Page 37 of The Silent Note

Zane stops, looking back in surprise.

Slavno arches a brow.

“Why’d you do it?” I stalk forward and slam my hands into the table. Spit flies from my mouth when I hiss, “What did she do to you, you piece of trash.”

Slavno’s lips twitch into a deranged smile. “By chance… are you that girl who kept sending me letters requesting a visit? What was the name again?” He pauses. Then his eyes light up in recognition. “Grace Ja?—”

Zane flies around the table in a burst of motion. All I feel is a gust of wind. In an instant, a tattooed blur grabs Slavno by the throat. Zane shoves him and his wheelchair back into the wall.

The much bigger man grunts in surprise.

Zane leans face to face with the murderer, showing me another hint of how brutal he is beneath his heart-melting smiles and slick tongue.

“Keep my wife’s name,”Slam.“Out of yourfreakingmouth.”

Zane slams him once more and then releases Slavno, who slinks down in his wheelchair, choking and massaging his throat. My… husband turns around, his violet black hair falling into his eyes and his face as hard as concrete.

My heart beats fast.

I quickly look away before I start doing something stupid… like falling for my stepbrother.

We don’t have time for this.

I walk forward urgently. “If you know who I am, then you know I won’t ever give up until I hear the answer. Why did you do it?”

Slavno glares at both of us.

Zane makes a fist. “You need me to break your arms too? Answer her.”

“It was a job.” Slavno spits. “Wasn’t personal.”

“Who ordered the hit?” I insist.

He glances away, refusing to speak.

I check my watch.

Panic takes over me.

This bastard isn’t going to talk and the clock’s running down.

Zane must feel my desperation because he looms over Slavno again.

The brute eases back in his wheelchair. His voice trembles a bit when he adds, “It’s not professional of me to expose my clients.”

Intimidation isn’t going to work. That much is clear.

Whoever ordered this, Slavno’s more scared of them than us.

I inhale deeply and change tactics. “Professional? You’re wasting the rest of your life back here for something you were ordered to do.” My tone is coaxing. “They’re free, walking around, living their lives. And you’re stuck in here. You’ll never see the light of day again.” I step around the table. Zane watches me like a hawk, clearly not comfortable with me getting close to Slavno, but I persist. “I want to know who ordered the murder. Like you said, Sloane was my friend. This is personal. I won’t have peace until I know.”

His eyes lift to mine, glinting with darkness. “You won’t have peace if you know either.”

Alarm bells start ringing in my head. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Slavno looks away again. I want to punch him in the face until all the answers come out. I want to crack his skull against concrete and sort through the blood and brain fluid until I get to the answers.

Maybe being in a prison cell with a psychopath turned me into one.