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Greg followed my attention downward, and whatever remained of his anger faltered when he realized exactly what I was looking at.

I reached down and wiped my thumb across the metal, smearing away enough blood to expose the insignia beneath it. Greg had been welcomed into something most men would never know existed. He had taken the protection, the money, the connections, and the power that came with membership, then somehow convinced himself he could betray the same men who had given it to him.

I looked directly into his eyes.

“This is what happens when you betray the Collective.”

Colin wrapped his hand around Greg’s finger.

Greg immediately started fighting. The ropes dug deeper into his wrists while his chair scraped against the hardwood, but Colin kept his hand pinned firmly against the table. He bent the ringed finger backward slowly enough for Greg to understand exactly why we had chosen it. The joint resisted beneath the pressure before finally giving with a sickening crack, and Greg’s scream exploded behind the gag as the finger bent at an unnatural angle beneath the Collective ring.

Marie screamed with him.

Colin didn’t release it immediately. He held the broken finger there while Greg’s entire body convulsed against the ropes, then twisted his hand enough to make him look at the blood-covered ring still sitting on the damaged finger.

When he finally let go, Greg’s hand dropped heavily against the table. The broken finger remained crooked among the others, the Collective ring gleaming obscenely around it while blood from his injured palm collected beneath his hand.

I pulled the knife from beneath my jacket.

Greg saw it immediately. The hatred in his face disappeared beneath something far more satisfying.

“Would you rather watch your wife die slowly,” I murmured, tilting my head toward Marie, “or let her watch you scream first?”

Greg surged against the ropes so violently that his chair rocked beneath him. “You’re not touching her!”

The words came mangled through the bloody gag, but I understood them perfectly.

I drove the knife into the outer portion of his thigh, avoiding the major artery. His body slammed backward against the chair as another scream tore from behind the gag. Blood immediately welled around the blade before spreading through the fabric of his pants, and I held the knife there long enough to watch his muscles spasm around it.

Marie sobbed across from him, begging through broken breaths while I pulled the blade free and watched fresh blood run down the side of his leg.

I moved higher the second time.

Greg knew what was coming and shook his head desperately as I positioned the blade beneath his ribs. I pushed it into him and watched his entire body arch against the restraints. The sound he made was lower this time, almost strangled, and blood ran down his side before disappearing beneath his shirt. I withdrew the knife slowly and wiped the blade against his chest, leaving a dark red smear across the fabric.

John moved into Greg’s line of sight. Greg’s breathing came in desperate pulls through his nose.

“You knew what happened to people who betrayed us,” John whispered. “You just thought the rules wouldn’t apply to you.”

Greg looked toward Marie.

For the first time since we entered the house, Greg stopped fighting completely.

Marie understood before I even moved toward her. She started shaking her head and pulling desperately against the ropes while Greg erupted behind me, throwing himself against his restraints hard enough that Colin had to brace the chair. I crossed the dining room and reached for Marie’s left hand. She tried closing her fingers into a fist, but I forced them open against the tabletop.

Her wedding ring caught the light.

I stared at the diamond ring for a moment before looking across the table at Greg. His eyes were fixed on my hand. He understood exactly what I was thinking, and the realization on his face was so satisfying that I took my time letting him sit with it.

The Collective had given Greg one ring. He’d given Marie another. He’d betrayed the first one and destroyed everything represented by the second.

I pinned Marie’s hand flat against the table. She screamed before the knife even touched her.

Greg began fighting again, but Colin wrapped one arm around his shoulders and forced him back against the chair. John caught Greg beneath the jaw and turned his face toward his wife when he tried looking away.

I positioned the knife against Marie’s ring finger.

Her screaming became frantic as she tried pulling her hand away, but I leaned my weight against her wrist and drove the serrated edge into the skin below her knuckle. Blood surfaced around the blade before running between her fingers.