Igor shifts behind me. I hold up a hand to stop him.
"Explain."
"Your family." He spits blood onto the concrete between us. "Throwing money at the Sartoris. Buying your way into their good graces like desperate dogs. And for what?"
My jaw tightens. "For what?"
"Others are going to make arealalliance. Without paying a single fucking cent." His eyes glitter with malicious satisfaction. "They're going to get the princess herself."
The world narrows.
Princess.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
He laughs again, that wet, rattling sound. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
I crouch in front of him, the cigarette burning low between my fingers. "I'm asking nicely. Once."
"Go fuck yourself."
I grab his jaw with one hand and press the cigarette into his left eye.
The scream that tears from his throat is inhuman. Raw. Primal. His body convulses against the chains, the sound of metal scraping metal mixing with his agony. The smell of burning flesh intensifies, thick and acrid.
I hold the cigarette there for three seconds. Four. Five.
When I pull back, his eye socket is a ruined mess. Tears and blood stream down his face as he sobs, his entire body shaking.
"Talk."
"The Sartoris," he gasps, the words tumbling out between sobs. "They're putting their sister on the market. Looking for the best husband. Marriage alliance. That's all I heard from them.That's all I fucking heard."
My blood turns to ice.
Vittoria.
They're sellingVittoria.
"Who?" My voice comes out calm. Steady. The complete opposite of the storm raging inside my chest. "Who's making the alliance?"
He laughs again. Even through the pain, even with one eye destroyed and his body broken, helaughs.
"You really don't know?" He shakes his head, blood and tears dripping onto the floor. "I didn't know Russians could be such idiots. Losing strong alliances before you could even make them."
The cigarette falls from my fingers.
I stand slowly. Every movement deliberate. Controlled.
"Igor."
Igor hands me the knife without hesitation. The blade catches the dim light, gleaming silver against the warehouse shadows.
The man's remaining eye widens.
I step forward and grab his hair, yanking his head back to expose his throat.
"Give me the name." I say one last time.
