“Yes.” He half cries on a gasp. “I know, sir.”
“Then why not speak the truth?”
He shoots a look at Santino, who leans against the stone wall and smokes a cigarette.
“Look at me, Raoul. Just me.” I pull the blade back. “Did you see the intruder?”
He starts to shake and tries to look away.
I grab his hair so he has to look at me. “I asked you a question.” My voice remains calm, gentle almost. It’s the knife in my hand that will do the damage.
“Y-yes.” His chin trembles.
“Did you let him in?”
He shakes harder and doesn’t answer.
I let him go and sigh, then bury the blade in his thigh. Then I slap my hand over his mouth, stifling his scream. Wouldn’t want to wake my lioness or her cub upstairs.
When he’s back to blubbering, I pull my hand away. “Raoul. As you know, I’m not a patient man. My patience is even thinner now that someone has tried to harm Apollonia Simonetti, Carter’s sister. You see, she is an innocent, much like her nephew. And though I’ve done terrible things, many of them with glee, I do not harm innocents. Now, if you refuse to tell me the truth, I will do those terrible things to you.” With a yank, I remove the blade and slap my hand over his yowling mouth again.
Santino blows out a big puff of smoke. “Weak.”
I pull my hand away and keep my knife in front of Raoul, his blood dripping from the blade. “Tell me the truth. You allowed the intruder to enter my land. Who sent him?”
“He didn’t say,” he blubbers.
Santino and I exchange a look. My suspicions have been growing by the day with each report I hear about the newcomer, the man who seeks to take all I’ve bled for. Perhaps he’s not as new as he seems, but I need to verify my intuition before I can move against my enemy.
“The assassin came for me?”
He glances at the house as if he can see it through the stone. My icy blood heats to a steady blaze. He’s looking at my Simonettis, my lioness and her cub.
“Apollonia? Carter? Who?” I yank his head back and press the blade to his throat, drawing more blood.
“I don’t know!” he screams. “He paid me! That’s all! H-he said that his boss would own all this soon enough, and I’d be rewarded for helping him, and then he gave me a hundred thousand euro. So I did it! I didn’t know why he was here.”
“Who sent him?”
“He didn’t say!” his high-octave scream is abruptly cut off.
For the second time this night, I’ve spilled blood to protect the ones I love. I’ll do it as many times as necessary and take pleasure in my kills as a gift to my lioness.
If someone wants her blood, she shall have theirs, and plenty of it.