Page 58 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

“Maybe.” He shrugged as much as his restraints allowed. “But since the douchebag shot me down over the sea, he can’t track me anymore.”

I tsked. “Not convinced.”

“That motherfucker Li ordered my death and sent a stealth-fucking-helo to shoot me down at sea.” Levine’s eyes sparkled with fury. “He planned for the plane to sink into the ocean, leaving no traces. Do you think I wanna see Li or his fucking helicopter ever again?”

“He believes what he’s saying,” Cece offered, and when I looked up, I found her staring at the merc. “You’ve killed many people, haven’t you?”

Since she already knew the answer, the question had a specific purpose. She was going somewhere with this. I sat back and watched her work.

“I’m a professional,” Levine said. “It’s what I do.”

“I heard you like to kill women for fun.” The corners of her eyes crinkled as she studied the man. “You tortured and murdered that sex worker on the Big Island. Didn’t you?”

“You got it wrong, doll,” he lied, with a fucking smirk and all. “It wasn’t me. I don’t know shit about the whore they found dead at The Tiki Inn.”

The media reported the murder, but they did not release the victim’s occupation or location. If that wasn’t a confession, I didn’t know what was.

“You’re lying to my face, asshole,” Cece accused from her place, standing next to my chair. “You stabbed my friend here. I’m into payback. Why don’t we cut off your dick and throw it overboard? I’m sure the fish would enjoy a teeny tiny treat.”

Beyond his tough-guy facade, the merc’s bruised face blanched. Glancing up at Cece, an undercurrent of caution fleeted through his expression. He recognized Cece’s fury as authentic. He’d just designated her as dangerous.

Excellent job, Sorceress.

“Hey, Princess Rampage?” Levine’s stare sparkled as if he’d discovered a rare diamond, raising a ton of red flags in my mind. “ You want me alive. Cut me if you wish. You cut me, I cut you, and it’s all fun and games. But not the dick. Okay? That’s a hard rule.”

“Or a soft one, in your case.” Without warning, Cece stalked forward and delivered a hard jab to his nuts.

Levine winced and sucked in air through his teeth. Any other fucker would’ve cried out, and yet it took the tough SOB only a few seconds to compose himself and meet my eyes.

“This one’s a scary slut. Isn’t she?” He flashed the smug grin I wanted to wipe off his face.

“Unless you wanna die quickly, you’ll afford the lady the respect she deserves.” I tightened my hand around my Glock.

“I’m gonna be honest here,” he said. “She’s the best surprise ever. I’d heard she was a tough cookie, but in reality, she’s… magnificent.”

I bit down on my molars. Cece was magnificent in every way, but I didn’t need to hear that from him, especially when the lecher stuck out his tongue and licked his lips as if he were tasting her skin.

I wasn’t quick to anger. On the contrary, I was usually unflappable during interrogations. Apparently, this wasn’t the case when Cece was present. I had to fight a primal urge to cut off the merc’s tongue and stuff it up his ass.

Down, K-man. Keep your cool, dude .

“I can’t wait to get me some of Queen Rage’s ass,” Levine continued, seemingly in a suicidal mood. “She’s cruel, wild, and feral. I fucking love it.”

Sorceress slitted her eyes at the merc again, alerting me she was onto something. I stilled in my chair. The malevolence glinting in the merc’s bulging eyes as he licked Cece with his stare gave me the chills. I trapped a growl in my throat. The fucking pervert was undressing her in his head.

“Ugh, gross.” Cece twisted her mouth in a grimace of disgust. “He’s telling the truth. He does like me, or rather, he’s sexually attracted to the violence in me.”

Fuck the fucked-up beast .

We’d known Levine was a depraved killer on and off the battlefield.

We’d also known he enjoyed pain, based on the cuts we’d found all over his body, and yet my stomach still soured when I spotted the obscene bulk swelling his underwear, visual proof the fucker got off on rage and violence.

Add this to Cece’s latest observations, and we had complete confirmation we faced the cream of the crap.

As it turned out, Cece was doing too good of a job. Perverts like him looked forward to breaking their victims. The fight in Cece, her strength, her defiance, were challenges he couldn’t resist. She turned the merc on. Li had paid Levine to kill her, but now the merc wanted her… for himself.

Darkness stabbed at my mind. The violence pounding against my ribs announced that, when Cece was around, a caveman shared my headspace.

