Fear.
“Your life is in our hands,” I continue. “We decide if you take your next fucking breath.”
I lean in close enough that he has no choice but to look at me.
“So tell me,” I whisper, “who’s the god now?”
Chapter 76
Seth
Iwatch Brooke the moment it happens.
I smile at the recognition. This is the look she gets when fear stops negotiating and clarity takes over.
I light a cigarette because my hands need something to do. The flame catches, the ember glows, and I take a slow pull. Then another. I step closer and pass it to her.
She inhales.
I can see it ground her, pull her fully into her body.
She steps forward and presses the lit end straight into Grant’s eye.
His body bucks against the restraints so hard the table rattles, a noise tearing out of him that is not language anymore.
I hand her a knife.
“What do you want to do first?” I ask.
“Hmm,” she turns the blade in her hand. “Why don’t you give me some ideas?”
I tilt my head and look at Grant. At the panic spreading across his face now that he understands we’re not fucking around.
“Well,” my eyes flick back to him. “Didn’t he say he was going to rape you if he found you that night?”
She nods. “Mm-hmm.”
“Then let’s take away his ability to rape anyone.”
She smiles.
Grant’s face finally breaks. The arrogance collapses into raw panic.
“No,” he gasps. “No, no, no.”
“Oh, yes,” she glances at the table. “Give me theshears.”
I move without hesitation. I retrieve the heavy shear cutters and place them in her hand.
Brooke smiles.
Grant sobs now. The sound fills the room and then cracks under its own weight.
She looks up at me. “Is there anything to cauterize it?”
My mouth curves before I can stop it. I reach for the torch and feel the heat still trapped in the metal.
“I still want him alive,” she murmurs. “Dickless. Ballless. Pathetic.”
