Page 63 of Unexpected Redemption

Fair question.

I clap his shoulder. “There’s no way Yev won’t know who we are. Many of my questions will be quite specific. So why hide our faces? When we give him to the cops after we’ve gotten everything out of him, anything he says about how he was handled will be his word against ours. And he’s not all that trustworthy.”

Henderson’s irritation dials back about fifteen percent. “And when he’s bloody, battered, and bruised? That’s just going to be his word against ours too?”

Sawyer walks past him, patting his cheek playfully. “Don’t be silly, Hennessey.Any injuries he may sustain will simply be a result of him resisting capture, which we did as concerned citizens and Good Samaritans.”

With an annoyed grumble, Henderson yanks the black fabric off his head and tucks it into his back pocket. “If I end up in jail, thus abandoning my wife and baby, I’ll be very put out. You hear me? Put. Out.”

A muted chorus of chuckles fills the hallway.

With my back to the door, I face the team. “Everyone knows what the plan is?”

They all nod.

“Let’s go.”

Before I open the door, my hand hovers over the knob for a beat. I attempt to clear my mind and push out most of my hatred of this man. If I see him as the man who hurt my sugar bear, he won’t live long enough to answer questions.

Lettie, Lettie, Lettie.

I force her name through my head on repeat, hoping she can quell my blood lust. For the time being, I’ll attempt to pretendhe’s not the man who drugged and did despicable things to her. He’s a tool.

A means to an end.

An informant to get us what we need to get Viktor and the rest of Lenkov’s Bratva.

With a firm grip, I twist the knob and thrust open the door.

The first thing I see is the blue tarp covering the floor. Klein threw that down after he removed all the furniture from the space. He, Mia, and Boss will be watching from the lair. The five of us have our comms on to communicate with the team upstairs.

Yev’s a lump on the floor, facing away from us. His frame stiffens at the sound of our entrance. He’s a large man. Bulky. I suppose he’s intimidating to most people. Not to us, though. After the shit we’ve seen, it’s hard to ruffle our feathers.

His arms and legs are hog-tied behind him, and a sack over his head deprives him of light. I’ve got some headphones we might use to blast some music at deafening levels if we need to wear him down.

I don’t suspect we’re going to get that far, though. I’m betting he squeals like a pig when I start on his feet. Reaching into my back pocket, I pat the cane, enjoying the feel of the coarse wood against my palm.

For this interrogation, we don’t want to leave marks. So I tapped into my vast knowledge from my kink life to come up with ways to make him suffer that won’t give credibility to any complaints he may have about our treatment of him. Some redness and bruising in a discreet area is nothing.

“Yev, it’s time to talk,” I grit out.

“Fuck you,” he seethes, his thick Russian accent evident in the simple curse.

Off to a great start. A wry grin plucks at my cheeks.

It might make me sick, but I want him to resist a bit. I didn’t get to exorcise enough of my demons on him during the capture. After the shit I saw him do to...

Nope. Not thinking about it.

I need him to live.

Time for a reminder, so I internally recite her name like a mantra.Lettie, Lettie, Lettie.

Stomping around the room with intentionally heavy feet, I circle Yev and squat by his face. Shep moves in behind me on one side. Aaron’s on the other. Yev should recognize them from the night of Lettie’s rescue when they jumped him in Yuri’s office to get the location of the trafficking house.

Sawyer lingers near his feet, awaiting instructions.Henderson stays near the door, waiting to be called in as needed. His primary role is to be a foreboding presence.

Before I have the chance to hit Yev with an introductory speech, he spouts off. “Might as well call police. Or kill me. I not tell you damn thing.”

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