Page 62 of Daddy Brigadier

“I don’t know,” he replies, but the way his nostrils flare and his breath quickens betrays his lie.

I direct a piercing glare at Nyx. “And I suppose you don’t know where your father is?”

“He stopped talking to me when he found out I was in contact with Daniel,” Nyx answers, meeting my gaze. I realize that his eyes are just as dark as mine. It seems that Daniel may actually have a future with us after all.

Nikolai crouches closer, his heated breath brushing against the man’s face, making him tremble as his whimpers escalate.“I know how to make him talk,” Nikolai growls with a diabolical laugh.

Unlike Andrei and Dmitri, who excelled in high school and college, Nikolai barely passed high school. At eighteen, he was already a Coalition soldier and opted out of college.

His lack of a college education doesn’t mean he’s not intelligent.

He just chose to study other subjects that a university couldn’t teach him. He’s a highly trained assassin, educated in war strategy and even in human anatomy. His training has made him an expert in cruel and unusual punishments.

It’s unfortunate, but the man before me is about to go through a level of pain that will leave him begging for death.

Nikolai sets a large knife on the table next to the man. “Bind him,” he commands. Lev swiftly seizes the man, securing his hands in heavy shackles that dangle from the ceiling.

Nikolai tightens his grip on the knife, swinging it swiftly before forcefully slashing the man’s back.

Oh, shit!This is going to hurt.

The blood eagle is a form of torture that comes from Viking executions. The tortured back is slashed to give access to the ribs, which are then broken and twisted upward to look like wings.

It only takes thirty minutes for the man to break.

“He’s here in New York,” he sobs in between his short breaths.

The information provided is not compelling enough to deter Nikolai. To make matters worse, Nikolai rubs salt into the man’s wounds.

The man lets out a piercing scream that expands through the empty room, his voice a raw mix of fear and anguish.

“Are you sure?” I move closer to him to make sure I’m hearing him right.

“He’s looking for the girl,” the man spits.

My heart stops. My breath catches in my throat. “What girl?”

“The pretty young girl,” he chokes, his voice cracking.

He must be talking about Lexi.

“Why?” I cry out, my hands pressed firmly against the wound, frantic to stem all the blood from escaping. “Why?” I repeat, my voice rising in desperation.

“Her sister.” His words trail off, and as he exhales a final, quivering breath, his eyes drift shut.

“Fuck him!” Nikolai yells, delivering a sharp kick to his ribs with his steel-toed boots.

All the muscles in my body are tense, my breath coming short and ragged. Rage is surging through my veins, dark and consuming. I can barely contain it.

I slam my fist against the wall, my control shattering. “That bastard touched her!” He doesn’t have to say it, but that fucker obviously did it.

Nikolai doesn’t even flinch. He keeps his eyes on the dead man. “Brigadier.”

“I’m going to fucking rip that motherfucker’s heart out!” I shout, slamming my fist against the wall. The pain cuts into my knuckles, and blood seeps onto my sleeve.

Nyx is frozen by the door, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he takes in the horror of what Nikolai did to that man. I grab him by his shirt and forcefully slam his back against the wall. “Did you know about this? Tell me motherfucker!”

Nyx coughs as air rushes out of his lungs. “I don’t know anything about the girl,” he whimpers. “I promise, Brigadier, I’ve told you everything I know.”