Page 71 of Zain

His mouth twisted. “Come on. You saw a lot. Your boyfriend killed several people. Start there.”

She swallowed. “Even if I could tell you how many lives he took, I wouldn’t know their names. I didn’t ask a lot of questions, and he didn’t offer information.”

“Bullshit.”

She tried again. “I went there under the impression he was being held against his will,” she saidcarefully. “If the situation was any different, I don’t know the details.”

“He didn’t tell you who he worked for?”

“No,” she blurted, without missing a beat. If she died here today, she’d make sure whoever had beef with Zain didn’t know he’d been undercover. No matter what, she had to keep that to herself. And she’d gladly accept death over whatever torture tactics her scarred-up friend had in mind.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife—just like the one he’d used in her apartment. Lovely.

She brought her gaze back to his face, summoning whatever bravado she could find. “By the way, I think you broke my lamp. You owe me a new one.”

One vicious blue eye narrowed.

“How’s your head?” she taunted.

He lunged forward, jamming his fist into her jaw. A labyrinth of stripes blinked in front of her eyes, and pain exploded across her cheekbone. She wiped a dribble of spit from her lips as the taste of blood filled her mouth. Pissing him off wasn’t smart. Buying time would be harder than she’d anticipated.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he hissed. “You answer my questions without wasting my time and I’ll kill you quickly. Fuck around and I’ll slice out your pretty blue eyes. Got it?”

She blinked away the tears blinding her. “Neither option is very appealing.”

He flicked open the blade. “How about I start with your fingernails then, hmm?”

Curling her hands into tight balls, she hunkered closer to her knees. “I have nothing to hide. I was only with Zain for a couple of days. It’s not like we sat around spilling our secrets.”

He snagged her wrists, dragging them away from her knees. Anxiety contracted across her chest. She held her arm firm, refusing, but he was too strong.

“Stop.” Her command came out brittle.

He smiled, revealing crooked discolored teeth. Feeling as if she might pass out, Dana forced a breath in through her nose. Part of her wanted to depart from this moment, to slip into a blissful state of unawareness, but the crippling fear of what he’d do to her kept her alert.

“Just cutting you free, princess.” He fit the knife beneath one of the ropes, and the twine fell away with sickening ease. If that knife made rope fall apart that quickly, her skin would peel back like hot metal through butter.

She shook her hands, getting blood flow back. He recaptured her wrist and had her arm locked straight before she could even squirm.

He flashed the knife in front of her. “Answer my questions and you can keep your fingernails.” He brought the knife to her closed fist and pressedthe tip of the blade against the edge of her palm. “What was your boyfriend doing with Jaysh? Was he undercover? CIA?”

Dana jerked her hand, and the movement caused the knife to slip deep. She gasped, but he didn’t release his hold. Blood oozed from her flesh. The cut smarted, but she didn’t make another sound.

“Tsk tsk. Making a mess already.”

She met his bottomless eyes. He was going to hurt her. If not now, soon. And he’d enjoy every minute. All she could do was play her hand and hope God would grant her a window of opportunity. “What do you want to know? I don’t know if he was undercover, but I can’t see it.”

His thumb dug relentlessly into the inside of her wrist. Impatience danced across his face, tightening his clean-shaven jaw. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m gonna ask you questions and you’re gonna answer quickly. If you don’t play right, you lose a fingernail. Got it?”

Sweat collected at her hairline. Her heart beat frantically in her chest. “I don’t—”

“Did you ever hear Zain speak about Jabar?”

She exhaled rapidly. “No.”

“Did he talk about a hospital bombing?”

“A what? N-No.”

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