Page 55 of Tangled Souls

“Fine,” he grits out through his teeth.

With a kiss to the underside of his jaw, I step around him. As I look over the men in front of me, I slowly assess them. My men are capable, but I’ve spent a long fucking time studying men with overinflated egos and have learned a few things because of my unique education.

“Sorry to interrupt the party,” I don’t take my eyes off the men in front of me as I speak and it’s unclear whether I’m speaking to them, my men, or Wolfe and his guys. Not like it really matters. “I’m sure the gentlemen behind me have threatened you all in no uncertain terms. The way I see it, this could go a few different ways. One, a lot of energy can be used to extract the information, the anticipation and fear building as you watch each other being tortured. Two, everyone dies because you think you’re so big and bad, and you don’t give up the information needed. Now, my personal favorite is option three. This is where integrity and courage come into play,” I look each man in their eyes, “because the man responsible for the hole in the security speaks up now and dies with some fucking honor.”

I watch each man closely. Almost everyone’s eyes are moving, trying to take in each other on either side of them and around the room. Everyone’s eyes except for one.

I almost do jazz hands and shout ‘ta-da’ as I take slow steps toward the man in question. If the sweat on his brow is any indication, and it is, he’s nervous. Good; he should be.

“Why are you the only one not looking around like you’re trying to piece together the puzzle without the box in front of you?” I infuse as much innocence as possible into the question. I even bat my eyelashes at him for a little extra zing.

Maxim barks out a laugh, the first time he’s sounded like himself since he found me in the bathroom earlier. I’ve been worried about my cocky man who doesn’t seem like he takes much seriously, even though it’s all a front. The man loves deeply. He loves me.

The sweat on his brow starts multiplying. It isn’t just nerves either. The eyes of every man in the room, including the ones still being held captive for questioning, burn into him.

His eyes start darting now. He looks everywhere but at me or the men surrounding me. One place he never looks is toward my four men who have taken up residence at my back. I can feel the heat from their bodies and it’s delicious.

If only my ribs weren’t fucking throbbing right along with my jaw.

Speaking of my jaw. I very slowly and deliberately pull my hair over my shoulder to ensure that my bruised jaw is very much on display. The anger coming from my men, which was already almost overflowing the boiling pot of their emotions, is now creating a sauna-esque atmosphere in the room.

“Who got to you?”

It’s a simple question that I throw out into the room, but it has the tension mounting. Honestly, it’s almost difficult to breathe, but I push through. Because my men need answers and they aren’t the only ones. I also need to know how the fuck this happened.

If I hadn’t been preparing my whole life to enact some sort of exit strategy from my life, when I came up with one, I would not have been able to defend myself from Mikhail. The thought of him being able to do actual harm to me and for my men to findme—or not to find me if I had been taken—has my vision going a little red with fury.

“I’ve been seeing a woman for about a month now,” the man’s words come out quickly like his mouth is tripping over itself to get the information out. “A few nights ago, after we had, um,” he looks at me with a sheepish expression on his face and I just roll my eyes and huff because I can guess what they were doing, “anyway, she told me about a friend who had been snubbed by not getting an invitation to the gala. I didn’t know who it was.” He sighs, resignation in his tone, “I didn’t ask.”

It’s like the fucking Niagara Falls of truth in here right now.

“Well, that was stupid,” I snark. The pain is making me a little more feral than I would like.

Large hands on my hips pull me back against a strong chest. When I look over my shoulder, I’m not surprised to see Kirill with his hands on me. I’d know his touch anywhere.

He takes most of my weight and I almost moan with how good it feels to not have to stand upright at the moment.

“You didn’t fucking ask?” Kirill’s words are cold, and I have a feeling he’s holding me against him for me as much as for him.

Dead man can’t word vomit all their secrets and all that.

“We don’t pay you enough?” Maxim asks the question, some of the devil may care man I know peeking through his tone.

The man in the hot seat swallows hard. “It’s not like that. I’m paid well,” he insists.

“Were,” I correct flippantly. When he looks at me, for the first time, I can see the question in his eyes. “Youwerepaid well.Corpses don’t get a paycheck,” I singsong and he pales. I nod slowly and sass, “Yeah, now you’re starting to get it.”

“Who is this woman you’re seeing?” Huck comes up with the right question.

I was going to ask it, but I figured this doofus was all about giving the details about what went down, and we’d circle back to it eventually. Apparently, Huck is not able to be patient tonight. It’s understandable, all things considered.

The man bows his head, his answer whispered, “Betty.”

The laughter which comes out of me is so sharp and sudden that I let out a groan of pain and wrap my arms around my waist. Kirill’s hands tighten around my hips, but I’m not sure if it’s to help hold me up or to stop himself from ripping the man’s arms off and beating him to death with them before he goes to hunt down Betty.

“Well,” I muse once I finally get my shit under control, “that answers the other question of how Adam knew where I was going to be the night of the meeting.” I shake my head. “What a shame.”

One of the other men in the chairs speaks up, “I would like the chance to pay penance for not realizing I had a rat on my team by balancing the scales.” When I look at him, his eyes are focused on the traitor in the room. “It would be an honor to kill him in Mrs. Volkov’s name. His stupidity and his inability to keep his dick in his pants put her in danger and caused her injury. He deserves nothing less.”

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