“Do you want my intel or not?”
I look to Leith. He shakes his head from side to side. There isn’t a man in our Clan who’d rat on us. How can we trust this guy?
“What’s in it for you?”
His Russian accent’s thick.
“I want the fucking money I know you’ve got. And I want to get revenge on Aitkens for cutting me loose.”
I don’t trust him, not for a bloody second.
“Go on.”
“The girl. The one I was watching, the one you were with. You can't trust her. She's been put to work by her father. She's spying on you."
I keep my face impassive as cold creeps down my back like the biting edge of a razor’s blade, an uncomfortable shiver going through me.
“How do you know this?"
"I overheard a conversation. I was outside the door when her father was talking to her. I know exactly why he put her up to this."
I do my best to stay nonchalant, to not let on how this is affecting me. I'm the one that’s supposed to be bloody manipulating her, not the other way around. And how do I even know he's telling me the truth?
“She wants money,” he says. “Wants to build her fucking shop up. Thinks her father will give her money if she hands you in.”
I shake my head. He’s lying, I know he is.
“Prove it.”
He shakes his head. “You’ll have to take my word for it.”
“I’m supposed to take your word for it? You, the fucking bloke who hit on Bryn, who tried to hurt her, right under my damn nose?”
He glowers. “She fooled me. She’s a goddamn slut.”
I hit him so hard his head snaps back, blood spurting down his face and all over me. He cries out, and his hands strain to get out of his bonds to cover his face.
“Shut up. Shut your fucking mouth.”
“You’ll see!” he says, his eyes dancing with maniacal glee. “You probably already fucked her. You probably already care about her! She’s sucking you in, only to lead you right to her father’s lair.”
William’s shaking his head. “Don’t believe him, brother. I’ve run his background. He’s a master manipulator and a liar.”
“Fuck you,” he growls. “Fuck all of you. I came here because I need to start another life for myself. I thought I’d give you intel you needed, get paid for it. I don’t fucking care who you love or where you stick your fucking cock. You can sleep with the whore all you want?—”
I punch him again, this time in the gut. He heaves and gasps for breath.
“You’ve got something else to say?”
He shakes his head.
“Good,” Leith says, scowling down at our bloodied prisoner. “Tate, you finish this interrogation. Mac, you come with me.”
I give Leith a questioning look. I shake my head at him but he’s immovable.
“Now.”
Tate steps in front of our prisoner and the door shuts behind me.
