I feel Vanessa’s wide-eyed stare on me, but the sooner she learns that in my world conflicts are settled with blood, the faster she’ll toughen up.
I let the bastard drop to his knees as he spits out a tooth.
“Still as subtle as ever, Michael,” Barbara laughs, still sipping her whiskey.
Vanessa looks at me in shock, while my cousin simply snaps her fingers and gestures at the limp body at my feet.
“Get this i***t out of here.”
In seconds, two men haul him out of the apartment.
“I’m done,” I tell Barbara.
This time she doesn’t try to negotiate or drag out the talk. She knows me well enough to see I’m out of patience, and she doesn’t want me tearing the place apart. She signals her second, Lazar—a skinny blond with glasses—who steps up with a stuffed duffel bag. He doesn’t look like mu
