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I drop the knife in my hand at Sansone’s voice. “How… What are you doing here?”
Panic begins to set in. I can’t explain away having three men hanging on hooks.
“You don’t get to ask the questions here, I do.” He advances into the room, his glance missing nothing and stripping me bare.
“You aren’t supposed to see this. You can’t be here.” I rush him, trying to push him back and out the door.
He grabs my elbows and shakes. “That’s not how this works. You ran out on me without a word. What have I told you about going anywhere without telling me first?”
His anger brings me up short.
“W-w-what? You’re…mad at me for leaving?” Dumbfounded, I stop fighting him.
“We’ll talk about your punishment after I hear your explanation. Start with who these men are.”
The first man I shot with a tranquilizer gun moans.
“You might want to start before they come around.” Sansone strolls to the table displaying a selection of knives I intend to use tonight and a laptop.
I point to each man and identify them with a point of my finger, “Buyer. Seller. Guard.”
“Ah, yes, let’s talk about the guard.” A steely note enters Sansone’s voice, anger and violence close to the surface. “That man outweighs you and is obviously no stranger to murder, yet you decided to fight him.”
I stare at him determined not to say a word.
“Explain,” he snaps.
I flinch and start singing. “I had a plan to minimize the risks. Shoot him with a tranq, keep him contained until it worked?—”
“But he wasn’t! He escaped to fight you.”
“You were there for that?”
“Zakiya, don’t change the subject. This isn’t about me but your recklessness.”
I glance around the room, a macabre setup of the horrors I haven’t begun and Sansone’s only concern is my safety? I open and close my mouth like a gasping fish out of water, unsure what to do or say.
“I’m waiting.”
The seller groans again, signaling he’ll wake soon.
“I had to do what I did. couldn’t ignore what was happening. No one was going to help that baby if I didn’t act. There wasn’t time to make a better plan. You can’t fault me?—”
“You’re damn wrong, I can blame you. I was with you tonight. You had me!”
I advance on him, realizing what he isn’t saying. “You’re full of shit. If you really felt a way when you saw me fighting that man, you would have stepped in.”
He glances away, his jaw flexing before swinging back to glare at me. “Aurelio tackled me to prevent me from intervening. You need to get it through that dense head of yours. Your safety matters to me.”
“Aurelio is here?” I run to the door, a new panic overtaking me.
“Of course not. I sent him home. I expected you wouldn’t want him seeing your brand of justice.”
I turn, slumping against the door.
Sansone approaches me until he cages me between his body and the exit. He pinches my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Apologize for trying to put me in an early grave.”
“I-I’m sorry. I wanted to protect you from this.”
