probably died of heart failure if he got the chance. “Find Abram,” I told Albert, who still stood by the door. “Put his son and nephew in the basement until then.” Three hours passed, the sun high in the sky, before the four were lined up in the snow. The girl stood on the end, gaze to the ground, shaking in the basic white dress she wore every day. “As I already told Albert, I didn’t have anything to do with it.” A drop of sweat ran down Abram’s face and glistened in the sun. I raised a brow. “You don’t even know what you’ve been accused of, so how do you know you didn’t do it?” “Because,” he sputtered, “I’ve been loyal to you from day one.” “You want to know what I hate more than traitors?” I stepped closer to him, a gun lax in my hand. “Liars.” “T’ve never lied to you.” His gaze flicked to the right exactly like a liar’s would. “Catch me in a lie, and I swear, Pll let you shoot me in the head right here!” “Hmm,” I drawled. “We’ll get to that.” My eyes slid to the other two men, the son and nephew. One of them was just released from prison for raping a housewife. If I did background checks before recruiting, I wouldn’t have a single employee to my name, including myself. The men both flicked subtle glances at Abram, clearly the lackeys in his master plan. “So you didn’t have anything to do with poisoning the Mikhailov collateral in my home?” “What!” Abram had the audacity to act shocked. “Of course not!” A dark chuckle escaped me. “Your acting skills could use some work.” “T don’t know how I got wrapped up in the middle of this, but if it was the whore beside me who gave you our names, you should know, she’s just trying to take us down with her.” “You mean, your daughter,” I corrected, gaze flicking to the girl who held her arm to her stomach like it needed support. “She isn’t my daughter,” he spat. “Especially after this.” I ignored the words. “Do you beat your daughter often?” Something in my eyes made him lie again. “Nyet. She’s just a slut who likes it rough.” I let the ridiculousness of his statement fill the air for a moment. My boots crunched in the snow as I walked toward the girl and stopped in front