Page 79 of Protective Phlox

“What the fuck? Why are you here then, and where is Dad? He should be looking for me.”

Savannah looked back at me, and I shook my head no. I hadn’t told him about his father. It was more entertaining to break someone when they thought there was hope of being rescued.

“I put your father in jail, where he will rot for the rest of his life. He’s not coming for you,” Savannah said.

“What? No! Why did you do that? Dad was going to rescue me. He promised that we’d always look out for one another. It was our little secret.” Alex banged his forehead off the glass three times, repeating ‘Our little secret’ and then just stood there with his head pressed up against it, distorting his face.

“What happened to you, Alex? I can only remember the funny brother I helped with homework and who told Travis Harding off when he broke my heart. How did you become this?” She held her hands out toward the glass. “How could you do what you did to Elle?”

Savannah’s voice broke as she mentioned their younger sister. Alex had raped and killed her, then made it look like the poor girl drowned. I still didn’t understand how Kaylani had fallen under his spell and chose to send him naked photos of herself. I would probably never understand because when I looked at him, I saw him for what he was…a snake oil salesman who sold you what you wanted to hear.

“I didn’t do anything. I’m innocent. Whatever he told you is a lie,” Alex growled and pointed at me. “He’s evil.”

“I know the truth, Alex. You can drop the act. I looked into everything, including the videos that you and your father made.”

Alex smirked and ran a hand over his chest as he licked his bottom lip. “I miss my videos. Did you like them? Did they turn you on? I bet they did. I bet you watched them and got good and wet.”

“Enough,” I bellowed, and Alex’s eyes darted to mine. “Do not say anything like that again, or I will change who I’m here to see.”

“Just tell me the truth, Alex. Why did you hurt Elle? Why did you hurt any of them?”

Alex placed his hands on the glass and smiled at Savannah, but there was no warmth or humor in the look. It was dark, like a depraved clown.

“Because I could,” he said and started licking the glass.

Savannah shivered, and that was enough. She said she wanted to see him, and I let her, but I wasn’t subjecting her to this anymore, no matter how strong she was. He was the thing of nightmares. Stepping up beside Savannah, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tucked her tight into my side.

“Come on, that’s enough,” I said, and Alex made a face as he rolled his eyes.

“Aww, isn’t that sweet? He’s all worried about you, but he doesn’t know that you’re a raging bitch!”

I turned Savannah away from the cell and nudged her to walk away. She seemed frozen to the spot, staring at Alex. I could only imagine what she was thinking. As she turned away, Alex started yelling.

“No, no, don’t go. I’m sorry, big sis, come back and visit with me. Don’t go, please,” he begged and sounded almost childish in his tone. “Fine, fuck you, you whore! I hate you. I should’ve killed you instead!”

Savannah wrapped her arm around my waist but held her head up high and never looked back. “I don’t understand how I never saw that side of him. How could I live with him day in and day out and be so oblivious?”

“You have to stop blaming yourself. You were both young, Savannah. You didn’t see him again for years after your mother divorced his father.”

“I know, but when I look at him now, I can see it as clearly as I can anything else in this room. It just baffles me that he killed my little sister while we lived in the same house, and I never suspected a thing. It genuinely creeps me out, and I don’t get creeped out often.”

“I know the feeling. Trust me, when he wants to, he can portray himself as the perfectly misunderstood guy. He did it more when he first arrived, as if he was trying to convince my soldiers to let him go, but being here brought the darker parts of him to the surface. Do you ever want to come back?”

“No, I saw all I needed to see. I’ve made peace with the brother I envisioned in my mind as a child and who he is now.”

“I’ll take you in so you can show Aldo and his minion that they failed and you’re still alive. But then I’m going to have a couple of the guards escort you out of the cell area, and you can relax in the living room or one of the sleeping quarters until I’m through.” I expected an argument, but instead, Savannah nodded, which told me that she was close to being done and needed to rest. She hated admitting it, but I always knew.

Alex’s ranting trailed off when we didn’t come back, and I knew he’d moved away from the glass. One of these days, I was going to have to look up the best way to kill him that wouldn’t leave behind a dark stain on this place. All my other prisoners combined didn’t come close to his level of evil.

I nodded to my guard manning the door to the torture area, and he stepped out of the way for me to unlock it.

“This is all very government-level security you have here,” Savannah said, and I gave her a smirk.

“It’s better.” With a heavy thud, the door unlocked, and I pushed it open. “Chad, leave the door open. When I tell you to, I want you to escort Mrs. Mikhailov out to one of the resting rooms and personally guard her.”

“Yes, Boss,” he said and put his back to the door to keep it open for us to step inside.

The room had a dim, reddish hue with a strip of LED lighting that circled the ceiling. Aldo and the man, who I only bothered to know as the shooter, were hanging by their wrists from the ceiling, their toes brushing the floor. They were blindfolded with noise-cancelling headphones on just to fuck with their senses.