AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grip his neck tighter and jostle him, letting him get a glimpse of my sharp blade. “Don’t open your fucking mouth until I give you permission.”
His face is beet red. He’s already sweating like a pig, and I’m just getting started. If he doesn’t have a stroke before this is through, it’ll be a fucking miracle.
“I’m not here for an inquiry. I know you did it. You’re no better a hacker than you are a businessman. You left breadcrumbs all along the way that we followed straight back to you. We have all the damning evidence. More than enough to convict you in a legal proceeding and in the court of public opinion.”
“Can I-I-I—”
“I’m talking. Don’t be rude,” I tut, pushing the heel of my hand deeper into his neck.
“I’m here to inform you that if there’s even a single hiccup with Premier’s US launch, you will experience an unfortunate mishap. One that’s long and painful, and involves knives and ropes and body parts being chopped off in tiny pieces.”
He chokes on his whimpers.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you alive so you can watch. My knife work is almost as special as the new product we’re introducing.”
He’s gurgling, and I lower my hand from his windpipe and replace it with the blade.
This wasn’t supposed to go down this way. We spent hours planning how I would walk him through everything he did—step by step—let him see for himself how we tracked his digital fingerprints and how airtight our case is against him. Then I would explain that if there were any more problems, I would turn our evidence over to the FBI and the Portuguese Intelligence Service. Normally we’d take care of this in-house, but we have little sway in the US, and a cautious approach seemed prudent.
But I spent the entire plane ride awake, thinking about what happened with Lexie, and getting more and more worked up. I wasn’t feeling particularly cautious when we landed. This son of a bitch is lucky I don’t carve my initials into his chest before I remove his organs and feed them to the pigeons gathered on the window ledge.
“Don’t even think about going to the authorities, because if you do, all the evidence we have goes directly to them. All of it. If that happens, your ass is going to be sitting in jail for a long time, until we send someone in with a shiv to end your misery. Trust me when I say you won’t do well in prison.”
He’s sobbing now, and I expect him to piss himself any minute.
“Can I say something?” he pleads between gasps.
I don’t give a damn what he has to say. I came to talk, not to listen. But maybe he has something worth hearing. I let him twist in the wind while I consider his request. “Go.”
“I-I-I won’t tell a soul. Not even my wife. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m—I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. The company’s been in my wife’s family for eighty years. I can’t lose it. She’ll never forgive me.”
“Not my problem. But you fuck with me again, and you’re going to have a much bigger problem than a bankrupt business and a pissed-off wife.”
I slide the knife across his throat so he understands I’m not playing games. It’s a surface cut, but it draws blood, and he pisses himself.
“You definitely won’t do well in prison.” I wipe my knife on his shirt and sheathe it. “I didn’t kill you today because I want you to be around to watch your family business wither before it dies a slow, painful death.”
He’s clutching his throat like the paper cut is a gaping wound that requires pressure to stop the bleeding.
What a pussy.
I snatch an almond croissant off the sidebar on my way out.
“Let’s go.” I hand Tamar the pastry. “Not sure if it’s any good. The guy has terrible taste.”
“That was quick,” she says on the way to the elevator. “What did he have to say for himself when you showed him the evidence?”
“I didn’t go through it piece by piece. It wasn’t necessary.”
She side-eyes me. “Are we going to be allowed to leave the country?”
“He’s alive. Don’t worry. There were only a few drops of blood shed.” Not anywhere near enough to satisfy my lust for revenge, or to take the edge off from my argument with Lexie—I’m not sure a murder spree would be enough to calm my soul.
Bancroft’s not going to open his mouth to anyone, but we probably shouldn’t hang around too long in case I’m wrong.
53
ALEXIS
