She’s sitting in the middle of the room on a chair, soaking fucking wet, and her lip is split. There’s blood trickling down her chin. Torture a fucking woman? It’s sick. But what choice do I have? What fucking choice do I have when everything is at stake?
“What the fuck is this?” I growl at Caleb. “I told you, no one fucking touches her until I get here!” I shout.
“She was like this when I got here. Apparently Bob couldn’t control himself for two fucking minutes.” He glares at Bob, and my gaze follows.
“The bitch bit me!” Bob sulks, showing me his bloodied hand.
I can’t look at her. I clench my fists hard, wondering if I can actually go through with this. I inhale deeply. The longer I stare at Bob, the shallower my breathing grows. From the corner of my eye, I can see her shaking.
Taking several steps into the room, I tighten my fists. “I told you…” I can’t even finish my sentence. I slam my fist into Bob’s face and grab him by the shoulders, throwing him to the ground. “Get the fuck up!” I shout, my voice echoing around the concrete room. He clamors to his feet.
“You can’t follow directions worth a shit.” I take a second to calm my breathing. “You know what’s been discussed. You veer from that plan and I will fucking gut you.”
I go to look at her, but can only manage for a moment. Her teeth are chattering violently, her skin’s pale, almost grey, and her lips are tinged a light blue. She almost looks like a corpse. “Victoria.” I say her name in as stern a voice as I can manage, but she doesn’t respond. “Victoria!”
I pull the gun from the waist of my jeans and cock the trigger. That sound rebounds off the walls. I swallow because honestly, what I’m about to have to do to her sickens me to no end.
I close my eyes as my hand grips the handle of the gun. “Bitch!” That comment causes her eyes to slowly rise. She blinks; the slow flutter of her lashes tells me she’s barely coherent. “I know why you’re here, and I have to tell you, it really, really pisses me off.”
Her brow wrinkles. “Why I’m here?” she says through her chattering teeth. “You took me.” Her words are slurred and weak.
“No, you showed up here, remember? I had nothing to do with that.” I raise my hand back like I’m going to strike her, the gun clenched tightly in my fist. She flinches, and I lean in closer to her. “This was well-played, I’ll admit, but now the game is over. You made a mistake coming here, little girl, and you’re about to learn just how much of a mistake that was. Woman or not, you step up like a man, you’ll be treated like one.”
“What are you talking about?” Her voice wavers, tears trickle down her pallid cheek.
“Who sent you here?”
“Euan,” she says, her voice snagging, and her body convulses. I watch her eyes drift in and out of focus.
“If you won’t tell me, I can make you tell me, I promise you that.” I draw my hand back a little more, then snatch her chin; her chilled skin sears through my fingertips. I force her face up to look at me. “I will have no choice but to hurt you if you don’t answer me.” I swallow hard, then place the barrel of the gun underneath her chin, dragging it across her damp skin, and that action is harder for me to manage than I thought. My hands are shaking. My nerves are on fucking edge. She doesn’t say anything, and I squeeze her jaw. “I will break you, and I will end you. You are fucking with the wrong people.”
I drop her chin and stand, moving to the side of the room and leaning against the wall. My heart is hammering in my chest, my stomach knotting. Deep down inside, I don’t think she has anything to do with this, but to be sure I’ll have to break her like I would any other enemy. I will have to utterly destroy her, and if she really is innocent, I don’t know that I will ever be able to forgive myself for what’s about to happen.
I shrug at my uncle and brother. “She’s not gonna cooperate, she doesn’t understand what the fuck that word means.”
Caleb glances at me. His expression is hard, his nostrils flaring as he glares at me. I shake my head at him and he pulls in a hard breath, silently mouthing the words “fuck you” to me as he walks toward her. Bob grabs her by the hair, jerking her head back while Caleb cuts her hands loose and stands her up.
“Ria, just tell us. You can make it stop if you tell us.” Caleb is pleading with her, not demanding; he is begging her to tell us so he can stop.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her chest swells and the next sound that comes from her is a loud sob. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Please, Caleb,” she begs between sharp breaths. “You’re not a monster,” she whispers. “You promised.”
