“You didn’t have to remind me,” I tell him. “I know you had a bag over your head when they dragged you in so you couldn’t see, but my warehouse is dry. He has everything. I want to know how, and what his next plan is.”
“He will kill me if I tell you,” Igor says with the pathetic shred of dignity he is still clinging to.
“I’m sure he said that.” I crouch in front of him. “But I’m curious. What did he say he was going to do?”
“Torture me. Shoot out my kneecaps and light me on fire.”
“Good idea,” Maverick says. “Boss?”
Igor panics, but I hold up my hand. “That does sound like a pretty shitty end to an already fucked-up day. So it won’t be so bad when I slowly rip your fingernails off one by one, right? In comparison anyways.”
Igor swallows hard. But he doesn’t talk.
Sigh.
“Alright. We can do this the hard way if that’s what you prefer.”
I grab his hand, which is tied to the arm of the chair. Then I press the tip of the pliers under one of his nails to get a good grip.
“No, no, no! I will talk! I will tell you everything!” he cries, and I give him half a second of grace. “Tristan has men at the border. The trucks are being cut off there. They’re posing border control. They confiscate the loads into their own trucks and then drive straight here. No stops. We are selling for thirty percent higher.”
“Fuck.” Baron talks for the first time.
I rip off a finger nail just to ease my anger.
Igor wails as though I’ve disemboweled him. But I’m not done. I grip another finger and glare at him. “What else?”
“He is planning on taking over completely,” he chokes out. “He’s going to have your men killed and come after your family. Dmitry’s going to kill your father over a business lunch. Yourmother next. He’ll come after Amara and the baby. And then you.”
He continues to cry as I grit my teeth. Then, after a moment, I remove the pliers and set them down.
Igor shakes as he mumbles. “Spasibo, spasibo, spas?—”
The last of his thank-yous is cut short when I grab the gun and put a bullet between his eyes. His head droops forward, spilling fresh blood into his lap and leaking on the floor.
Maverick and Baron stare at me.
“Well?” Baron asks after a moment. “Now what?”
“We kill Tristan,” I answer. “Before he can so much as turn his head in our direction. We kill him.”
49
AMARA
“Are you sleeping?”
Electra’s voice fills the dark room. I roll over to face her. Obviously, she is staying over. The fact that Ransome left in the middle of the night tells me something is going on. Something I probably don’t want to know about.
But that’s fine. I’ve got enough to deal with as is.
“No,” I admit.
Electra looks at her phone. “It’s 2 A.M.” She sighs. “And I’m too wired to sleep.”
“I am too,” I sigh. “I’m glad you’re here though.”
She rolls to face me as well and smiles. “This is like old times. Sleepovers in high school when your dad was gone and I’d come over. Your siblings were all asleep, and we’d stay up late eating snacks and watching music videos.”
