“All I wanted was out, but none of you could accept that.” Linda’s tone was even and didn’t give away any emotion. “When my father was alive, it was only women who wanted to be in the business, and that was bad enough. Now, though, it’s nothing but people who have no way out. I’m not letting my brothers get dragged into that.”

“You’re going to fucking die for what you did,” Zoya said, her Russian accent probably thicker because of the pain of her missing fingers.

“I’ve said that on occasion,” Cain said, dragging Zoya’s attention back to her. “But when you’re the asshole bleeding on the floor, you have no advantage.”

“You think killing me is going to stop Nicola from coming and coming until she cuts you and everyone you love into little pieces?” Zoya’s laugh was grating. “You’re a peon she’s going to have fun with until she gets tired and kills you.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you? It’ll cut down the time until all the fun you mentioned.” She could feel the blood soaking the bandage, and her shirt looked wet again. She was going to need stitches, but all she had to do was hang on. This wasn’t going to kill her, though Emma might. Once they got home, Abigail would take care of her.

“You can’t cause enough pain to make me talk to you. You sound like an amateur for asking.”

“And you sound like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle,” Cain said, making Remi laugh. “It’s making it hard to keep a straight face.” She motioned to Lou, and the next finger came off. Zoya didn’t scream at all. The only outward sign that it might have hurt was the wince when Lou brought the knife down. The woman was hard-core, no denying that. “Tell me where she is and I let your—” She accepted a picture from Remi and studied it before going on. “Is she a girlfriend or little sister?” she asked Linda.

“Little sister,” Linda said.

“Let your little sister go free. She’ll never see you again, but she can dance ballet and be safe from anyone cutting her and your mother’s throat.” She showed Zoya the picture of the young lady in a beautiful ballerina costume with an older woman smiling next to her.

“My brothers will kill you if you touch her,” Zoya said with venom in her voice. She strained against the ropes hard enough that the tendons in her neck bulged.