Noah had been dead. He had been dead long before the bullet pierced his body. But today he was finally able to kill without any regrets.
The room was silent and thick with the smell of blood. For the first time in years, he sat in Perry's anteroom and it wasn't a friendly visit. His green eyes wandered just across him to the smooth, white-tiled living room, and on his right was the staircase.
Perry's daughter ought to be upstairs. He had to kill her to make sure none of this got out, but he also wanted to watch some TV.
Was there any time to waste? There was a cartoon he wanted to watch before he died, one he liked as a kid. He wondered what Perry saw before he died, looking down at the man's corpse at his feet.
The head of the corpse had been bashed in from behind. A few minutes ago, when Perry let him in, he thought Noah had too much honor for a cheap shot. But just because he could fight didn't mean Noah didn't enjoy an easy kill.
Now Perry's blood flooded the tiles, encroaching on his boots. Noah glanced at a picture on a table they kept here, it was of Perry, his late wife, and daughter. Perry's face was rough and full of harsh lines that his thick eyebrows and deep-set eyes didn't make better.
But he always had a nice smile to offlook his pale scary face and bald head.
Perry's daughter stuck out to him in the picture, with a smile that could light up the room. It reminded him of the photos in his apartment from when he was a kid. She was about his age too, the same age he joined the mafia.
"I guess that was the last thing he saw," Noah whispered to himself, getting up and walking into the man's living room to flick on the TV, thinking as he sat.
There was no point in killing Perry's daughter. I'm not trying to hide what I did here today anyway. The rest of the mob will be after me once they hear I let Isabel live.
So Noah made sure that before he died he took revenge on Perry, who drove his parents to suicide. With both her parents dead, she was just like him now.
Let the cycle continue after the mob found and killed him. He didn't give a damn anymore. The last twelve years his life was a coward's dream and he was finally going to wake up.
And she could be a decent hostage when Georgie came. Just as he decided to spare her, the little girl came downstairs hearing her favourite cartoon playing, only to find her father dead on the floor.
Her wretched scream made him cringe and reach for his gun, but he relaxed and focused on the show in front of him, cracking a small smile at one of the gags.
The girl cried inconsolably till she saw him, her eyes widened before running back upstairs with heavy steps.
"Well she's going to call Petrov or Georgie," Noah said offhandedly. "Which of them is her godfather? Well, whichever comes first dies. They both have to die before I'm dead."
His grudge had Perry at the top but Georgie and Petrov came in at a lose second. Almost an hour passed as he thought of them, before someone arrived.
Petrov came first. The wild-haired man burst through the front door with tears and a submachine gun.
Noah was moving before his mind caught up, diving behind the couch as the bullets tore it apart. He kicked one of the tables beside the couch down, then ran into the kitchen as Petrov fired at the table, hiding behind the wall.
"Noah! You bastard! Perry loved you like a son!" Petrov roared. "Is this how you repay him for everything he's done for you?!"
Petrov didn't know he wasn't behind that couch anymore. The thug jumped behind the couch and destroyed the white tiles with bullets.
As his eyes widened in shock, Noah popped up from behind the wall and fired. The black Glock shook his arm as its bullet drilled through Petrov's skull and painted the couch red.
The thug fell to the floor silently, but Noah could hear Perry's daughter screaming upstairs. He turned and grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the fridge.
"What was her name again?" Noah murmured, walking around the couch to avoid Petrov's body and blood.
His boots echoed against the wood as he walked upstairs, silencing Perry's daughter as she heard him get closer. The large glass window over the stair let in a beam of sunlight that landed on his black hair.
At the top, he turned at her door, it was decorated with pink stickers and pictures of her. A name was plastered on the door at eye level, which he murmured.
"Fia, that was your name."
He kicked down the door with a rattling bang and walked in, ignoring the pink walls and large table with a mirror. At the end of the large room was a bed with a huge closet on the side.
"I know you're under the bed, come out."
He waited a few seconds before walking over and reaching under the bed, but she crawled away from his hand and emerged on the other side.
Fia stared at him, dark eyes wide with fear and soaked in tears, then she turned to the window and pushed it open. Noah waited for her to jump but she just stood there staring down.
"You're too scared to jump," he said. "Just come—"
She climbed over the banister, but he was faster. In a second he launched himself over the bed and grabbed her with one hand just as she jumped.
