Scarface spits blood at my feet. “You’re going to kill us anyway. Why should we tell you anything?”
He’s right, of course.
But I need them to understand what happens to people who serve Lorenzo.
What happens to anyone who threatens my family.
I pull out my knife, the blade catching the dim warehouse light. “Because I can make it quick. Or I can make it last for days.”
Over the next hour, I extract everything they know. Safe houses, supply routes, meeting locations.
Most of it is useless. Lorenzo is too smart to keep using the same places.
But there’s one detail that catches my attention.
“He mentioned a warehouse near the docks,” the young one gasps between sobs. “Said something about going back to where it all started.”
The same place where Adrian ambushed me.
Where this whole nightmare escalated.
“Marco, take some men and check it out.” I wipe my blade clean on Scarface’s shirt. “If Lorenzo’s there, I want him alive.”
“What about these three?” Marco gestures to the prisoners.
I look at them.
They’re just soldiers following orders.
But they chose to follow Lorenzo’s orders.
They chose to be part of the organization that shot my wife’s brother.
“Kill them.” The words come out flat, emotionless.
“Mikhail, wait.” Sophia’s hand on my arm stops me. “They gave you information, do they have to?—?”
“Yes.” I turn to Marco. “Do it.”
The first gunshot makes Sophia flinch.
The second makes her turn away.
By the third, she’s moved to the far side of the basement, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Burn the bodies,” I tell Marco. “Make sure there’s no evidence.”
“Already on it, boss.”
I move to Sophia, but she steps back when I reach for her. I look down at my hands, at the crimson staining my skin.
“They were soldiers,” I say. “They knew the risks.”
“They were people.” Her voice breaks. “And you just…you didn’t even hesitate.”
“This is who I am, Sophia. This is what I’ve always been.”
“No.” She shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. “The man I fell for was trying to be better. Trying to break the cycle of violence. But you…” She gestures to the bodies being dragged away. “You’re becoming exactly what Lorenzo always said you were.”
