Page 109 of Savage Enemy

“Well, are we going to do this today or what?”

Some of the other men chuckled.

Lordi accepted a large hunting knife from one of his men.

“Fine. Let’s get it done.”

At first, I thought he planned to do it himself, but I should’ve known better. He handed the knife to an enforcer.

As the man came for me, another one grabbed my wrist.

I twisted my arm out of his grip and bared my teeth.

“Do not touch me.”

The thug’s face paled, and he stepped back. He’d intended to hold my hand down, but fuck that.

I stalked over to Lordi and smacked my right hand down flat on the table in front of him... If he was man enough to pass the sentence, he better have been man enough to carry it out.

“You really want to cut your right hand?” he asked.

“When I get my girl back, she’ll want my left ring finger to be intact. Now man up and do it.”

Lordi stared at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. I didn’t know anymore. I just needed to get it over with.

Reluctantly, he took the knife from his man.

I folded my other fingers beneath my palm, so he would still only cut my ring finger if he missed.

He raised the knife. The glinting blade sliced down through the air and settled with a wetthunk. One blow wasn’t enough.

I set my back teeth together, clenched my jaw, and held my tongue as I waited for the motherfucker to finish his hack job. Sweat rolled down the sides of my face. My heart ricocheted backand forth against my ribcage. The need to roar clawed at the inside of my throat, but I held it back.

Telling Lordi to do it had been a mistake. His brute could have done it in one clean shot, but it took this asshole three attempts with a dangerously sharp blade to lacerate the joint.

I’d expected him to take the whole finger, but he only took the tip. A joke lurked in there somewhere, but too many dark spots edged into my vision for me to find it.

Angelo stood and buttoned his jacket.

“Is there anything else you need to discuss before the rest of us leave and we let this man bleed in peace?”

“You’re all dismissed but stay close. Enjoy some wine and whiskey on the house.”

Lordi examined my severed digit as I took a seat and stuck my finger into an empty glass, so I didn’t bleed all over myself.

With my left hand, I reached across my body for my phone and set a thirty-minute timer.

It hurt far more than I had imagined. I wanted to roar just to burn off the adrenaline and at least some of the pain, but I suffered in silence. I refused to show these assholes any weakness they might later use against me.

After ten minutes passed, the rest of the men had filed out, leaving only Lordi in the room with me. I’d hoped he would join the others in the restaurant and send one of his men back to cauterize the wound. Instead, he remained in his seat and poured us some whiskey.

He shoved a glass across the table at me.

“I know I’ve said this once before, but I truly might have underestimated you.”

I ignored the whiskey and fought the urge to throw up.

“Seems to be a growing trend,” I said. “It doesn’t tend to end well for those people.”

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