Change of plans

Gonzalo

 Fifteen years.

 That's how long it had taken to hunt down every one of them. Every name, every face... they all paid for what they stole from me.

 But now, standing in that quiet empty house, seeing the bodies raided with bullets on the floor, all I felt was rage.

 Tonight was supposed to be the last. It should have been my hand that ended them. I'd imagined so many times, imagined the pure look of pain and terror in Kincaid's eyes while I killed his family in front of him... one after another.

 Instead, they were already dead before I arrived. Just bodies. Someone else stole my revenge from me and now I had so much rage and nothing to free it on.

 But then I saw her.

 She was just standing there, frozen in shock. I could recognise her from the photos attached to the intel... Selena. Kincaid Brook's daughter. 

 I could remember staring at her picture, I could remember how I wanted her death to be slow, how I wanted to feel every bit of satisfaction watching her break.

 And she survived? It was as if luck had kept her safe for me and I wasn't about to let the last piece of my revenge get away.

 I chased after her, caught her. She was a tiny thing, but she was also a fighter as she tried to get away from me.

 It just fueled my anger even more. It's never fun if they break immediately. I already knew I was going to have a lot of fun taking my time to peel off her tough layers little by little.

 After I shot through the car window on her side, she didn't try fighting or saying anything. She was as quiet as a mouse, sitting next to me and trembling like a wet puppy on a cold night.

 By the time we got to my house, Klaus, my right-hand man, was already waiting outside for me. I grabbed the girl by her bounded hands behind her and led her to the front door.

 I saw Klaus's eyes dart at the girl and then back to me, arching an eyebrow. I didn't feel like explaining myself.

 "Get Luci on the phone." I ordered him and he nodded, already whipping out his phone.

 I wasted no time in dragging the girl through the halls and down the basement. She kept looking back, pleading with her eyes but her mouth was too terrified to speak.

 I opened the door to the panic room, shoved her inside and locked it. For a moment, I just stood there, breathing hard.

 My head was spinning, my body tense with anger and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Killing her felt too easy, too clean. The fire inside me demanded more than that. I wanted to break her completely. She was going to feel every ounce of the anger clawing its way through me.

 I turned and headed back upstairs where Klaus was waiting, phone in hand. 

 "I've got Luci on the line." He said, passing the phone to me. I took it and made my way to my home office before putting it to my ear. Klaus came in right after me, standing and staring at me in silence.

 "Luci..." I growled, not bothering to mask my anger. "...why the fuck were the Brooks already dead when I got there?"

 There was a pause on the other end and I knew he was trying to find the right words. He's always been someone who's thorough and calm in all situations like Klaus, that's why I trusted him with gathering intel for me.

 "No idea. I don't know anything about them getting targeted by another group. The source was clear... Kincaid would be back tonight with Mikey Bianchi, Bianchi would leave right after dinner. It was supposed to be the perfect time to take them down."

 "Yeah?" I snapped. "Then explain how someone else already got to them before I could?"

 Another pause, longer this time. I could almost hear him thinking, trying to piece together an answer.

 "Can you calm down and tell me what happened? You didn't see anyone else in the house when you got there?"

 "No one. They were all already dead, not one of them was still breathing. It didn't look like a lot of time had passed either..."

 "Meaning that whoever attacked them also knew that was the right time to attack. Fuck!" Luci finished for me and I could hear the remorse in his voice.

 "I'm sorry, man. Looks like someone else that wanted them dead got there faster than you did. I know how important your revenge was... What happens now?"

 I sighed, dragging my fingers through my hair. "It's not nearly enough, but one of them survived. The daughter."

 "She survived? What's her condition like?"

 "Totally unharmed. Looks like she wasn't downstairs with the others when it happened and she may have hidden when she heard the gunshots."

 "Unlucky. Now she has to die by your hands."

 "Yeah, but I'll take my time with it, I'm in no hurry. This should have been Kincaid's plight, but I'll make due with her."

 There was silence, and I heard him inhale sharply, like he was about to argue. But I didn't give him the chance. I hung up, tossing the phone back to Klaus.

 Klaus stared at me, his expression unreadable, but he didn't say anything. He'd been around me long enough to understand when words were unnecessary.

 I opened my desk drawer and took out a cigarette, going over to the window and cracking it open before lighting the cigarette.

 I gave it one long drag before letting it out, allowing my rage to simmer down to a low controlled burn.

 The girl... Selena. She was young, soft... fragile even. But I wasn't about to let that fool me. She's still part of them, still a Brooks.

 If there was anyone in that family I would have spared, it would have been the son. He was... what? Sixteen? He wasn't born yet when Kincaid stole from me. I would have spared him.

 But Selena... She was already born then, was probably the same age as... No, I wasn't going to spare her.

 I knew exactly what I was going to do. I'd make her life a living hell, break her in every way. She would pay for their sins, and I'd take my time with it. She'd be mine to use as I please, to humiliate, to turn into nothing.

And when I'm done, when I've finally had enough of her, I'll kill her.