Page 26 of The Payback

“Your driver,” Dimitri answers. “He needs a bonus for this. See that he gets it, Nik.”

My former partner inclines his head, then takes a few steps closer to the man strapped to the chair.

“How did he get from there to here?” I ask, focusing on the logistics instead of the fact that someone was out to grab me.

“I picked him up and brought him home,” Nik says, waving the knife again.

The man groans, his head sagging over his chest. Nik cocks a fist and lets it fly, connecting with the man’s jaw and sending an arc of blood and a few more teeth flying.

“Tell me who sent you,” Nik says. His tone is bored, as if he’s already asked this question a few times and is tired of waiting for the answer.

At this moment, with his knuckles bloodied and hair mussed, he is all power, all dominance, and nothing like the partner I once knew. It’s like looking through a cracked and broken mirror, seeing some resemblance but not recognising the face staring back at you.

The bound man spits a glob of fluids onto the floor, marring the gorgeous tile with even more violence than it’s been painted with already. “Fuck you,” he rasps, the words sounding misshapen as they pass through his damaged mouth.

“Not today,” Nik says with a smirk. He switches the knife to his left hand, walks around the once-ivory chair, and uses his right to fist the man’s hair, pulling his head back and allowing me a full view of his mottled face.

The veins in Nik’s forearms bulge with the strain, and the man yelps at the rough treatment. “Any last words? Perhaps an apology for the lady?”

Dimitri doesn’t make a move, just stands beside me; the tension coming off him is so potent, it’s like it’s vibrating through my very soul.

“She would have cried so beautifully,” the man garbles out.

He’s poetic; I’ll give him that. But so, so wrong.

Finding my footing, I take three steps forward and crouch so I’m a foot away from his face and level with his swollen eyes. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I would have madeyoucry.”

I peek up at Nik from beneath my lashes, noting a flare of desire on his face and a wicked grin that belongs to the devil himself. He knows I’ve been trained to deal with criminals and murderers, so it shouldn’t surprise him I’ve got some backbone, no matter what name I’m using today.

Before I can register the movement, the knife slices at the man’s hairline, separating the skin and scalp from the bone. The man’s neck is carved open with a second slide of the blade. Blood sprays down the front of my dress, the vibrant green colour turning dark as the splatter lands.

Dimitri growls at Nik. “Couldn’t have waited until she backed up?”

Nik shrugs. “It was getting tedious.”

“He said nothing useful,” I argue, standing and taking the kitchen towel Dimitri hands me. It won’t do a damned thing for the dress, but at least I can wipe the blood off my face and neck.

“He didn’t need to, and he wasn’t going to share any details.” Dimitri sighs. “But we know he worked for the Irish.”

“How?” I ask, taken aback by the surety in his tone.

“Nik, if you please.” Dimitri waves a hand at the man’s torso.

Nik uses the bloodied blade to slice through the man’s soaked jacket and cuts through the material of his T-shirt. He drags the flat side of the blade against the pale skin to scrape away some of the blood. Over his heart is a Celtic knot twisted into a cross.

“Why do people tattoo themselves with their organisations?” I ponder aloud. “Such a stupid way to identify yourself.”

Nik hums his agreement and meets my eyes. “Much better to have no allegiance tattoos. I prefer art to brands.”

With that, he crosses the kitchen, tosses the knife into the sink, and strides out, leaving Dimitri and me with a body.

“I’m going out!” he calls from deeper inside the apartment.

I knew I would fear what was behind these doors, but it’s not Nik that scared me. It’s the fact that I’mnotscared. The display turns me on, and I’m not even sorry I didn’t record this for future evidence to incarcerate my former lover.

“Now, wife,” Dimitri says from behind me, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me flush against his body again. “Your punishment.”

I sink against the heat of his body, letting his touch ignite the spark that Nik created.

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