.

Stepping inside, I found a dark-haired man sitting behind the desk, working on his laptop.

His eyes lifted to me and he offered me a curt nod. "Mr Alderidge."

Nodding back, I took a seat opposite him.

He glanced at his wristwatch. "I can only give you ten minutes as you can see I am on a family vacation."