Page 54 of The Payback

“Man or woman?” Dimitri asks before Alexei has even finished speaking.

“A man. Women don’t use that kind of language.”

I roll my eyes. Alexei obviously hasn’t got to know many women.

“Good, Alexei. Thank you,” Dimitri coos.

Alexei relaxes into the chair. But Dimitri isn’t done. “Which phone did they call you on?”

“My personal phone,” he answers. “It was in my pocket.”

Dimitri wanders out of the light and returns with a beaten and cracked iPhone. “Passcode?” he asks.

“1-2-3-4.”

Nik scoffs beside me. “Idiot.”

I can’t help but remember it as the same passcode Dimitri set on my new phone before I could reprogram it. My mind is reeling, grabbing onto random facts and tidbits as I watch the display before me.

Dimitri unlocks and scrolls through the phone, never lifting his eyes to Alexei. “What was the assignment, and what were you promised?”

“Both of you,” Alexei mutters, letting his head hang. “And they promised money.” Alexei hangs his head, not even offering to share with the class what he wanted the money for. He just wanted it.

My husband moves closer, dragging his fingers along Alexei’s jaw like he does to me, coaxing the man to look up at him. I know that touch. It could light the world on fire if wielded with passion, but now, it would leave frost in its wake.

“Put your other hand on the cart, Alexei,” Dimitri says, rolling the chopping block to Alexei’s other side.

“No,Pakhan, please! No!”

“Do it.”

With a shaking hand, Alexei complies as if his obedience now will earn him his life. My stomach churns at the display, and I half turn towards Nik. His eyes are riveted on Dimitri, never once blinking as I see the blade lift in my periphery and hear thethudas it lands and the screams begin anew.

Still no emotion from Dimitri. Still no assurances that the man I’ve started to get to know is even in there. There’s just... nothingness.

Curling inward on myself, I manage to mutter a string of syllables that make little sense. I can’t do this. I can’t stand here and watch a man be hacked to pieces. Nothing about this is okay.Nothing.

I should use this as evidence of Dimitri’s crimes. He may have looped Interpol in and invited me into his literal home, but this man is a monster.

A clammy sweat breaks out over my entire body, and a hesitant arm comes around my shoulders. Nik pulls me closer, tucking my head against his neck, and I focus on breathing.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

His woodsy scent, coupled with a whiff of smoke, assaults my senses and smothers the burning flesh scent as it rises from where Dimitri is working, cauterising the wounds so he can continue dragging this out.

That realisation has me crumpling like a paper bag.

“Get me out of here,” I beg. I can’t watch this. Looking weak is the least of my concerns right now, and the indifferent look in Dimitri’s eyes as he raised that blade will haunt my dreams tonight and likely the foreseeable future.

Nik pauses for a second, and I feel his head tilt, rustling my hair at the top of my head when he nods at something Dimitri and he silently communicate.

“Come on, Ellie.”

He steers me out of the room just as the screaming begins anew.

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