I trail off and lift the hammer over the head of the nail, holding his eyes unflinchingly as I drive it home. His screamsounds like a symphony, and I close my eyes, drinking it in until he whimpers.
“I-I-I never hurt anyone. I never?—”
Unbridled fury plows through me as I bring down the hammer on the back of his hand half a dozen times, the sound of my blood coursing through my veins louder than the lying bastard’s howls of pain.
Then I drop the hammer back onto the table, and grip his bloodied shirt collar, making him look at me. His eyes are glassy, and he’s only half-conscious when I snarl, “For that lie, I’m going toreallytake my time with you.”
I drop him with a curse, and his chin falls forward onto his chest as he loses consciousness. Enzo rolls his eyes before he double-checks the restraints, then he slips outside to check on the progress of the second part of my plan.
The alarm Emiliano had set on my cell before I’d boarded the family’s jet chimes in my pants pocket, and I lift it out with a heavy eye roll of my own.
I make short work of placing a video call, cutting it off abruptly when Enzo steps back inside with a dangerous grin. “He’s just pulled up.”
“Bring him to me.”
When Enzo slips back outside, I flip the security feed of the compound onto my cell, flicking through cameras until I spot Elodie walking into the kitchen with Emiliano. Her face is flushed with exertion as she grabs a mixing bowl from a shelf.
I smile to myself as I pocket the cell and pluck the cattle prod from the table before stabbing it into Jeremy’s gut. He jerks himself awake with a shriek right as his bound and gagged son, Harrison, is forced into the room in Enzo’s hold.
Fresh horror paints his face when he looks at me with pleading eyes.
“Please, not my son. I’ll do anything?—”
I draw back my free hand before propelling it forward to smash it into his face, savoring the sound of my flesh brutalizing his.
“Tie him to this.” I kick a chair toward Enzo, who does as I’ve instructed, and then he stands behind Harrison, arms folded across his chest.
“Now, Jeremy.” I inject exaggerated patience into my tone, tipping my head to one side to watch the blonde, sweating man with narrowed eyes. “I’ll give youonelast chance to come clean before you watch Harrison get his just desserts, hmm?”
He shakes his head, and I can clearly see the cogs working as he tries to figure out what I mean. “I-I-I don’t…I haven’t hurt anyone…”
What little patience I have remaining vanishes and, in one fluid movement, I grab the machete from the instruments lined up beside me to bring it down on the wrist of his decimated hand. The single action severs the hand from his body as his cries of agony fill the room before he slumps forward.
I slowly draw the bloodied blade across the side of my shirt, cleaning one side and then the other before turning to a pasty-faced Harrison.
As soon as I tug the gag from his mouth, he cries out.
“I’ll give you anything –anything! Please, just let us go.”
“Would you consider yourself a good person?”
He regards me with confused eyes before slowly nodding. “Y-yes.”
“Then, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done, Harrison Danvers?”
He shakes his head slowly, opening and closing his mouth before I give him one final chance to give me the answer I’m searching for.
“Do you often tell lies?”
“No.” He answers far more quickly than before as he shakes his head. “No, I don’t tell li?—”
Harrison is cut off when I nod at Enzo, who grips his blonde head roughly before slamming his cheek down onto the table.
I grab a long blade and move closer, the fear in Harrison’s eyes mirroring the fear in his father’s. “I gave you a chance, you worthless sack of shit. Which was more than you gave toherwhen your father raped her. When you lied to cover his ass. You’re as bad as he is.”
Harrison’s eyes widen in realization, but he’s powerless to say a word as Enzo forces his mouth open with his free hand. He fights back, trying to shake his head to no avail while I loom even closer, watching him with hard eyes.
“He’s lostoneof the hands that hurt her.” I tip my head toward his passed-out father, whose wrist is steadily leaking blood onto the tiled floor. “He’ll lose the other shortly before I sever the dick that stole her innocence.”
