Malachi let the silence stretch.
He was good at silence. Good at letting it fill a room until it became suffocating, until the person across from him started talking just to make it stop.
Derek and Sean didn't disappoint.
"Look, man—" Derek started.
"I didn't ask you to speak yet." Malachi's voice was soft. Conversational. But something in it made Derek's mouth snap shut. "When I want you to talk, I'll tell you. Until then, you listen."
Sean was crying now. Quiet, terrified sobs that shook his shoulders.
Malachi's gaze shifted to him. "You're scared. That's good. That means you understand the situation you're in." He leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees. "Let me make something very clear. I already know everything. Who hired you. What you were told to do. What you wer
