Page 246 of Merciless Daddy

The hardware bar reached fifty-eight percent.

She tapped one finger against the closed edge of the case.

Twice.

Tap.

Tap.

I did not understand it.

Gianni did not seem to notice.

Donatella leaned toward the microphone.

“For clarity,” she said, “you have just stated that Yelena’s quality of life after this transaction depends on obedience to you.”

“You are being tedious.”

“I am being defensible.”

She turned back to me.

“Read the next clause.”

I did.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Somewhere beneath my fear, an idea began to move.

Donatella had brought the genuine token.

She had insulted me. Exposed me. Claimed she had sold her brothers.

But she had also cleared the guards.

Put Gianni on camera.

Made him confess.

Tap.

Tap.

I looked at her hand.

Her red nails rested against the case.

She did not look at me.

I returned to the document.

Forty-two minutes remained on the deadline.

The hardware bar showed sixty-three percent.