His eyes go wide. "No, wait! Adrian, please?—"
I grab his head, holding it still. He's screaming. Thrashing. But the chains hold.
I position the knife against his ear. The same ear. The same angle.
"Please! Please, I'm sorry?—"
The blade is sharp. It takes less pressure than you'd think to slice it off cleanly, and when I do, his scream echoes off the warehouse walls.
I stand, wiping the blade on his shirt, dropping the piece of flesh. His won't be getting reattached like Sera's. He can live with the deformity.
He's sobbing. Hands trying to reach his ear, but the chains won't let him. "You're a monster?—"
"Yes." I look him in the eyes. "I am."
"She'll leave you." His voice is thick with pain and hate. "She's kind. Good. She's not built for your world. Eventuallyshe'll see what you really are, and she'll run. If she's smart, she'll leave the kid behind."
I laugh.
"She won't." I'm certain of that. "She'll never leave. She loves me and loves our son."
"She'll see, eventually. I might have been wrong, but with you, she'll always be in danger."
I grab his face. "She'll never be in danger," I squeeze, and he screams. "I'm her monster now, and anyone who wants to live will steer clear of her."
I push his head to the side.
He's sobbing, shaking, and pathetic. "Just kill me," he says. "Get it over with."
I shake my head. "I'm not going to kill you. Your sister decided to spare your life."
His eyes go wide, and I can already see the wheels turning.
"You'll never see her again," I tell him. "Never contact her. Never speak her name. If you do, I'll kill you. Slowly. Painfully. In ways that make this—" I gesture to his bleeding ear, "—look like mercy. Understand?"
He just glares at me. Defiant even now. Dumbass.
"The feds are waiting for you. You'll go to prison. Probably for the rest of your pathetic life. But you'll be alive." I stand. "That's more than you deserve."
"What about Artem?" Gabe's voice is strained. "What about Alexei? They're still out there. Still a threat. Alexei wants your territory."
"Not your concern."
Gabe is panicking. He knows that prison is his best shot, but he's a rat, and he'll do whatever he can to gnaw his way free.
"Artem said something. When I first went to him," Gabe leans his head back against the beam. "About Sera."
My jaw tightens. "What did he say?"
"That she reminded him of someone he knew." Gabe's laugh is bitter. "He watched her, you know. For weeks. At the bookstore. Said she was kind. Gentle. That she didn't belong in this world." I chuckle slightly. "I thought he was going to turn on me, take her, and disappear. He looked at her like he wanted to save her."
Ice floods my veins. "He watched her?"
"That's how he knew where to find her. How to plan the extraction." Gabe meets my eyes. "He was careful about it. Professional. But something about her…"
I file that information away. Artem Orlov has an interest in my wife. A personal interest.
That's a problem.
