“What?” I snap.
“The clean-up team is here,” he tells me. “And we need you above deck.”
I push down my annoyance and nod. “Send the team in. I’ll be right up.”
“You’re going to leave me here alone?” Jessa gasps, looking more alarmed to be left alone with the dead body than to be trapped under mine.
“You won’t be alone,” I assure her. “Just keep out of their way.” Then I follow Lev out of the room.
He doesn’t say anything until we’re on the narrow staircase that leads up to the bow. “What are you doing?”
“Managing the situation.”
“That’s the craziest management philosophy I’ve ever seen.”
“If you have something to say, I’d rather you just say it, Lev. Without all the fucking dramatics.”
He twists around on the staircase and blocks me. Lev is a tall man in his own right, but even still, we’re eye-to-eye despite the fact that I’m two steps below him.
“She saw you kill Benyamin,” he points out in that teacher-saying-something-obvious voice I despise so much.
“I’m aware. I was there.”
“So why is she still alive?” he hisses.
I shrug. “Because I can control her.”
“I hate to break it to you, but your cock isn’t a magic wand. She’ll have to take it out of her mouth eventually, and when she does, she’s gonna sing like a bird. Don’t be naïve, man.”
I narrow my eyes. “When have I ever been naïve?”
“I know you, Anton,” he says, lowering his voice a little. “The only reason you brought this chick onboard is because she interested you. How many times has a woman caught your attention in your entire adult life?”
I open my mouth to answer, but he keeps going before I can get a word in.
“Never,” he says firmly. “But for whatever reason, you like this girl. And it’s clouding your judgment. That’s the only reason she’s still breathing.”
I put my hand on his throat and shove him hard against the elevated wall, taking care to cause as much pain as I can before I release him.
“I don’t have to justify a goddamn thing to you. She keeps breathing until I say so,” I say harshly, making it clear that his lecture is over. “Is that clear?”
Lev sighs in defeat and nods. “The boy is losing his shit upstairs. He tried to throw himself into the ocean.”
I nod and back away. “Next time, let him.”