Page 102 of Serpent King's Prisoner

“Please what?” I growled, my patience wearing thin. “Spit it out!”

But he shook his head, lips pressed tightly together, refusing to speak. A muscle worked in his jaw, betraying the inner turmoil as he weighed his options. He had none, really, but fear can make you hold on to impossible hopes.

“Nothing to say, huh?” I stood up straight and nodded at Alex. “Cover his mouth. And Knuckles—hand me that scalpel.”

The man’s eyes bulged, pleading with me as Alex’s hand slid over his mouth. I took the scalpel and turned it in my fingers, then I pulled the blanket back to reveal the man’s foot.

With clinical precision, I slid the scalpel over his arch, drawing blood. The man howled into Alex’s hand, but it was so muffled I didn’t think anyone would hear it—and if they did, our cops were outside the door.

“Enough,” I said after a moment that felt like an eternity. Alex removed his hand, and the guy sucked in ragged breaths, each one sounding like the rasp of a blade against bone.

“Last chance.” My words were a lifeline thrown into the abyss he found himself in. “Give me a name, or we go another round. I take a toe…maybe cut your achilles. I could make it to where you never walk again, you stupid fuck. So answer me.”

Terror skated across his features, etching itself deeper with every second that passed. His mouth opened, closed, then opened again—but no sound came out, save for the shallow, panting breaths that told me he was still hanging onto life, however tenuously.

“Let’s see if you find your voice,” I said quietly, motioning for Alex to cover him once more.

Alex did as he was told and held firm, but something shifted—an edge of something dark flitted across his expression, something that didn’t sit right with me. Time stretched, ticking by with the heaviness of impending doom. I saw the color drain from the guy’s face, his struggles becoming frantic, then feeble.

Alex was suffocating him, nose and mouth covered.

Ready to kill.

“Alex.” My voice was a low growl, more warning than word. He didn’t move. “Alex!” This time it was a command that sliced through the thick tension in the room.

Finally, he let go, and the perp gulped in air like a drowning man breaking the water’s surface.

That’s when it happened.

With an effort that seemed to drain what little life he had left, the guy lifted a trembling finger, pointing it directly at Alex. His voice, when it finally broke through, was a ragged whisper steeped in fear and accusation.

“Alex Zhou…it’s him,” the man said. “Trying to take down your father…and you.”

Chapter Forty-Six: Nathan

Icouldn’t believe the look on Alex’s face; total shock, like he’d just been slapped with the cold truth.

His eyes darted frantically, trying to make sense of the situation as I locked my gaze onto his, not a flicker of doubt in mine.

“Alex,” I said, my voice flat and unyielding. It echoed slightly off the sterile hospital walls around us. The morning light filtering through the windows did nothing to soften the gravity of the moment. “What the hell is he talking about?”

The man was still babbling, pointing at Alex. My brother glanced between me and Knuckles, who had started moving toward him with a predator’s slow certainty. There was nowhere for Alex to run, not here, not with us closing in. I could see the gears turning in his head, calculating his slim chances.

“Easy, Alex,” Knuckles murmured, almost kindly, but there was an edge to his tone that belied any real comfort. He was a guy you didn’t want to cross, the kind that hid a switchblade behind a smile.

“Let’s just talk,” I added, knowing full well how hollow the words sounded even as they rolled off my tongue. We stood there, the tension thickening like fog, each of us weighing the other, ready for whatever came next.

“Talk?” Alex’s voice was a harsh whisper, his hands raised in front of him as if to ward off an invisible blow. “There’s no fucking way I would ever hurt my brother. Justin…he had nothing to do with this.” The words spilled out, raw and desperate, slicing through the heavy air between us.

I wanted to believe him. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to jump to his defense, to take his side like I had so many times when we were kids, when he would break things around the house. I’d been his stalwart defender for years against my brutal father.

But things had changed; the stakes were higher now, and blood ties didn’t mean loyalty.

Not anymore.

Knuckles stepped forward, closing the gap with a few calculated strides, his eyes never leaving Alex. “Nathan,” he said, turning his gaze on me for a moment, “Kenny has had me tailing your brother for a while. He suspected something was up.”

The revelation hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. Ba—no, the Serpent—had sent Knuckles to shadow Alex? It meant he’d been doubting him too, and that doubt was a cancer in our world.

---