Cover of King of Ashes: A Novel

King of Ashes: A Novel

by S. A. Cosby


Genre
Crime, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery
Year
2025
Pages
316
Contents

Chapter Nine

Overview

Torrent escalates the arrangement by sending Yellaboy and Splodie to the crematory with two living captives, Getty and Cassidy, forcing Roman to commit murder to ensure his complicity. Roman beats Getty unconscious and burns him alive, but before Cassidy can be killed too, Dante kills Splodie with a hammer. The brothers are now bound together by murder and have killed a Black Baron Boys soldier, dramatically raising the stakes.

Summary

Late at night, Dante wakes Roman with a phone call from Torrent demanding they meet at the crematory in twenty minutes. Roman drives them in grim silence, expecting to dispose of a corpse for the Black Baron Boys as part of the deal to pay down Dante's debt.

At the shop, Yellaboy and Splodie arrive and pull two living, hooded captives from their trunks. Roman protests that this wasn't the agreement, but Splodie explains Torrent wants Roman to get his hands dirty so he can't snitch later. Yellaboy leaves, instructing Splodie to kill Roman and Dante if they refuse. When the hoods come off, the captives are revealed as Getty and Cassidy, Dante's associates. Splodie reveals Getty tried to blame Roman for stealing the missing product.

Roman, unable to see another way out, tells Dante it's "him or us." They assemble a cremation box. Dante can't bring himself to participate, so Roman drags Getty into the box and beats him unconscious with his fists when he resists. Roman tapes the box shut, loads it into the oven, and ignites the flames, telling himself Getty is unconscious as kicking and screaming erupt from inside.

Cassidy suddenly bolts for the door but Splodie backhands her down and casually asks if they need another box. Before Roman can answer, Dante, who has silently retrieved a ball-peen hammer, strikes Splodie twice in the head, killing him. Dante, splattered with blood, says he couldn't let Splodie make Roman burn Cassidy. Roman is left wondering if he would have done it, and chooses not to answer his own question.

Who Appears

  • Roman Carruthers
    Forced to murder Getty by burning him alive in the crematory oven to protect Dante and himself.
  • Dante Carruthers
    Wakes Roman for the meeting; unable to participate in killing, but kills Splodie with a hammer to save Cassidy.
  • Splodie
    Black Baron Boys soldier overseeing the executions; killed by Dante with a ball-peen hammer.
  • Yellaboy
    Black Baron Boys member who delivers the captives, then leaves Splodie to enforce Torrent's orders.
  • Torrent
    Black Baron Boys leader who orchestrates the murders by phone to entrap Roman in complicity.
  • Getty
    White dreadlocked associate who blamed Roman for the missing product; beaten unconscious and cremated alive.
  • Cassidy
    Getty's girlfriend, taken because she witnessed the kidnapping; survives when Dante kills Splodie.
  • Keith Carruthers
    Recalled in memory through his teaching that bodies are just meat by the time they reach the crematory.
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