I watch Caleb flinch as though she just inflicted a physical blow to him. His eyes move to mine. “Jude…”
“Do your fucking job, Caleb,” I growl at him. I don’t have time for his bleeding heart bullshit.
Caleb takes a deep breath and clenches his jaw as he motions for Bob to move to the side. He takes her by the shoulders, tilting his head up like he’s begging God for forgiveness before he throws her to the ground. Water splashes up from the concrete when her body hits it. He hovers over her, panting. I know he wants to kill me for making him do this, but you can’t befriend the enemy, and this is a lesson to him. Bob takes her legs, pinning them down beneath his spread knees.
Caleb glances back at me, once more silently pleading with me to let up, but I nod. “Fucking do it,” I growl.
He grabs the collar of the shirt she has on and rips it from her. I expected her to fight, to scream, something...but she’s just lying there weeping and shaking uncontrollably. Her muffled cries damn near cripple me.
She’s a person…I close my eyes for a second, trying to separate myself from this entire thing, and when I open them, Bob has torn the boxers from her. She’s lying naked on a cold concrete floor with icy water puddled underneath her.
“Do you work for Joe, or did you come as a favor to Euan?” Bob asks.
She turns her head away from Bob, and her eyes squeeze shut as she tries to cover her chest with her arms. She’s violently shivering from the cold temperature of the room; each ragged breath she manages to let go of comes out as a white cloud.
I just want her to answer him. I want this to be fucking over. I need to push her far enough to be sure, but this already feels too fucking far...and it shouldn't. I’ve done far worse than this.
Bob crawls off her and crosses the room, lighting a cigarette before he grabs the edge of the metal cart, the rusty wheels squeaking as he pushes it over beside her.
I swallow. My heart’s banging around in my chest and up into my throat; sweat collects in the palms of my hands.
There’s a loud thud on the thick door behind me, and I flinch as the door crashes against the wall.
“Jude, we got a problem. There’s two men sneaking around in the woods in the back of the property.”
“What? How did they get past the fucking security?”
“Fuck if I know. But they’re armed.”
“Fucking Joe!” I look at Victoria. “If I find out you have anything to do with this, I can promise you I will show no mercy!”
I motion with a quick jerk of my neck at Caleb. “Come on.”
Caleb looks back at her, then up at me with a worried look.
“Come on!” I growl.
I step out, holding the door as I peer back into the room at Bob. “You fucking touch her, and I will strangle you with my bare hands.”
Bob nods, standing up and pulling in another drag from his cigarette as he leans against the far wall.
“Do you fucking hear me?” I shake my gun at him. “Don’t touch her until I get back!”
“Yeah, yeah. I won’t. Cross my heart hope to fucking die.”
The door slams shut just as she lets out another loud sob. I weave through the rooms and up the stairs, my gun clutched tightly in my fist as I follow the rest of the guys onto the deck.
“Two guys in the woods over there.” Paul points to the back of the lot.
I don’t wait. I feel like everything is collapsing around me. I’ve got her downstairs, these guys on my property. I feel like I’m being come at from all directions. I sprint toward the tree line, Caleb following close behind me. The rest of my guys swarm in, guns drawn. I hear one of the trespassers shout, and then I see them dart through the thin pine trunks.
I get one in my sight and pull the trigger. The loud explosion from the gun rings through my ears, momentarily muffling the noises around me. Seconds later, a shot fires back at me. At that instant, the entire group exchange shots. Bullets ricochet from the trees, bark splintering off and spraying through the air.
I can no longer see the men, and I pick up my pace, my eyes scanning through the thick woods. “Do you see them?” I shout, gun still cocked and ready.
“No,” Caleb yells. “I don’t see anything. Shit! They must have gotten hit.”
I comb through my hair, still searching for signs that they were shot. I take a few more steps in the direction I saw them flee, and I find bright red blood trailing over the dried leaves. “Well, there’s blood.” I squat, inspecting the leaves. “Not a lot.” I scan the woods once more. I see nothing. I hear nothing. I have over fifty acres; these men could be anywhere.
“Find them!” I order, and head back to the house.