I nod once.
“I figured. Your family will be dead before then.”
Evelyn gasps. Daniel jerks violently against the ropes. Gina begins sobbing again, her breathing turning frantic. Thomas stares at me in disbelief.
Fear spreads across the room.
Grant’s voice drops into something colder.
“I promise you, you will die screaming.”
He leans closer to the camera.
“What you did to my brother will seem like mercy compared to what I do to you. I’m going to have each of your limbs chopped off so that you’re nothing but a fucking torso!”
His voice grows more vicious with every word.
“I’ll have every member in the Collective take turns raping you within an inch of your life. You’ll beg for merc—”
“I’m done talking, Colin,” I smile. “Choose who goes first.”
The room freezes.
Grant’s rage collapses instantly.
“No,” he begs. “No, no, please. I’ll give you anything. I’ll call off the manhunt. I swear.”
“Choose.”
His voice breaks as he spits another insult at me.
“Okay,” I shrug. “I’ll choose for you then.”
The knife moves before anyone can react. I step behind Daniel and drive the blade clean through his throat. The steel punches through flesh and muscle with a wet, violent sound.
Blood erupts from his jugular instantly.
It sprays across the table and the floor in thick bursts as his body convulses violently against the ropes. His heels hammer the floor while choking sounds tear out of him.
Grant yells through the phone.
I pull the blade free.
Daniel’s body jerks once more before slumping forward. Blood continues pouring from the hole in his throat.
I look into the phone.
“Guess you’re an only child now, Grant.”
Across the table Gina is still crying, her mascara smeared across her cheeks.
I walk slowly toward her.
She shakes her head desperately.
“Please,” she whispers.
I stop beside her chair.
