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“I was talking tohim,” she says with a jerk of her head toward Denis. She looks up at me. “Can you remove the gag?”

My nostrils flare on a deep breath. I hesitate a moment, having a silent conversation with Brix with my eyes before moving forward.

Leaning down, I make sure I’m eye level with the Russian fuck before saying, “If you fuck with her, I’ll let the big guy back there rip your head from your shoulders.”

He doesn’t bother grumbling anything from behind the gag and duct tape, nor does he nod or shake his head. He simply glares at me through his one good eye.

If he’s lucky, I won’t pluck the other one from his head and leave him temporarily blind. Shit. Maybe I’ll take them both.

But if he deserves to lose anything, it’s his fingers first, then his hands at the wrist for daring to touch my Everest. My wife. My fucking queen.

I’m not exactly gentle as I rip the tape from Denis’s mouth then remove the cloth shoved in there. It’s soaked from his spit. I’d rather be covered in blood than this asshole’s slobber.

Wiping my fingers off on his shirt, I step back and step directly beside Everest.

“Now you can speak. I want to know why?”

Denis opens his mouth, but coughs when he tries to spit. To his credit – and something that’ll prolong his life a little longer – he turns his head to spit out a gob of blood and saliva.

“Why what?” he croaks out, turning his glare to Everest.

Oooh. This motherfucker is just begging to lose his eyeballs.

“As long as you’ve worked for my father…did you hate me? Why would you agree to beat me like that? I swear all three of you enjoyed it.”

His smirk…oh, that fucking smirk. Brix moves forward so quickly I barely have a chance to register that he’s gripping a knife until it’s wedged between Denis’s lips.

“Unless you want a permanent smile, I suggest you stop smirking at my fucking wife.”

It isn’t until Brix pulls away that Denis turns that burning glare on my giant brother. “She isn’t your wife. She’ll be Kato’s wife. She’ll only play whore to you two.”

Welp. That’ll do it.

I beat Brix this time, cock back my elbow, and let my fist fly forward, slamming it directly into Denis’s already broken nose. Blood gushes from his face immediately and he howls in pain.

Me? Yeah, I’m smiling. I love that sound. I love hearing the crunch of bones and the sounds of agony from pieces of shit like him. It’s a fucking symphony, if you ask me.

“Fuck!” He’s shaking his head like a dog, but he won’t get away from that pain. I kind of hope he aspirates on his own blood. That would be almost satisfying. Not exactly as good as torturing him to death, but drowning on his own blood?

Painful. Slow. What he deserves.

“One and only warning,” I say. I don’t bother wiping the blood from my knuckles because I have a feeling I’ll be covered in more before the day’s over.

He turns his head again and spits out more blood, but there’s no way for him to stop it from streaming down his face and soaking the front of his shirt further.

Everest is staring at me with wide eyes, her full lips parted. I can’t read the look in her eyes, whether she’s repulsed by the blood, the scene in front of her, or how easy it is for me to commit violence.

Maybe it’s fear. Most people don’t relish violence the way I do.

Or it could be envy. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to inflict a few wounds of her own if she could.

She might not be able to throw fists, but she can wield a knife. I’m not quite ready for her to shoot him. Of course, I’ll let her, but I really think he deserves more pain, more suffering first.

Brix’s arm wraps around her shoulders from behind and hugs her to his own body as though shielding her. From what, I don’t know. Denis is restrained, and I sure as fuck will never be a threat to her.

Brix lowers his head until his mouth is near her ear. “Go upstairs. You don’t need to see this shit,” he mutters.

Her head wags side to side as she keeps her eyes trained on Denis. “No. I want to see it, and I want answers.”