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I press the serrated edge of the blade to his index finger and start sawing. I’m not nice about it. This isn’t a quick snip of bone like I’d done to Osip. This is slow—a back-and-forth motion that would be difficult for the most hardened of men to tolerate. Konstantin may be strong, and he may not be a stranger to torture, but he’s never been on the receiving end of it. He screams and eventually begs when I’m almost halfway through, and finally when the finger drops to the floor and I start on the next one, he begins to cry, the tears mixing with blood and snot. I don’t stop, and when I’ve cut off every finger on his right hand, Timofey cauterizes the five stubs while I check my phone. She should be awake by now, but there’s no new messages or missed calls.
I eye Konstantin’s unconscious body before looking at Osip. He’s just as pale as his brother, forehead leaning against his bicep as he hangs from his chain. He avoids my eyes, trying like hell to not draw my attention. Too fucking late. The second they touched Alina, they earned my full attention, and even though I’m confident they regret ever taking her, it’s not enough for me. They’ll pay for that mistake with their lives.
Turning my back on everything, I call Lev. It rings twice before he answers, and each ring sends my heart into a faster rhythm.
“Is she still asleep?” I ask, ignoring his hello.
I can hear the video game noises over the sigh he gives. “She didn’t want you to feel like you needed to come rushing back.” His voice sounds further away when he says, “I told you he’d be pissed.” Putting his mouth back to the phone, I hear, “Hang on, brother, she’s right here.”
A second later I hear the voice I’ve been craving. “Sorry, Matvey.”
“Are you okay,malishka?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. We’ve just been playing some games.”
Despite what she’s saying, I can hear something in her voice thathas me quickly forgetting about the two men hanging in the large, four-car garage.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, baby. I’m sorry you had to wake up alone.”
“Lev was there, and I know why you left.” She’s silent for a few seconds. “How’s it going?”
“Slowly, just like I want,” I tell her, sparing her the gruesome details. “There’s still a long way to go.”
She knows I’m telling her they’re still alive, so when she whispers, “good,” I smile and clean the blood from my blade.
“Do you need me to get you anything on the way?”
“No, just hurry back.”
“I’m leaving now,malishka.”
She says a quick goodbye before hanging up. I turn to Timofey, who’s laughing with Vitaly about something. “Make sure they get enough food and water to stay alive. Strip them and spray them off when the smell gets too bad. Have Pyotr keep a close watch over them. They’re not allowed to die yet.”
“Will do, boss,” Timofey says, walking over to put the blowtorch back on the shelf so it’s ready for next time before he pulls his phone out to text Pyotr, one of our enforcers who’s also a trained medic. I know he’ll make sure they don’t hang for too long at one time or give them an antibiotic if they need one. An infection is not how these two are going to go out. I won’t fucking allow it.
“Playtime over?” Vitaly asks.
“Yeah, she’s awake. We need to go back.”
Vitaly nods and smacks Timofey’s shoulder on our way out. “See you later, man.”
“I’ll be here.” Timofey laughs and waves an arm out. “Nicest place I’ve ever had to lay low at. Sure beats that dump in Moscow. You remember that?”
“I’m not sure you ever forget roaches that big.” I dart my eyes at Vitaly. “I still remember him screaming when one crawled over his hand.”
Vitaly grimaces at the memory. “That fucker was huge, and it was a manly scream, not a high-pitched girlie one.”
I raise a brow at him. “Does that make it better?”
He laughs. “It does, yes.”
Timofey laughs as we walk out. I stop in the kitchen, scrubbing the blood off my hands and forearms while Vitaly talks to our men, making sure everything’s still going as planned. Before we leave the mansion, I turn to look at them.
“Timofey and Pyotr are in charge of them until I come back. No one else touches them. I don’t care what they say. I don’t care what they promise you. They’re mine to kill, and if anyone takes that from me, they’ll be the ones strung up in that garage.”
I keep my focus on them until I’m confident that no one is going to disobey me on this. It helps that over the last two years I’ve earned myself a reputation for being slightly unhinged. Everyone knew I was going crazy trying to find Alina, and stories of how I lost it one night and killed five of Konstantin’s men are still being spread through the ranks. None of our men are stupid enough to get between me and my revenge, but it’s nice to remind them every now and then of how serious I am.
“Yes, sir,” they say, keeping their eyes down, waiting for us to leave.
