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“Law. Yer.” Reznik elongated the word, heavily playing up each syllable.

“Azwai City?” Voodoo suggested, Reznik didn’t even glance at him though a smirk touched his mouth.

“Attorney.”

“Basra?” Voodoo added.

“Yes, you probably still struggle with English, don’t you?” Almost dismissively, Reznik said, “Abogado.” He played up each syllable. Racist prick.

“Five women, all between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, acquired from a school trip , all auctioned eighteen months ago. Then vanished.” Alphabet had a digital tablet with him and he made a point of tapping it like he made notations.

“Le-gal. Coun-sel.” The exaggeration of each word didn’t do him any favors.

Bones struck him. The swift jab with his right fist made Reznik jerk. Blood and spit flew from his mouth as his head snapped to the side. The chair went down with him chained to it. He hit the floor with a bang and another flinch.

With a sigh, I pushed away from the wall next to Gracie and converged on Reznik with Voodoo. We picked the whole chair up and set him upright.

“Ten minutes,” I told him, keeping it laid back and conversational. “Then I get my meat tenderizer and I break every bone you have from the waist down.” I glanced at my watch, set the timer then resumed my post near Gracie.

Instead of a snide remark, Reznik adjusted his head and his attention. He focused on each of us. His smirk flickered back to life when he eyed Alphabet. Then he settled his attention on Gracie.

“Are you the attorney or the model?”

I would have said that I was by far the most reasonable one coming into this room.

As much as I wanted to take our pound of flesh, it was all about justice.

Justice for Alphabet. Justice for Doc. Hell, it was even justice for Bones, because Reznik tried to make everything Bones’ fault.

Frankly, I would have placed a solid bet on him not being able to say a damn thing that would have me ready to castrate him now and to hell with whatever else he might know.

I was wrong.

The way he stared at Grace made my blood boil. That he raked his eyes over her and shot her a bloody-toothed smile? Nope. I had good knives upstairs. I also had some really shitty rusty ones.

They would take a while and hurt a hell of a lot more.

“This only ends two ways for you,” Bones informed him in the precise tones. “You answer the questions, get a bullet in the head. Quick. Done.”

“Or you don’t,” Voodoo said with a smile that actually made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “You don’t get a bullet in the head and you sure don’t get quick. You’re dying Reznik, that’s nonnegotiable. How you die? Well, keep fucking around.”

“You think I’m afraid of some pain? That you worry me?” Reznik’s derisive laughter earned him another punch. This time, the blow caught him on the side of the head. The ear.

Fuck those hurt. Not enough for him, but they hurt.

With a sigh, I walked back over and hauled Reznik up with Voodoo.

“You have her yet?” Reznik asked me. “I didn’t get the pleasure. Saw the videos though. She was a wild?—”

I snapped every finger on his left hand. Then his ulna. Sweat beaded his face as he paled, then he laughed.

“You think I'm afraid of any of you?” Reznik coughed, then spat out more blood. “You the jolly happy chef, who just wants to feed everyone. Should have opened a fucking diner. Voodoo, the man whore who was too pretty for hard work. But why work for something when you can steal it?”

Voodoo had a hand on my shoulder. It was a light touch. A reminder. Grounding me in the present so I didn’t just rip this asshole’s head off.

“Or maybe it’s Alphabet, the man who was too stupid to read the trap for what it was, so sure he knew everything.

Couldn’t even wait five minutes, cause he had to be right.

” His gruesome expression just grew more foreboding.

“You seem to have lost your medic, but then Bones isn’t that good about bringing all his people back. ”

Finally, that wild-eyed gaze fixed on Grace again. “You think you know them?”

Grace merely blinked at him, not saying a word. I was so fucking proud of her.

“Whatever, suck their cocks. Spread your legs for them. Hopefully you’re charging them millions, cause that’s what you cost me and I didn’t even get to touch that ass.” Then he took his life in his hands. “Course, there’s always tomorrow. They’ll get bored eventually—then I’ll be there.”

The timer on my watch went off. I pivoted and went up the stairs. When I returned, I had the meat tenderizer, and a couple of rusty knives.

“Lunchbox,” Bones said as I set my tools down.

“Cap?” I met Gracie’s gaze as she flicked a worried look from me to Reznik and then back.

“Break both of his knees.” That was one order I would happily follow. I kept my gaze on Gracie however.

“Do you want me to go?” She asked so softly, I damn near missed it.

Yes. I did. This wasn’t a memory of me I wanted her to have. But…

“It’s going to be messy,” I warned her.

“I can handle it.” Of that I really had no doubt. “But would you rather I didn’t?”

I rolled my head from side to side. “Stay, Gracie.” I picked up the meat tenderizer. “At least for this part. Since he brought up your sister…”

After I closed the distance, I didn’t offer him another warning or way out. I struck his right knee with the meat tenderizer. One blow wouldn’t do it.

It took three for the patella to crack. He was screaming before then.

It took longer to break the other.

While he pissed himself, he was still conscious.

“Let’s try this again,” Alphabet said easily. “Fourteen girls…”