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A smile returns as he shakes his head. The little parasite is going to drag this out, thinking information makes him valuable.

I sigh and pull the knife from my pocket. Then I drive it into the meat of his arm and drag it down to the wrist.

He clenches his jaw, trying to smother the cry.

Zaiya gasps and turns her head.

Fear cuts through her shock. But there’s a darker spark of curiosity and anger beneath it. The beginning of something useful if she stops trying so hard to be good.

I look at her just long enough for the meaning to land. Men like him don’t confess with kindness.

“Did you know we have a dungeon down here?” I ask Ray casually, watching blood spill from his arm. “We call it the Crypt. It’s where we’ll keep you alive. You don’t eat, we’ll force a feeding tube down your throat. You don’t drink, we’ll stab an IV in you. The only choice you get is how much blood you lose before you answer.”

The smugness disappears. Calculation moves behind his eyes.

And Zaiya, standing in the light with tears she refuses to let fall, watches him, learning how monsters bargain.

Before we get an answer, Liam enters the chamber with Patrick and Michael at his heels. Their arrival breaks the pressure I’ve built around Ray.

“I was informed that we have Ray Krueger,” Liam says. His voice carries careful authority even at this late hour.

Reese explains how they found him, clipped and efficient. My attention never leaves Zaiya.

Liam turns to her. “Miss Zapera, our obligation under the Serpent’s Head agreement has been honored.”

“I understand. Thank you,” she says. “But I have more questions.”

“You may ask whatever you’d like.”

Patrick’s gaze burns into Ray. “If he killed our brother, he needs to die.”

“Wait!” Zaiya drops to her knees in front of Ray, trying to appeal to him. She places her hands on his knees and my fist clenches in response. I don’t like the position she’s put herself in.

“Tell me,” she pleads. “Who was I promised to?”

I hate the way his gaze drags over her. Assessing where she’s already wounded. Hunting for somewhere fresh to poke. I step forward a fraction, ready to tear him apart if he dares to smile.

“You still don’t know who set you up?” he asks instead, voice thick with satisfaction. “Who sold your virgin cunt for a bed at the governor’s mansion?”

Her face drains of color.

I understand instantly. Ambition required a sacrifice. A father betrayed what he should have protected.

Her bottom lip trembles, but she doesn’t look away. Ray sees it. Relishes it.

“Who was I promised to?” she asks again, her voice cracking.

He leans back as if he owns the room and stares her dead in the eyes.

“He’ll come for you.”

A muted crack tears through the chamber.

The impact is wet and violent. Blood bursts from Ray’s head, spraying across Zaiya’s face as she screams. The sound ricochets through my skull.

Ray slumps forward, lifeless, his head hanging at an ugly angle.

I grab Zaiya and pull her into me. Her body shakes so hard it vibrates through my hands. I turn just in time to see Patrick lowering the gun.