Page 100 of Beast

He chuckled. “Normally, yes. But I disabled the system long enough to get inside and no one was the wiser.” He cackled with glee, sending another chill down my spine. For a crazy person, he was surprisingly cunning.

“How did you get my new phone number?” I asked.

“Oh, that was easy, too. I ran my special scanning software and located three cellphones in the house. Then I hacked into each one and figured out which one was yours and which one was Adrik’s. I didn’t care about that big guy. He was an easy kill, by the way. Just a quick slice of his throat, and he collapsed in a heap in the yard. One less pig to worry about.”

I closed my eyes, drawing in a painful breath. Timofey had been a good person. A funny, likable guy. I felt terrible that he’d died trying to protect me.

“Don’t talk about him like that. He was a good guy. A lot better person than you! And he didn’t deserve to die!”

Damien rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “Any pig associated with the Bratva deserves to die. I stealthily took out the others one by one, then followed you guys into the forest. You know the rest.”

Unfortunately, I did.

My family had powerful firewalls on all the security systems, which meant Damien must be a really good hacker.

My breath caught as I recalled my phone snapping my photo after he’d started texting me earlier. Had he been spying on me through my phone? I shivered at the thought.

“Were you spying on us with my phone?”

He smirked, a devilish glint in his eyes. “Sure was. How do you think I knew what you guys were doing? How do you think I knew you were Adrik’s weakness?”

Bile churned in my gut. What did he have planned now?

“What do you want with me? Why didn’t you kill me back in the forest? Why didn’t you kill Adrik?”

“Because it’s more fun to drag it out. Adrik knows only the best wolf can win. Our papa ingrained that in our heads when we were kids. I decided it would be more fun to play a game with him, torment him, use you to make him suffer…” He trailed off, a faraway look entering his eyes.

When he turned back to me, his expression had turned feral, his eyes black with menace.

My breath caught, my heart skittering.

“Enough talk,” he snarled, roughly grabbing my arm and yanking me off the chair. He dragged me across the floor down a short hallway and into a small bathroom. Hefting me up, he tossed me into the tub. I slammed into the hard tub, my hip stinging from the fall.

Glaring up at him, I demanded, “Why are you putting me in here?”

He pulled out a knife. Flicking it open, he smirked. “Because I don’t want to get your blood everywhere when I stick you.”

I cringed, my pulse racing.Ohmygod. He’s deranged.

“You don’t have to d-do this. I have nothing to do with whatever revenge you’ve planned.”

He let out an evil snicker. “Oh, yes, you do, piggy. You’re the best way to toy with my brother. Speaking of…it’s almost time to call Adrik and invite him over to party with us. This is going to be so much fun!”

He leaned over me, wielding the knife. “Now, hold still. This might hurt. I need to send Adrik a piece of you to let him know I’m serious.”

I cringed, holding my breath. My heart thundered as he reached for me, his face looming closer.

He lifted the knife.

I closed my eyes and screamed.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Adrik

A commotion outside of the boathouse had everyone turning away from me and waiting as a soldier entered the room, carrying a manila envelope.

“A delivery came for Adrik,” he announced, holding out the envelope that had the wordBeastwritten across the front in bold, black letters.

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