“You’re a sick son of a bitch.” The scowl I directed at the fucker was neither planned nor faked. “Make your wood disappear or you’ll leave me no choice but to agree with Cece and take care of the offensive object… with a butter knife.”

That shut up the fucker’s filthy mouth. Under his tighty-whities, his dick deflated, although I could still spot the plotting and scheming going on in his stare.

“Let’s do it and watch him scream,” Cece proclaimed with bloodcurdling enthusiasm. “We don’t really need him.”

“You do need me.” The fucker lifted his bruised nose in the air and eyed Cece as if she was a rare piece of steak he wanted to tear into. “You don’t know it yet, my tempestuous dearest, but you need me as much as I need you.”

Arrogant bastard. I should’ve let him drown at sea. Having interrogated many dickheads like him, I had a feeling about how he was gonna come at this next. I hated his angle already.

Keeping my face blank and my breath steady, I crossed my ankle over my knee, and ignoring the pull of the stabbed muscle and the stitches scorching my chest, I considered the fucker. Even in his sorry state, he still thought he was the smartest person in the room.

Fucking idiot.

His psychological profile was all over the map—narcissist, sociopath, psychopath—but Sorceress had struck the right note with her performance, activating his compulsions. This was good for me as an interrogator. It also made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t want this bastard anywhere near Cece.

“I’m tired of your bullshit.” Cece challenged the merc with a glower that should’ve boiled his eyeballs. “Are you gonna talk or what?”

“For you, I’ll talk.” The merc’s voice turned mellifluous. “For you, I’ll sing, dance, lick your toes, suck your tits, eat your tw—”

“Think before you finish that sentence.” I fought another impulse to launch out of my chair and beat the motherfucker to a bloody pulp. He brought out the worst in me.

A spark of fear flared in Levine’s eyes. Unfortunately, he bounced back fast. “You want information?” He cocked his head and flashed his teeth. “I want a deal.”

“A deal.” I hardened my stare. “How about I let you live?”

“Good one.” He made a decent attempt at sitting a little taller in his restraints. “I hear there are billions available to finance the Astor sisters’ defense fund. I want in on that.”

Levine was well-informed, but given his assignment, I expected he would be.

“You keep me alive.” The asshole suffered from delusions if he thought he was in charge, and this was a negotiation. “You make sure your team does, too. Throw in a hefty bag of cash, an infusion of crypto, some new identity papers, and a plane ride to a place of my choosing, and we’re in business.”

No surprises there.

Cece narrowed her eyes at the merc again. “How do we know you’ll tell us the truth and give us the information you have?”

“Because I will share anything you want with you , my Cruella de Levine.” The merc fixed his disturbing grin on her.

“You must mean Cruella de Astor,” Cece corrected him swiftly.

“More of that later.” The motherfucker winked at her. “You are and will always be my best exit strategy out of this shitshow.”

This last bit was true, and yet I wrestled with the urge to throw him overboard and let him sink to the bottom.

The piece of shit’s approach to Cece was his version of…

what? Seducing his next victim? It was ridiculous, but we knew for sure that at least one of his victims had fallen for it. Levine had tortured her to death.

“He believes I’m his only exit strategy out of this clusterfuck,” Cece grumbled, glowering at the merc. “Well, fuck me.”

“Any time, any day,” the merc quipped, then shut his trap when I hit him with a murderous glare.

She’d done the squinting thing again. Like she’d done to me many times. She’d studied Javier and Bozeman with the same single-minded intensity she was now applying to Levine. She was monitoring his aura. However it worked, I trusted her gift.

“I’ll give you what you want,” I said. “I’ll do that after you’ve answered all our questions.

” The latter could take a while, given Dagger’s extensive curiosity about the NWO and anything Li.

“Take the deal, Jack. If you don’t, I’ll make sure Li and his crowd learn that you’re still alive.

Hell, I’ll even text them a set of coordinates to come pick you up.

Or maybe we’ll leave you all bundled up at the NWO’s door, minus your prick, of course. ”

The threat brought out the visceral reaction I was looking for. His throat rippled with a dry croak. The leverage I needed snapped into place. The one thing Levine feared above all else? His boss and the organization he’d recently worked for.

Levine considered me closely. “How do I know you won’t kill me after I talk?”

“Because I’m not Li,” I answered succinctly. “Because I don’t have time to ask the big existential questions until I get you to safety. That alone will keep you breathing. I give you my word that you won’t die in my custody.”

“Your word?” He sniggered. “Ha!”