Niall McBride was almost too easy to kill. The last five days had turned him into something that needed to be exterminated, Hayes decided with disgust, not sacrificed on the altar of pain. Hayes did it slow. He wanted him to know he was dying and why. As life faded from his eyes, he told him about Willow, told him why his betrayal was costing him so dear. Told him he wouldn’t burn. Hayes would not make him a martyr. All he was fit for was to wallow in his own blood.
Hayes sat and watched until the blood stopped flowing out the gash in his neck, then used his blood to write, “Not worthy” on the wall by his head. There was still the problem of Copeland, but he had a plan for him, too. When he walked out, he was almost a free man.
Willow was safe. Her enemies were dead. Even Orsini, though
