Page 28

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OBI

B y midnight, Ryuji and I had killed over a dozen of Kofler’s men.

He thought he could hide. He thought he could hole up and get away with betraying us. The audacity.

Breaking into his home, hunting him down, and hog-tying him like an animal was easy, even for just Ryuji and me. He had no idea we were coming, obviously believing we wouldn’t survive the ambush. Foolish. Stupid.

Leona waited in the G-Wagon while we acted, and it took less than fifteen minutes to kill all his guards, capture a few of the higher-ups hiding out with him, and then drag his squealing body to his basement.

She had joined us inside after, standing in the back of the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

Rage simmered in my veins as I studied him, currently tied to a chair and stripped naked.

We had offered the man a fair deal, and he had betrayed us. There was no doubt in my mind that Volpe knew exactly what we were doing now, and that was why those mercenaries went after us. It was more than enough reason to kill this bastard.

But then he had put Leona in danger.

And that deserved pain. Long, drawn-out pain.

Sweat rolled down the man’s forehead despite the cold air of the basement and his lack of clothing.

“It was just business—” he pleaded at Leona, eyes wide.

“Do not look at her,” I hissed. His mouth snapped shut. He whimpered liked a coward.

“Kofler, Kofler, Kofler,” Ryuji said with a click of his tongue. He had re-attached his sheaths on top of his clothes so Kofler could see each of his knives. “You know, we made you a very specific promise when we warned you not to betray us. Do you remember what that was?”

The man gulped down a breath, opening his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He practically stank of fear. My nose curled up in disgust as he looked back and forth between me and Ryu.

“I believe I promised to flay you alive,” I replied, voice hard. A quick death would be easy. This should not be easy. This should be exceedingly painful. My hands closed into fists at my side as I tried to reel in my wrath.

This was the kind of violence we needed to send a message. This was the kind of violence I specialized in.

He strained against the ropes around his arms, wiggling fruitlessly in the chair. “No, please, no. It was just business! It wasn’t personal!”

“You had more than fair warning. And you made a poor choice,” I said through clenched teeth. “This will be personal.”

From underneath my shirt, strapped to my body against my lower back, I withdrew a short, thick, and slightly curved blade.

“How the hell was I supposed to believe you could deliver?” he asked, voice raising with each word. His eyes were frantic as he continued to struggle in the chair. “Nobody would have taken that deal! It would have been insane! I mean, a woman ? With no established trade routes? It’s ludicrous!”

A woman.

Not just any woman. Our woman.

“Hmm.” I paced back and forth in front of his chair, letting the words sour the air between us. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, I paused, then glanced behind me to where we had lined up the men whom we had captured. The four of them were bound and gagged, leaning against the wall so they could bear witness to what happened when one betrayed a Shadow.

Slowly, I walked over, and kneeled in front of them. “Your boss believes no one would take our deal. It would be ludicrous.” I shrugged. “Yet here we are, already delivering on our promises.”

They stared. Two of them were already sobbing against the gag, spittle running down their chins. Disgusting.

“He will not leave this room alive,” I continued, inspecting the knife in my hand. The blade was exceedingly sharp, always ready to dole out what was necessary. “That is a promise. While you watch our work, I would like you to consider whether our deal seems more appealing to you. And if not? A similar fate awaits.”

“No!” Kofler shouted. “I’ll do whatever you want! The gun trade is yours!”

All men but one struggled against their restraints and gags. Ryu quietly laughed behind me. He pulled a knife from a sheath and flipped it end over end in his hand, as relaxed as he could be. It was a stark contrast to the growing despair filling the room as the rest of the men realized their demise was inching closer with every second.

Leona still stood motionless near the basement stairs, but I could not look at her. I could not bear to think about how she would react to what I was about to do.

Pointing fingers. Tears and screams. Accusations and nightmares.

It was good that I had pulled away from her that night in the library. Last night with Ryu was a momentary lapse, but it would not happen again. After she saw what I was about to do, I was sure she would feel the same.

But this was necessary.

Power was only achieved at the hands of great violence. I had to separate my emotion from that truth.

“Kofler’s death will leave a vacancy in this organization,” I said, staring at Kofler’s lieutenants. “Perhaps, if you think our deal holds more merit than he did, we can be persuaded you should take his place.”

“Ooh, nice,” Ryu said. “Incentive. I like it.”

Kofler’s arms yanked against the chair, but he wasn’t getting free while he still drew breath.

“Now, Kofler.” I slowly circled him, letting the tip of my blade just barely brush his bare skin. A small trail of blood followed my knife across his chest. Not deep enough to interfere with what needed to be done, but enough to set fire to his skin. “Let me explain to you how this works.”

I looked at Ryu and he leaned down to the duffel bag containing our weapons, along with two syringes. He lifted them into the air.

“Blood coagulant,” he said, raising one. Then he lifted the other. “Adrenaline.”

“You will not bleed out. You will not go into shock. Do you know what that means?” I asked Kofler. He trembled, shaking his head. “It means this will last a very long time.”

A keening wail left his lips and Ryu pressed one of his knives to his throat to stop the sound.

“Want to know his record for how much skin he can get off?” Ryu leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper. “All of it. Even…” Ryu’s eyes flicked to the man’s penis. “Yep.”

Kofler whimpered, tears streaking down his face.

Enough posturing. It was time.

Emotion bled from my body as old habits began to take over. Emotion had no place for the work I was about to do.

This man would die at my hands.

I did not want Leona to see. I did not want her to be tarnished by such a terrible thing. She was too good, too precious, to be forced to carry such a burden. Shouldering it, doing what needed to be done, was my job. It’s what I had done since I was fifteen.

I glanced at her, the first time I had looked at her all night. Those careful brown eyes took in every movement, from Kofler’s restlessness to my prowling to the captured men sitting mere feet from her.

“You should leave,” I told her softly. “You don’t need to see this.”

She glared at our prisoner. “Yes, I do.”

“Sweetheart, are you sure?” Ryu asked, concern tinting his voice. “It’s gonna get messy.”

Her shoulders stiffened in resolve. “I will not leave.”

I was going to skin this man alive, and she wanted to watch.

“Go upstairs and wait,” I commanded.

She leveled her glare at me. “No.”

I would regret this. It would become another one of my nightmares, cursed to plague me. In all my planning, I did not plan for her to see this.

“Obi, I’m staying.”

Seeing this would teach her what had to be done in order to become the person she wanted to be. We could not let those who betrayed us live.

But the price would be steep. This would change her, harden her.

And in the future, when she looked at me, all she would see was the blood covering my hands. She would never be able to lie in my arms the way she did with my brothers or with Caspian. She would fear me and what I was capable of.

It was a price I was willing to pay to establish the reputation we needed.

“So be it.”

I turned back to Kofler. His screams filled the room as I got to work.