How many years had it been?

At the moment, Vido couldn’t recall. He had to feel a small amount of guilt at that. It had to have been decades. In fact, he couldn’t remember a single year without them. How long had they been his partner? Longer than they hadn’t.

Something about watching them struggle made him want to look away, but he didn’t. No matter how much it hurt, he couldn’t look weak. Six men. That’s how many it took to hold them down. He almost smiled. They’d always been too damn strong. It was their downfall.

“Don’t take this personally,” he murmured quietly, clicking the hammer back on his gun as he lifted it. There was something unspoken in his words. Some twisted form of genuineness, as he took a slow breath. His finger caressed the trigger some, like a doting lover. “I really like you, you know.”