74

Asher

DAYS LATER

I’m torturing a lot of people these days.

It’s not something I love, though violence has a special place in my heart, much as I’m loath to admit it. I was never so naive as to think that taking over the Bratva from Yannick would be a bloodless venture. But to have to create precise suffering for my enemies is different than a battle for my life.

The upside is I’m quite good at it.

“Did you think that betraying me would end well for you, Mikhail?” I walk around my former brigadier, where Mila has tied him to a chair. The ropes cut across his tan, long-sleeved shirt, digging into his stocky muscles. The constriction is enough to leave his limbs numb without doing permanent damage.

I’d hoped we’d snag one of my defectors, but Mila surprised me by capturing one so quickly. She spotted him when he was ordering a hot dog from one of the many carts downtown and stalked him until he was out of view of anyone who’d care before she knocked him out and carted him back to my plac