Page 105 of Somno Slave

“He...violated the victims’ hearts.”

The world stills. “He what?”

His cheeks redden.

“He... violated a heart?” I echo. “What does that even mean?”

Mike swallows hard. There’s a pause before he lifts his hand slightly and juts his finger down at his crotch.

My eyes widen. “He had sex with their hearts?”

“Yes.” He says breathlessly.

Sexual sadism.The word flashes across my mind like a headline.Psychosexual deviation.

My fingers curl around the pen, too hard.

“I’m sure Peter just forgot.” Mike repeats quietly.

My thoughts sour.

Forgot to tell the Doctor but remembered to show the guards.

Not likely.

“You don’t want to see those pictures anyway,” he says, his eyes finding mine. His cheeks lose their colour. “I can’t get them out of my head.”

My eyes snag briefly on the filing cabinets lining the wall and my stomach tightens immediately.

I should look away. Something colder settles inside of me instead because suddenly I realise I need to see them properly. All of it. Every photograph. Every detail.

I need to know what things a man can do...and yet sit still beneath interview lights looking untouched by them.

Chapter Thirty-One

Rheda

The time ticks by slowly. Every second lands with a thud.

The wordeverywherepounds around my mind, looping faster and faster until it feels scorched into the back of my skull. Blood everywhere.

I don’t want to think about it. I force myself not to. But my mind goes there anyway, traitorous, vivid, uncontrollable.

The cavity Mike described.

The hole.

The violation.

I try not to focus on the way my own heart aches now as it skips a beat.

I should be writing. It’s been over an hour.

That thought comes too late.

My notebook is still closed beside me, untouched. My pen lies across it at an angle, exactly where I left it. The sight of it makes something hot twist through me.

I move quickly, snapping the book open and dragging it closer. The paper looks too bright under the overhead light. Blank. Accusing.