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“You don’t want to fuck with me, Scar. If you don’t know what was in that file, then where the fuck is it?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest in a way that was usually intimidating, but she didn’t seem to give a damn.

“Little one, we aren’t actually planning on keeping an alliance with Dominick. And he’s clearly planning on fucking us. We just want to know what he knows about us,” Niko said.

It surprised me that he’d spoken at all. Usually, he was just the retrieval man.

Two sets of eyes snapped to where the deep rumble originated from beside me. Uneasiness prickled over my skin at the calculated look on Scar’s face as she stared at Niko. I didn’t miss how her gaze briefly dropped to his injured thigh before refocusing on his face when she couldn’t spot a bandage on his jean-clad legs.

“What the hell was that, Niko?” Caleb asked, clearly pissed off.

“Your threats were getting us nowhere. Thought she should hear what it is we’re after. Maybe she’d be more willing to help,” he said, shrugging a massive shoulder. The rigidness of his spine told me he wasn’t sure whether his gamble would work.

Caleb looked like he was unraveling, pulling at his auburn hair in distress. “Yeah? And what if the bitch tells her uncle? Huh? That’s what we need.”

Scar watched the interaction, soaking it in like a sponge.

Her body relaxed, and she crossed a silky leg over the other. “Little one is insulting. You’ve just packaged it with a pretty bow instead of going with bitch,” Scar responded, her eyes narrowing on Niko. He stiffened at the accusation. She was right. He hadn’t meant it affectionately. He’d hoped the sweet words would get her to open up.

“And why is it I should give you what you want? To avoid being tortured?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

I couldn’t help but chime in on the fun little conversation. “Generally speaking, the threat of physical pain is plenty motivation to speak up.” She tracked my every move as I approached, halting when I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Caleb. “But you seem completely unfazed. Why is that, little one?”

“Because I’m a masochist,” she sneered.

Caleb’s composure broke. He fisted a hand in her hair, a knife to her throat. Crimson droplets trickled down her olive column, falling between her breasts and joining the blood from earlier.

“Where the fuck is Dominick keeping the file?” he bit out.

The two studied one another, the air growing thick with hostility. Everyone was hyperaware of the ledge we were teetering on.

I moved closer, unsure of what Caleb would do. “Answers, little one.” I waved off the ass-chewing she was about to unleash. “Yeah, yeah. You don’t like the name. Tough shit. I like it, and so does the big guy. And you’re strapped to a chair, which automatically makes it so you don’t get a say on shit.”

She literally snarled when I leaned over and bopped her nose. By now, Niko had joined, and the three of us were lording over her, determined to pry the answers we needed free.

She frowned, gnawing on her lip, looking at us as if she were facing an impossible decision. “Do you plan on killing him?” For the first time since I’d met her, she sounded small, unsure of herself.

I followed my intuition and went with the truth.

“We’re going to gut him, Scar.” I brought my finger to her breastbone, running it down to her navel, painting her skin with her blood and drinking in the way her breath shuddered. “Split him down the middle and pull his entrails out. Use them as bait for the sharks when we dump the bastard in the water. That was always the plan.”

“Fuck. Kenji, don’t tell her shit like that,” Caleb barked, throwing a right hook at my face. I laughed as it connected, busting my lip, before delivering a jab to his ribs. This was how it was between us—a volatile dance of aggression and brotherly love.

He assumed my crazed remarks would be why she clammed up and didn’t say shit. But I noted how her eyes chilled at the images my words painted in her equally fucked-up head.

“I want to hold the knife,” she stated.

Caleb’s head whirled back to her, while Niko arched a brow in surprise, mumbling about nature making her most deadly things beautiful.

Steely determination shone on her face. She held her head high, looking like a queen and not a captive. “We have a common goal. I want Dominick dead, and based on that lovely description, so do you. So how about a deal? We team up for this endeavor, and then, when the asshole is gone, you three let me go on my merry way.”

Caleb eyed her suspiciously, working through whether there was any way for her to screw us over. His hesitance gained him an eye roll from her.

“Look, I have inside information about the Mafia. I know I can help put Dominick in a grave. Hell, you can record me saying that so you have leverage.” Her face soured when Caleb still hadn’t responded. “I’m backed into a fucking corner, okay? If you send me back to him, my fate is worse than death. He thinks I was in on your little plan tonight. You’re my best fucking option, Callahan, so don’t be an idiot. Go with the win-win.” The tone of her voice was strained. Desperate. I flicked my eyes to Caleb, reading the lines of his body.

Caleb considered his options for a long moment, not that we really had any. As much as he hated her, he’d never send her back. What happened with Jessica haunted me. He wouldn’t willingly send a woman to her death. Not again.

“And I never gave him the file…” she said, a hint of irritation in her tone, like she hadn’t wanted to reveal that tidbit of information.

Caleb’s hands landed on the arms of the chair, caging her in. “What do you mean?” he asked, his tone one of surprise. I studied her, looking for signs of deception, but she looked…resigned.