He laughs, refusing to rise to the bait of me getting his name wrong.
“Then perhaps you should take that up with her,” he says coolly. “Because for fuck’s sake, how do you even know it was mine?”
“I do,” I reply. Then, I add, “And I punished her for it.” A dark smile pulls at my mouth.
That gets his attention.
His expression hardens instantly, the humour vanishing as he steps towards me.
“Did you hurt her?” he asks, his voice turning lethal.
For a moment, I consider breaking his jaw properly this time, for even daring to suggest I’m capable of hurting my entire universe.
“Don’t ever suggest that,” I say roughly. “I would never touch her in a way she doesn’t want.”
“You just said you punished her.”
“She enjoyed it.”
He studies me for a moment before his voice drops. “If I ever hear that you’ve hurt her, I’m coming for you, Markev, and I’ll have your head on a pike.”
“Good,” I reply evenly. “Because if I ever hurt her, I’ll cut my own head off first.”
I pause for a second, then I add, “Now that that’s settled, what do you have for me?”
He exhales slowly.
“For a moment there, I thought you dragged me out here just to punch me over a shirt I didn’t even know existed.” Hismouth twists. “You really are a fucking madman. No wonder they call you the Butcher.”
“That too,” I admit. “But I want answers.”
His expression hardens, all humour gone.
“About the man who’s after her,” I finish. “What did you find?”
He exhales through his nose. “We don’t have anything concrete. Nothing that ties back to anyone. We questioned people who opposed her taking over the Bellanti family, but nothing stands out. We’ve gone through—and are still going through—the men she killed as well. So far, nothing.”
His jaw tightens as he adds, “And it should be nothing. Those menaredead, and missing several body parts.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “I’ve got my people digging too, and they’ve turned up nothing. It’s starting to grate.”
“I did catch two people trying to sneak onto the island the other day,” he continues. “Came in on the ferry.”
A slow smile forms at my lips. “You have them.”
He scoffs. “Who do you think I am? Of course I do.”
“Good,” I say. “Where are they?”
He hesitates. “I should be taking this to the boss,” he snaps. “Not you.”
I smirk, savouring the way he says boss, because that’s exactly what she is.
I tilt my head. “But you’re telling me.”
His expression hardens. “Don’t make me regret it.”
A beat passes, before he adds, “Play nice. Without me, you won’t find them, and you won’t get the chance to extract anything useful.”
