Page 129 of Jonas

“Cut her feet loose.”

Like a chump, Keith immediately moved in to do the big boss’s bidding.

As soon as Keith knelt before me, I whispered, “When he finds you, I hope he kills you slowly.”

Keith sliced through the plastic of the first tie, making sure to cut through my jeans and nick my ankle. I jolted and bit down on my molars to stop my scream of pain.

He moved to my other foot, repeated the process, including cutting my flesh.

“Did that make you feel like a big man? I hope you know he’s going to enjoy carving out your insides.”

Keith roughly yanked me up, and with a vicious shake, he snarled, “Keep running your mouth, and I’ll add that bitch Kira to my list.” I clamped my mouth closed. “That’s what I thought.”

Keith stepped away. Jun De stepped closer. Natalie stayed where she was but looked nervous.

“I’ll ask again, do you know who I am?”

“Yes. She told Anson about you and your brother.” I jerked my head toward Natalie. “And Anson told me.”

“Shut the⁠—”

“My brother?”

“Yeah, your brother Bolin.”

I saw the slightest tic in Jun De’s cheek.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Natalie seethed.

“I’m talking about you blabbing to your boyfriend Anson about Bolin and SimpCo. That’s why Anson went to the OFAC,” I lied.

“I didn’t⁠—”

The crack of Jun De’s gun going off made me jump. First, because I didn’t see him pull it, second, because a gun blast in a small room equals earsplitting, third, because someone standing close to me was shot in the face.

In. The. Face.

I didn’t like the woman. Actually, I hated her seeing as I was fairly certain I’d be shot in the face next and Jun De had a clear shot of me because of her, but still, I didn’t want to witness her death.

“What else did she tell Anson?” Jun De asked.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“That you were…um…MSS,” I continued to lie.

Jun De nodded like my answer was acceptable.

Jun De motioned to Keith with his gun. “And him?”

I didn’t have anything else to fib about. Anything else I mentioned that we’d learned would screw the investigation and I would rather die and let Keith live than give Jun De anything useful.

“All I know about him is he’s sloppy. I saw him in front of Delcon blackmailing an employee, and again in front of my apartment building picking up a private investigator hired by Lou Peterson to spy on me.”

Jun De transferred his stare to Keith. “What’s this? I warned you no side jobs.”