and got him killed.
But it’s looking more and more possible that now might be the third occasion: when I cut Daniel’s fingers off his fucking hand while his daughter watches.
I grip the knife in my right hand and snatch Daniel’s arm with the other, placing his hand flat on the table. The blade just barely grazes the underside of his wrist. I let it hover there.
“Please, no!” Daniel begs, trying to tug his hand free. His eyes are wide with terror.
“What happened?” I hiss, irritation growing inside of me. “Who was he?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know who he was, okay? He came out of nowhere. He shot your guy twice and then he was gone.”
I start to press my knife into the man’s finger when Victoria says, “He’s telling you the truth, Matvei!”
Hearing my name on the lips of Victoria does something to me. She says it confidently, like she’s known me far longer than she actually has.
“And how do I know that, Victoria? How do I know that you two don’t know who the vigilante is? How do I know you didn’t set all this up?”
“I swear to you, I don’t know who he is, but I’m glad he showed up when he did.”
I turn to face her, waiting for an explanation.
She swallows. “You say that your man, that Faddei, wasn’t going to do anything to me, but he was. He was going to do horrible things to me. I’m not stupid. I know men like that. He would’ve done anything to make Dad pay. I’m glad the vigilante showed up and killed him. He saved me.”
“That man isn’t a hero,” I tell her. “He’s a murderer.”
“And what are you?”
I rise from the table, suddenly much more interested in this woman. She stands rigid as I draw closer, one slow step at a time, like a panther in the jungle with a fragile deer locked in its sights.
I’m close enough to smell her now. Floral, bright, the scent of an innocent woman.
Closer, and now I can see the color shimmer in the iris of her eyes. Dark brown. Intelligent.
But scared.
Very, very scared.
The corner of my mouth twitches up in the suggestion of a smile. I like seeing her fear. It lets me know that I have all the control right now.
I reach up to thread my fingers through her hair and tighten my fist. Her heartbeat is thrumming in her chest, a million beats a minute.
She looks so fragile this close to me. Like I could break her in half with one hand.
“You should watch how you talk to me, Victoria,” I warn her in a low, soft tone. I can sense Daniel staring at me, though my men are keeping him rooted in his seat. Even if they weren’t, the pathetic son of a bitch doesn’t have the balls to intervene. If he did, I’d gut him alive. Everybody in the room knows that.
I keep my attention trained on his daughter. “There are other ways to hurt you than what Faddei threatened, and the Justice Killer won’t be there to help you this time.”
Her confidence seems to falter. Her eyes grow wide with fear. She presses her lips together in a straight line and nods, taking heed.
I linger there for a second longer. Then I release her and step back.
The spell is broken.
“The two of you have put me in a tough spot,” I muse. “Half of me says to just kill you both and hang your bodies from the rafters.” The idea is appealing. A neat solution to a mess that has spiraled out of control. A first step towards taking back the reins of my suddenly chaotic life.
“But,” I continue, waving a hand as I turn back to the table to take another swig of whiskey, “the other half doesn’t want to deal with the cleanup.” I cross my arms and lean back against my desk. “So, Daniel, tell me how we fix this scenario. Tell me how you get yourself out of this besporyadok, this mess.”
Silence reigns for a moment. Daniel stutters. I can practically see the gears in his head working—rusted and broken from years of crippling addictions. It makes me want to put him out of his misery here and now.
He looks like he’s about to suggest something. Something that will only piss me off further, no doubt.
But it’s Victoria that speaks instead.
“Let me work off his debt,” she whispers.
I look her over, my mind racing with possibilities. I could get quite