Page 76 of Monstrosity

"No. This one's personal."

They string Bembe up from one of the ceiling beams, arms stretched above his head, toes barely touching the ground.

The position puts stress on everything—shoulders, back, legs.

Won't take long before the pain starts.

"Last chance," I tell him, circling slowly. "Truth about Flora. Who really ordered it?"

"I told you—Rico Castellano?—"

My knife parts cloth and skin in one motion. Not deep, just enough to hurt. "Lie."

"It's true! I have proof?—"

Another cut. "You said documents. Recordings. Convenient things that don't exist."

"They do! In my safe—the combination is?—"

"Don't care." This time I go deeper. "Because you're lying. Creating phantom villains to save your worthless life."

For the next hour, I work slowly.

Every time he spins a new story, changes a detail, I make him pay for it.

My brothers stand guard, making sure no one interferes.

The Irish have wisely decided to focus on loading trucks.

"Please," Bembe sobs eventually. "I'll tell you the truth."

"Finally." I step back, wiping blood from my blade. "So tell me."

"We... we did it. The cartel. Because she was looking into our shipping manifests. She found discrepancies, was going to report them. She did report us, to someone, about something different."

Now that sounds like truth, and I already know Flora knew more than she should have.

Flora always was too honest for her own good.

"But someone did tip us off about her," he continues desperately. "Someone who knew what she'd found, that she was going to do more. I don't know who—I swear I don't—but it came from inside."

"Inside where?"

"I don't know! The message just said to handle the accountant before she caused problems. That she was a threat to operations."

I consider this.

It's possible.

Flora worked for a shipping company that handled lots of cargo.

If someone was using it to move drugs...

"Who gave the order on your end?"

"Mateo Vega. He ran our Florida operations then. He's dead now—you killed him three years ago."

I did. Slowly. But this is the first I'm hearing about Flora being targeted for her job rather than being my wife.