I grab his neck and wring it.
"Fucker, tell me where Kazimir is," I demand.
"Go fuck yourself."
I'm ready to give him the beating of his life just for talking to me like that but the asshole surprises me by tossing something in his mouth.I didn't see what it was.
"What was that?"
"We won't stop until you and yours are dead.You, your pretty little dolls and children.All dead. You and your angel, Dominic D'Agostino, dead," the asshole answers and starts laughing.
The fucking threat he's casting on my girl and my family makes fear churn in my gut.But I don't get the chance to register that I'm fazed because seconds later the fucker starts shaking violently.I drop him when froth fills his mouth.
Moments later his body goes still, and I look to my brothers and Aiden.
"What the fuck? He just killed himself," I rasp.That thing he put in his mouth must have been poison.
Aiden steps forward, crouches down, and lifts the edge of the guy's sleeve exposing the fire-crest tattoo common to members of the circle of Shadows.Above it, however, is another tattoo that sends a bolt of shock through me when I look at it properly.
It's a dagger with a cobra going around the handle and the word Eternal in the center of the blade.
"Jesus Christ," I hiss. "Guys, look at that.That's the same tattoo Candace described on the man who killed her parents." I point and they recognize it too.
Massimo seethes. "It can't be him, though.This guy looks like he just started puberty.But that tattoo... it's exactly as she described.It's very distinct."
The tattoo was the only real description we could use to search for the killer.Candace told us the man came in masked like the others, but she recognized him because of the tattoo and the sound of his voice.She didn't have a name, but she'd seen him at her house before that night.
The only other descriptions she could give us were that the man was Italian, had dark hair, dark eyes, and was probably in his mid to late thirties.
Pa searched day and night and for years.He didn't give up until he exhausted everything available to him.
We were the same.
In our world when people like us can't find shit on a person, it means he or she has protection from a bigger fish.It also meant to me that William Ricci was doing some dangerous shit we've never been able to decipher.
All our efforts to get answers and justice for the Riccis deaths were fruitless.All those years of searching and we came up with nothing.
Until now.And... we weren't even looking for anything in relation to them.The man who killed the Riccis and our current problem shouldn't berelated at all.
But... what if it fucking is?
Fuck.
"This can't be a coincidence,"I state with a grimace."We couldn't even find anyone with a similar tattoo.Now it's thirteen years later and we find an exact match?"
"That's because it's not a coincidence.I know this for a fact it can not be," Aiden declares andmy gaze snaps to him.
"You know?" I incline my head and assess my Russian friend.The man who I already guessed has many secrets.
His flinty gaze hardens. "I do know.This man belongs to a group called the Order.They do not work in coincidence.If you see one, it's not random, and they wouldn't just kill for the run of the mill either,"Aiden enlightens us."Like the Circle of Shadow members, that tattoo is a symbol of their oath.This man belonged to both groups.This is evidence of the alliances Mortimer Viggo made."
I narrow my eyes. "I've never heard of them."A quick look at Massimo and Tristan and I can see from the lost looks on their faces that they're touched by the same spell of confusion as me.
"You wouldn't have. They aren't like the people in the circles we travel in.I… came across them by accident.This is what they do when they get caught.Kill themselves," he explains, and I wonder how he came by them."This all makes sense now." Aiden nods like he's figured it all out.
"What makes sense Aiden?" I ask because I'm still in the dark.
"The other people who signed the contract to the King.Bradford and Karl are black market criminals who work for high-level people.I think they're all part of this group too.The Order is known to work for people like crooked politicians.” Aiden looks at each of us.“They do their dirty work."