Chapter1
"What did your brother say?"
The heavily accented Russian voice grated at my nerves, but I kept my expression cold and blank. I had spent very little time with the Black Thorn, but I knew that any expression was a show of weakness.
"He was curious about my absence. He had lots of questions."
My handler, Artem, was a mean motherfucker on a good day. If he thought I was holding out on him, he was downright nasty.
Instead, he flashed me a toothy grin as though we were longtime friends. "Maybe next time he'll open up more to you. Give you the reunion we were hoping for."
I shrugged, keeping my features clear. "Maybe." They were fools if they thought Alek would give them anything. Even if they turned the two of us against each other, we would be smart enough to keep our war from benefiting them.
However, they weren't going to hedge all their bets on us alone. They had one of Alek's lieutenants tied to some scaffolding up the warehouse they occupied.
The poor bastard had each wrist strung up above his head and spread out so far that his shoulders had to be burning. But by now he probably didn't care about his shoulders. Not because the pain was gone. Because Artem had his stomach ripped open and was slowly pulling at his intestines.
The torture was graphically violent, but I knew from experience that a guy could live for days with his guts spilling out. The psychological torture of staring at the injury was almost worse than the pain. I also knew from experience that Artem fucking loved causing pain.
Artem was wiping the blood off of his hands as though this was just another day for him. And that’s because it was.
I didn't blink at the gruesome sight in front of me. Even before the Black Thorn got ahold of me, I wouldn't have been affected by the sight. Alek and I had taken over the city brutally and effectively. Maybe not quite as gory as this, but we both got our rocks off in bloody ways and weren't ashamed of it.
"Did he tell you anything?" I asked.
"He started talking halfway through the small intestines, but he didn't know anything good. It didn't matter in the end. Our other source came through."
I stiffened. Fuck. I knew exactly who that other source was. "What did the other source tell you?"
"Everything we needed to know. Hope you've made your peace with your brother because he's going to be fertilizer soon enough."
My expression stayed neutral, but a growl rumbled low in my throat. Daisy Stone was a dead woman.