He pulled her in and threw her against the ground, the sound of her screaming filling the pink bedroom. Fia jumped to her feet immediately and grabbed a curling iron and pointed it at him.
He sighed, staring at her before raising a portion of his black hair to reveal a scar on his forehead.
"Your dad gave me this a couple years ago for being irrational. Want me to give you something similar?"
Fia stared into his dark green eyes and shivered at his indifference. She knew creepy Noah, but she had never been scared of him.
"O-ok," she mumbled.
Soon they were downstairs watching the cartoon in silence, sitting on Fia's ruined couch. She kept looking between the TV and his gun pointed at her waist.
Several times she wanted to ask why he killed her father, but a noxious feeling drowned her. Like saying the words aloud would make Perry's death permanent.
Noah, on the other hand, was chuckling lightly at a gag, pausing when the door opened, and men flooded the house holding an array of automatic weapons, pointed right at Noah and Fia.
She screamed, fresh tears rolling down her face, but Noah grabbed her shoulder and pressed the gun against her stomach.
"Johny, Cale, Isaac, calm the fuck down, okay?" he said casually. "You'll scare Fia. Where's Georgie?"
Before they could start hurling insults at him, Georgie walked through the door with a smile. That short fool, Dalton, was there too with a riot shield to protect Georgie.
The boss of the Ironfield Mob was a squat and round-bellied man. George was someone Noah had never dared to piss off till today.
Georgie glanced at Perry and Petrov on the floor, and then at Fia shivering beside Noah. His round, scarred face looked impassive, but there was hatred burning behind those black eyes. He motioned to the armed men before speaking.
"Fia, baby girl, don't worry I'll deal with this soon," Georgie promised softly, voice growing harsher as he turned. "Noah, let go of her. I send you to kill one rich prick's kid and you turn entirely on us. Are you that desperate for a girl to like you?"
Isabel wasn't the reason he chose to betray the mob, but Noah didn't really care to explain himself. He stared evenly at Georgie.
"Come sit here, boss. I want to ask you why you were so harsh on my parents. I want to ask if we deserved all the brutality and suffering you dumped on us."
Noah didn't want to ask anything like that, he just needed a clear shot to kill Georgie, the last person on his list, before Isaac and the others filled him with bullets.
He already knew why Georgie did what he did. Noah and his parents were cattle to these people, less than human, exploiting them for money was just a day's work.
The mob boss shook his head.
"No, you'll let go of Fia, or I'll kill Isabel." He waved his hand and a girl was dragged into the room.
Her hair was dyed silver white, her freckled white skin was bruised and bloodied. She watched Noah, eyes filled with regret.
"I'm sorry, Noah. I got out of the country, but they—"
Georgie backhanded her, rings leaving a mark on her skin. He stared at Noah with a smile the whole time.
"Let go of Fia."
He contemplated it for a moment, but there wasn't a clear shot. But there were other ways he could use to end Georgie.
Only five people…
So he pushed Fia off the couch and towards Georgie. She ran towards her godfather and sank into his arms sobbing hysterically.
"Don't worry, baby girl, I'll make sure this fucker bleeds for what he did to your daddy."
Isaac and the other mobsters surrounded and restrained him, making sure to be as rough as possible despite him cooperating.
They dragged him out of the house and into the open field in front that was filled with gravel. Once he was thrown against the gravel they began to beat him. Pain made the clear blue sky above him blur.
His ribs snapped as they drove the butts of their guns into his sides, someone grabbed his left arm and pulled back till it snapped.
That drew a pained groan from him actually. That really fucking hurt.
"Good to hear your voice, dirty bastard," Isaac growled in his ear. "You're a lefty so I thought you'd enjoy that."
"Enough, get the pliers," Georgie sighed, walking over to Noah to look him in the eyes. "You know how this works, you've done it before. I'll use the plier to take off your fingernails, then we'll pull out the clamps and break your fingers one by one—"
"Then you'll kneecap me and use the spoon," Noah said breathlessly, staring Georgie in the eyes. His green eyes seemed unbothered by the carnage that awaited him. "It's only karma that comes back to me. How will you kill me? Curb stomp so the cops and the other gangs know it was you?"
Georgie chuckled and took the pliers from Isaac.
"I always liked you. Now tell me where the deeds to Don Marco's shops are."