Page 101 of Black Ledger

“How does it feel to be their sacrificial lamb?” I asked, stretching my hand out and placing a KA-BAR knife against his throat.

“He’s going to end you,” he panted through a pained breath, still clutching his groin.

“Perhaps.” I smiled like a black widow before it devoured its mate. “But either way, you won’t make it out alive.”

A click sounded from behind me—the telltale sign of a safety disengaging.

“Put the knife down,” Severin said with a dark whiskey voice.

I pinched my eyes closed for a moment. Of course, I’d heard his voice as Keira. I’d spent many hours and days with him in the last month, but this was the first time hearing him as Xeniya, the Fury.

As myself.

It was a lot to take in.

I kept my back to him and my body positioned toward Miroslav as I sucked in a sharp breath. “I’d rather not.” I modulated my voice just slightly to try to keep him from discovering my true identity.

We weren’t ready for that yet.

I hadn’t spent seven years in acting classes for nothing.

“You’re trapped in here,” Severin said. “You can’t escape, and I have a gun pointed at your head.”

“No.” I paused, stringing out the moment, keeping his attention attached to me. “We’re trapped in here.”

He let out a low sound, but I couldn’t quite decipher it, especially with my back toward him.

“Are you going to shoot me, Severin?” I tilted my head to the side, letting him see the edge of my face. My platinum-silver hair swayed with the motion and caught in the moonlight streaming through the industrial windows.

“Yes.” Anger radiated from behind me, but Severin still didn’t pull the trigger. Not that it would matter. He couldn’t hit me.

I sighed. “But you won’t put us all out of our misery until you have answers.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a harsh statement.

“Then tell me why you are targeting my men and me.”

A low, wicked laugh escaped my lips. “Is, because I can, not a good enough answer?”

Severin took a heavy step toward me. Menacing and angry. “I will shoot you.”

“Not without torturing answers out of me first.”

Severin grunted.

“But the question then becomes: can you capture me before I slit your man’s throat… and that truly is a riddle I cannot solve.” I pivoted on my feet and took a step closer to Miroslav’s side so I could see my enemy instead of having my back to him. “But here is what I cannot understand: why would you care to save such a despicable man?”

“By whose definition?”

“Mine. Obviously.” I shook my head. “Well, it’s rather rude of us not to include Miroslav in our conversation, don’t you think?” I ran my fingers through Miroslav’s hair, grabbed him by the nape of the neck, and forced him to look up at me. “Perhaps he should tell you just how despicable he is… There is a little piece of information he left out of your little interrogation.”

Severin’s eyes darkened and landed on Mirko, but the other man clamped down on his jaw.

I laughed harshly. It was time to lay my cards on the table and watch Severin figure out why I was after him. He shouldn’t be surprised.

His family trafficked in the worst of human nature, and Severin was the heir, groomed to take it all over.

“Be honest, Mirko. Tell him.” I leaned down, petted his cheek, and placed my lips on his earlobe, biting down before whispering, “Perhaps leave out my name. I’m far more forgiving than he is.” In a louder voice, so Severin could hear, I said, “Tell your boss what you did to me.”