Lying bastard. He wasn’t going to let me go, and we both knew it. But this was how the game was played when you were sloppy enough to get captured. Dragging things out to the bitter end. I’d only get one shot to try to take out Dawson. I knew what I was going to do, but whether I had the strength for it was another matter. Still, it was best to keep him talking as long as possible.

I backed up a few steps from the dwarf so that I was clear of the stalactites and the water dripping down from the ceiling. He didn’t follow me. His first mistake. “So you’ve figured out what I am, what I do.”

“You’re an assassin,” Dawson said. “That’s the only explanation for all those silverstone knives you had on you and the way you threw yourself at me at the party.”

Well, at least he wasn’t stupid enough to think I’d really been attracted to him. That would have been rather sad on his part. I gave him a thin smile. “Actually, I was enjoying my retirement, if you can believe that. But then, as the old story goes, I got one last job offer, and the money, well, it was just too good to pass up.”

Another assassin, Brutus, had said those words to me once—right before I’d killed him. Of course, they were a complete fabrication on my part now. But it was just the sort of fairy tale Tobias Dawson wanted to hear, the story he’d already sold himself on. I could see the suspicion in his eyes. All I had to do was fill in the name for him. And even if I didn’t make it out of here alive, I still planned on causing as much trouble as I could for one certain individual.

“Who hired you? Why? Tell me right now, or I’ll let my boys have some fun with you.” Dawson jerked his thumb over his shoulder at his two men.

Behind him, one of the giants rubbed his crotch and rocked his hips forward. His buddy laughed at him and gave me a slow wink. Their casual mockery made my anger ratchet up from a slow simmer to a boil. Those bastards weren’t laying another hand on me.

But I still had my part to play for Tobias Dawson, so I took another step back from the jagged stalactites and threw my hands out wide. “Isn’t it obvious who I’m working for? Who else knows about this little diamond mine you’ve stumbled upon? Who else have you told about it? Why don’t you think about that for a few seconds and get back to me.”