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“Maybe this will jog your memory.” I return to her side, clamping its jaws into her fingers.
A scream rips from her throat and echoes across the truck’s walls. My breath quickens. The sound only makes me want to inflict more pain.
I lean closer until our noses are almost touching. “Where. Are. The. Children?”
“Only a few go to patrons who want a pet,” she says through ragged breaths. “Those who fail to meet the beauty standards are sent for organ trafficking.”
The words hit like a punch to the gut, and my world tilts sideways. I knew what they were doing to the girls. Knew that some of them ended up in snuff movies. But cutting them up and selling their body parts is a level of depravity I hadn’t fully grasped.
Behind me, Xero stiffens. I don’t need to turn around to feel his rage. It radiates off him like a storm, dark and heavy and violent. His breathing deepens, each inhale sharp and controlled, a clear sign of his restrained fury. The air around us crackles—not just with his anger, but with mine. Every instinct in my bones wants to beat this woman to a mosaic of blood and broken pieces.
“Where are the children?” I snarl.
“Lyle was on his way to dispose of you when he died,” she replies, her voice dripping with contempt. “You were dead weight, ruining Dolly’s performance. Delta said you were worth more to him as body parts than as a Lolita.”
Her words land like a punch to my gut, and I flinch.
She smirks, revealing her swollen gums. “You always were weak, Amy. Crying every night, freezing during missions.”
Her manic laugh turns my body rigid. This is the same cruel taunting she subjected me to when I was a child. Every instinctscreams at me to plunge a knife into her face, not stopping until she shuts her filthy mouth.
“I was a child, you sick fuck!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Xero stepping forward to intervene. I raise a hand, and he draws back.
My grip tightens on the pliers, tearing into her finger. Bones crack beneath the metal, and her screams turn hoarse. The absence of those hateful words sends pleasure shivering down my spine.
But the screams turn to laughter. “Dolly was strong. She’s thriving now, and married to Delta. But you paired up with the son he rejected for becoming a janitor.”
Xero snorts.
I glance over my shoulder to find him grinning.
“We prefer the term cleaners,” he says.
Despite her taunts, Xero stands tall, his expression unyielding. Watching him face her without flinching fills me with a surge of strength. I draw on his resilience, lifting my head to meet her gaze, refusing to be cowed.
She leans forward as much as her bindings allow. “Do you think Xero loves you? He’s just using you to resolve his daddy issues. You’re nothing but a stepping-stone in his quest to find Delta.”
Her words cut deep. Cold dread settles in my stomach, but I hold my features in a tight mask. I know I’ll eventually have to make Xero listen to why I left him to die in flames, but that can wait until we’ve dealt with our mutual enemy.
“Your attempts to manipulate me won’t work, bitch,” I snap. “I’m no longer that frightened child.”
She cackles, but it soon stops when I bring the pliers to her nose.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her voice rising several octaves.
“You took everything from me. I won’t let you do the same to the children. Tell me where they are, or you’ll lose what’s left of your looks.”
“What’s the point?” she asks through ragged breaths. “I’m dead, either way.”
I squeeze the pliers, cutting into her flesh. She shivers, her breath coming in panicked bursts.
“You tormented me until I started hallucinating. Because of you, every person I kill haunts me as a delusion. That’s fourteen years of agony I’ve suffered, which is how long I’ll keep you alive.”
Her pupils dilate, and her face freezes in a rictus of terror. It’s not just about the psychological damage. Heath would have been fourteen by now. Because of her, I lost my baby brother. She knows I mean every word.
I lean in close, my voice a low growl. “Give me the information I want, and I’ll make it quick.”
