Page 10 of The Enemy's Defector
There had to be one, and the longer I was kept in captivity, the more that huge question gnawed on my patience, which was running really fucking short.
“Some tough bastard you are,” he said around dark chuckles, hitting me so hard my neck ached at the impact.
How do I know you?
Who are you?
What the fuck is the point here?
I knew better than to ask them. The less I talked at all, the less I’d give anything away. They knew I’d be curious about my circumstances, and I wasn’t going to show my weakness by asking anything.
Even if I wanted to argue, shout back, or shoot questions at this stranger, I’d have an audience now. Another man came in.This one was masked, and he was immediately concerned why the stranger beating me wasn’t wearing one.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Why aren’t you covered?”
The stranger smirked, then laughed. “What’s the fucking point? It’s not like he’s getting out alive.”
“That’s what the orders were,” the masked man said with a rough shove at the other.
Bingo. See? I knew it.These guys were the hired contractors, not directly affiliated with any enemy family.
He was wrong, though. Iwouldbe getting out of here alive. Just not until I had some answers to bring home to my brothers.
“You’re not following the orders,” the masked man scolded. “Just like you didn’t on the last assignment.”
I perked up. To them, I was moaning in pain and almost passing out from the agony of the beating. I slanted more to the side, giving them the impression that I was about to fall out of this chair they’d tied me to. But I was wide awake and alert mentally, listening nonstop.
What last assignment?Perhaps that would give me a clue to work with.
“Fuck that.” The unmasked man tried to hit the other man but missed. “I followed orders.”
“You didn’t,” the other argued. “You were supposed to hire someone to eraseallthe surveillance footage from that block after the hit was carried out. The poison didn’t end up working fast enough, the others had to run, and?—”
This time, the man who showed his face did strike his companion. Or boss. Whoever he was. They were at odds and not agreeing about their “work”.
I’d heard enough, though. I couldn’t be sure and they wouldn’t answer me if I asked any questions. But it sounded like they were talking about the night Father was poisoned. Maybethese hired hands were indirectly responsible. It sure as fuck sounded like it.
Keeping my gaze down as I maintained this sluggish, wounded look, I let my thoughts race.
These fuckers have to know who poisoned my father. They’d know who they got their orders from. Even if there is a filing rank and chain of power, this is a start. I can trace it back from them and find out who tried to assassinate Father.
“Shut the fuck up.” The unmasked man glanced at me, then watched his “buddy” stagger back from his hit. “You want to go off on me for not putting a stupid-ass mask on but you’ll come in here and run your fucking mouth like that?” He hit him again, and I knew my chance to overhear anything was over.
They argued more, ending up carrying their fight out of this holding room I was in.
Sweating and breathing through the oppressive heat and pain, I focused on the little I’d heard.
It sure as fuck sounded like they were talking about the night Father was poisoned. As soon as Grandmother saw Father poisoned, then the second time, when they tried to poison him again and the nurse saved his life, the surveillance feeds for the surrounding buildings had been wiped.
That was why I’d gone to Katerina for help. I’d sought her for her hacking skills, counting on her to hack into those computer systems and provide me with a clue of who’d trespassed to poison my father.
But she hadn’t had enough time to hack. She’d only gotten so far. Even with the limited low-quality videos she’d recovered, she didn’t have the time or opportunity to sleuth into it any further.
She hadn’t had the time because that was when I’d caved. Our one night of passion together, when I dismissed common sense and slept with the enemy.
With the mental image of that night fresh in my mind again, I closed my eyes and willed my body to cool down from the heat forced into this torture room. I steadied my breath to the sweet memories of Katerina coming for me, crying out so sexily and making me wish for so much more with her.
“Fuck,” I muttered on an agonizing note of missing her, especially when she stopped speaking with me after that one night.
