“I suppose I deserved that.” He spits blood out onto the floor, adjusting his jaw.
“You sent her to spy on me.”
“Is there a question in that statement?”
My fist tightens at my side, but I resist the urge to hit him again.
“Why did you send the girl to spy on me?”
“You’re a hard man to get eyes on, and I’m a simple businessman. When you showed an interest in the whore, I saw an opportunity.”
“You almost got my brother killed.”
“Hey now,” he says, holding up his hands. “I did nothing. I’m simply the messenger—the point of contact, if you will. You know how it is. Your issue is with the Volkov. Not with me.”
I sigh, leaning back in my seat. “Last question: What does Briar get out of this deal?”
I’ve saved it for last, having gone back and forth over whether I even want to know.
His smile is stained red when he shrugs, looking bored with the question. “She had a debt—a couple thousand. She helps me, and I make it go away.”
My heart sinks and I stare at the table.Briar sold me out for a few thousand dollars…
“I should’ve known she’d fuck me over with that bleeding heart of hers,” he sighs irritably, reaching for his drink. “I should’ve held the kid as collateral instead of just threatening her.”
I freeze. My gaze slowly lifts back up to find Gio, still muttering in his seat, oblivious to the storm brewing in my eyes.
“What did you just say?”My words are quiet—dangerous—but he doesn’t notice.
He shoves a mouthful of steak into his mouth before pointing his fork at me. “You want to get back at her? Go after the kid. It’s the only thing she fucking cares about,” he adds, rolling his eyes.“She’s pretty too, like her mum, she’ll fetch a nice price on the market I’ll tell you,” he laughs.
The motherfuckerlaughs.
I move like lightning, snatching the fork out of his hands before ramming it through his eye.
Giovanni screeches as blood pours down his face and his hands come up, trying to pull the piece of silverware out.
His men rush forward. Mac’s already intercepted one, but the other is nearly on me. He draws his gun while I pick up a steak knife, sending it flying. It finds its target in the man’s forehead, and he drops, his gun sliding across the floor, stopping right in front of me.
I scoop it up and fire two rounds into the man grappling with Mac at my back, and another one into the man I just impaled with my knife.Making sure.
Rolling back my shoulders, I turn my attention back to Giovanni; he’s on his knees, blood coats his face while he screams frantically at me. Mac and Jace move to stand behind him.
“What the fuck are you on about? I only sold some information! I didn’t do anything to you!”
I keep a straight face as I crouch down by Gio’s head.
“You threatened mydaughter,” I say softly, tapping the fork sticking out of his eye with the barrel of my gun.
The man screams in agony and then visibly pales, finally connecting the dots.
“I didn’t—I didn’t…” His pathetic pleas erupt into screams of bloody murder when I yank the fork from his eyeball. He’s breathing hard in between sobs, both hands pressed to the eye gushing out blood. I hold the fork up, inspecting it casually, while Gio writhes at my feet. It’s looking none the worse for wear, all four tines still straight. My gaze drops back down to Gio.
“That was for Briar,”I say, my jaw flexing.
He stills, his good eye finding me, filled with confusion.
My mouth tightens, and I wave the fork above him. “For the way you looked at her that night at Wonderland.” My head tilts slightly to the side, which is Giovanni’s only warning before I jam the fork through his throat. “And that’s for calling her a whore.”
