“I don’t have a lot,” she said quietly.“How much does he owe?”
Her head dipped a fraction. Her shoulders followed.
“Alec,” I said,“today’s precise total?”
“Fourteen thousand four hundred and ninety,” he replied without looking up.“With interest and penalties.”
Nick and Alec both watched her closely.
Ella thought Nick was the one to fear—but I knew better. Alec’s sadism was quieter. Observational. He watched, waited, then struck. Not out of impulse, but enjoyment.
At least Nick was honest.
“How can he owe so much?” she whispered.
I slipped a hand inside my suit, drawing her attention, and pulled out the credit notes. When I held them out, she hesitated before taking the paper. Even beneath the mask, I could see her long lashes and pale silver eyes flicking across the figures.
“It adds up,” I said evenly.“He defaulted on the first loan. Then took out a second under a different name.”
Nick dragged the flat of the scalpel slowly across her father’s forehead.
She flinched.
Anger warred with fear across her face.
“As for the woman,” I continued, calmly removing the papers from her grasp,“she’s an example of what happens when you lie, steal, and betray us.”
Sophie stirred, shaking her head as muffled sounds pushed past her gag.
Nick pinched her eyelid between his fingers and pulled it taut.
“No,” Ella whispered.
The word hadn’t even finished leaving her mouth.
The eyelid was gone.
Ella stumbled toward her father as Sophie’s muffled screams filled the room.
Nick didn’t hesitate.
He moved on to the next one.
“Please stop this,” she cried, staring at me.
“This is what happens when you cross us,” Nick said, his voice tight and unyielding.
Her gaze dropped back to the blood-slick scalpel.
One rapid motion.
Silver slicing through skin, tissue, vein.
Ella swayed, her eyes rolling back as her knees buckled—but I caught her before she hit the floor, steadying her against me.
“Don’t let this be you,” I whispered.
My words dragged her back to the present. She blinked rapidly, her focus snapping to me instead of the carnage behind her.
