Keeping his palm pinned on the table, I hold out my free hand. “Give me a knife.”
I’ll have to be content with these screams. From today on, Teszner won’t utter another sound.
Reino takes a flip knife from his pocket, flicks it open, and places it on my palm.
The lawyer’s eyes are like an owl’s. He’s clutching the edge of the table, looking indecisive as to whether he should bolt or stay put.
“Stay.” I smile at him. “That’s the intelligent choice.” The order I give my wife is gentle. “Go wait outside.”
Teszner shivers and sobs. The fucker is more stupid than I thought. By now, he should know I always do what I promise.
Letting go of his hand, I move behind his chair, splay my fingers over his jaw, and force back his head.
He slobbers and gurgles in my grip.
Tatiana stands. Her voice is strong and even. “No.”
I’m sure I didn’t hear her right. I tilt my head. “What did you say to me?”
Her hands are trembling at her sides, but she keeps her back straight. “I want to talk to my brother. I want answers, and I think I deserve them.”
I let Teszner go with a shove. If my wife wants answers, she’ll get them before I remove his tongue.
Teszner trembles so much he barely manages to pull the pen from his hand. He cradles his injured hand against his chest, bleeding all over his suit and the table.
The lawyer takes a handkerchief from his pocket and offers it to Teszner, who snatches it up and winds it like a bandage around his hand.
Tatiana sits back down, looking as if her knees are about to fold. After last night and the scene she just witnessed, I don’t blame her. I didn’t mean for her to see that side of me in person. I just couldn’t help myself. No one speaks to her like that.
She holds her brother’s gaze. “Did you bug Noah’s toy?”
He stares at her with so much malice there’s no question about how much he hates her.
Motherfucker.
For that, I’m taking his eyes too.
His upper lip curls. “You know why I did it.”
Despite the fact that she knows her brother is lower than vermin, profound sadness passes over her face. “Did you think about what would happen to Noah when you sent those men after me?”
He only continues to glare at her with that mocking sneer on his face that says to go fuck herself.
Oh, Teszner. You don’t know when to stop, do you?
Tatiana nods a couple of times, tears shining in her eyes. “You didn’t give a damn if Noah got hurt or killed in the process, did you?”
At least he’s got enough brain cells to know he shouldn’t answer that question.
“I told them I wanted you alive,” he says. “I said nothing about the kid.”
Or maybe not. I’m going to enjoy torturing him.
“Thank you,” Tatiana says, addressing me and not her brother. “That’s all I wanted to know.”
The dumb fuck still doesn’t know when to shut up. “Joni was willing to renegotiate the terms of marrying you even though you were damaged goods.” He says that as if Tatiana missed out on the opportunity of her life. “He would’ve settled for your shares and a part of mine. But he didn’t want to raise another man’s bastard.”
Tears glitter in her green eyes. “He’s your nephew, Leander.”