“Oh, you can stick that right up your ass, Bennett. You dare stand there judging me when you gave up your freedom to save your family,” Ruby shrieked. “Well, do you want to hear what I had to give up? My virginity to a filthy pig of a man so I could have money to get food, and I lost the rest of my innocence to all the men who followed so I could make my way across Europe in search of my fucking brother. I gave up my integrity when I stole food and money from those sleeping or too drunk to notice and my pride when I cleaned up the slop of others. And when there was nothing else I could give in order to take the next step, I gave up my own goddamned life, Bennett, just so that one day Napoleon would pay for what he did…and you can stick that up your ass, too.”

Ruby took a step back, and she eyed Bennett up and down. “So, once you figure out how to walk with that load of righteousness you’re carrying, I’ll be in the car.”

***

Napoleon slammed his finger down on the intercom button again. “One last fucking time. Either someone finds Ivan and tells him to come to my office right now, or you’re all dead.”

The door flew open, and Ivan rushed in wearing nothing but a pair of trousers that hadn’t yet been zipped. “I’m here. I’m here.”

Napoleon scrunched up his face when he saw the bare-chested man. “Where the hell have you been, and why the fuck aren’t you dressed?”

“It’s my birthday,” Ivan said, zipping his pants. “You told me I could have the night off and to have as much pussy as I wanted. I thought it was my present.”

“Well, I have a better present for you,” Napoleon said, picking up a paper from his desk. “And it concerns Bennett Archer.”

Ivan’s face lit up. “Tell me you’re going to let me kill her,” he said, striding across the room to the desk. “Tell me I can finally run that cunt through.”

“Not yet,” Napoleon said, handing Ivan the paper. “But I want you to put together a few teams of your best and send them out to kill all the people on this list. Not one lives. Do you hear me? Not one.”

Ivan scanned the names on the page. “But Archer’s not on here.”

“And neither is Flanna, but that will come later.”

“Flanna? Your sister?” Ivan said, twisting his face into something far uglier than the original. “I thought you told me you had your whole family killed.”

“I did, but it seems the ruffians I hired to do the deed couldn’t count, which leads us to where we are now.”

“Which is?”