Just what leadership requires.
I holster the gun. The rest of the men are frozen in place, some of their faces pale. Some of them are staring at me. Others are looking anywhere but at theirPakhanwho just executed three of their brothers.
I let them look at me, let them see the blood on the ground and spattered on my clothing, so that they understand what just happened and what it means.
"Incompetence costs your life," I say finally, my voice carrying in the absolute silence. "Failure costs your life. Disrespect costs your life." I let my gaze move across the assembled men, meeting their eyes, making sure they all see me clearly. "I amPakhan. My word is law. My orders are absolute. You follow them without question, without hesitation, without modification." I pause. "Or you end up like them."
No one moves. No one speaks. The message has been received, loud and clear.
I look at Alexei, who's standing near the back with his earlier arrogance completely gone. "You have something to say, Alexei?"
Alexei shakes his head quickly. "No, boss. Nothing."
"Good." My voice is cold and final. "Then we're done here. Get back to work."
The men disperse quickly, in silence. Some of them glance back at me as they leave. Others keep their eyes forward, their shoulders hunched, their postures submissive. Viktor stays behind. My second-in-command, the one man who doesn't need the lesson because he already understands.
For now, my men understand. For now, they know what happens when they test me.
For now, I'm secure.
3
LIESL
Ihear what I’m very sure are gunshots cracking outside.
Three of them. Sharp, final cracks that make my entire body go rigid where I'm standing. I freeze, my breath catching in my throat.
My mind tries to rationalize it—maybe it's construction, maybe it's a car backfiring, anything other than what I know it is. But I'm not stupid. I know what gunfire sounds like.
I shouldn’t go to the window. I know that… but the curiosity, sharpened by fear, is too much. Slowly, on leaden feet, I walk to the window facing the front of the estate and pull back the gauzy curtain hanging in front of it.
There’s not much to make out. But I can see a bunch of men congregating in the front courtyard in a big, loose circle. A few of them are in the center, including one who I think is the boss, from the brief, panicked look that I got at him in the office. And on the gravel…
Bodies. Dark, spreading stains…
Blood.
Panic grips me, and I drop the curtain, taking a few quick steps backward.I’m next.
The thought slams into me, and my heart starts hammering so hard I can feel it in my throat. He’s killing people. Right now. Someone just died. Three someones.
And I'm a complication. I'm the wrong woman they grabbed by mistake.
I'm next.
"No," I whisper to the empty room. "No, no, no."
The man in charge said something about a ransom in the office. That I’m valuable, that my father will pay to get me back. That’s true… I can’t imagine that it’s not. So then… he won’t kill me.Right?
It seems right, logically, but nothing about this feels logical. This morning I was going about my life, and now I’m locked in a room in a stranger’s mansion, and I just heard three men being shot.
I start pacing. I can't help it. My body needs to burn off the adrenaline flooding my system. The room is large, expensively furnished with a king bed, plush carpet, double curtains. It would be luxurious under any other circumstances. Now it's just a cage. A very nice cage, but a cage nonetheless.
I walk from the window to the door and back again. I check the door handle for the hundredth time, even though I know it's locked from the outside. I test the window even though I know it’s locked too, and I’m on the third floor and couldn’t possibly jump without being badly injured, and then pace back to the door.
My mind is racing, catastrophizing, running through every possible scenario and landing on the worst ones.
