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“Your sister needs you in the bathroom,” I tell Kian.
Not waiting to see if he replies, I turn and head toward the door. An eerie calmness washes over me as we leave The Hill.
This is Diego’s doing. Benjamin was just a pawn. I don’t know why he helped him, but I know it wasn’t by choice. Even so, Benjamin will be punished for playing his part. How severe that punishment will be depends on what condition I find Eden in.
By God, if she’s dead, Benjamin will feel the full wrath of my anger.
And Diego. What he did to Jenny and those other women will pale in comparison to what I’ll do to him.
AS JUDGE AND I QUIETLY WALK up the steps to Benjamin’s house, I realize I could be wasting time coming here, but something tells me this is where they’ll be. Diego doesn’t want to keep Eden, he just wants the chip and to kill her. There’s no reason for him to take her out of Malus. She doesn’t mean shit to him, so he wouldn’t waste the time.
Which in itself doesn’t bode well because he could have already killed her. Thankfully, he couldn’t have had her more than thirty minutes. Men like Diego like to play with their victims before putting them down.
We keep our steps light as we both head to a window on either side of the door. Sweat pops out on my forehead when I realize I can’t see shit because thick curtains cover the windows. A look to Judge says he has the same problem.
My phone vibrates in my pants, and I pull it out to see a message from Emo.
Emo: He has her in the living room. Naked and strung up from the ceiling.
I’ve never in my life felt so much rage consume me. It fills my veins like tiny sparks of electricity. I close my eyes and count to ten in my head, trying like hell to calm the furious need to bust down the door and slay Diego in the most brutal way.
My phone vibrates again, and I force my fingers to loosen their hold enough for me to see the screen.
Emo: Knife, no gun. Charlotte and Leddy are on the floor by the chair.
Motherfuckin’ hell.
It’s no less than what I expected. Benjamin wouldn’t have taken Eden on his own. He had to have had an incentive. Holding someone’s child hostage is a damn big incentive to get a person to do your bidding.
The question is, how long has Diego had them? A week ago at The Hill, after Jenny’s funeral, Benjamin said Leddy and Charlotte were visiting her parents. I have no doubt that was a cover up. Which also means he probably had them the day Jenny died. Diego fucking used him to get inside Judge’s house. Benjamin was distraught about what happened. Guilt plastered all over his face both right after we found him in the kitchen and at the funeral. Guilt that we mistook for self-blame for being knocked out and not saving Jenny. While a lot of men would feel responsible for that, he wore his guilt because he let the bastard in the house.
No fucking wonder we couldn’t find Diego. He was hiding in plain sight.
I walk across the porch to Judge and keep my voice low. “He has Charlotte and Leddy inside. Eden is strung up from the ceiling. No sign of a gun, but he has a knife.”
His jaw clenches as he listens, his thoughts no doubt running along the same lines as mine.
I turn back to the door. I’ve been in Benjamin’s house a few times, so I know just beyond the door is a small foyer. From there is the living room. If Diego has them in that room, there’s no damn way I can pick the lock and open the door without him knowing. I either take the chance and kick the door in and hope for the element of surprise, or wait until Emo, who walked around to the back door, gives me a signal. Neither choice sits well in my stomach. The only thing keeping me sane right now is knowing that in order for Emo to know where Eden is, he has to be in the house.
The decision is made for me when a child’s scream comes from inside. Without thinking, my shoulder slams against the door and the wood splinters. It only takes me a second to absorb the scene before me, but every second feels like agonizing hours.
Right in the middle of the living room, tied to the ceiling by her wrists, her body sagging, her head hanging, her beautiful fucking hair lying limp down her back, and blood dripping to the floor at her feet, is Eden.
In front of her is Diego, his hand at her side, holding the hilt of the knife he has buried in her. His head turns my way and a demented smile curves up his lips.
The smile doesn’t last long though. My blasting through the door distracted him enough for Emo to move into place. One second, he’s pressed up against Eden, and the next he has a knife shoved against his throat.
“Pull the knife out, nice and slow,” Emo says in a lethally calm voice. “My knife isn’t sharp for a reason. Makes it more interesting to have to saw back and forth through flesh, tendon, and bone. You so much as even think about twitching that hand a centimeter in the wrong direction, I’ll make sure to take my time hacking through your neck.”
I tense, ready to charge the bastard if he decides to go against Emo’s orders. My eyes stay locked on the knife sticking out of Eden. More torturously slow seconds pass before he slowly withdraws the knife. I don’t know if it’s the sight of all the blood or the fact that Eden doesn’t so much as spasm as the knife is being extracted from her that fills me with fear.
As soon as the knife leaves her body, Emo pulls Diego backward and I’m rushing forward. I almost slip in the blood surrounding her on the floor. Her legs are fucking covered in it.
“Eden,” I say her name through a raw throat. “Jesus, Christ. Eden, can you hear me?” She doesn’t answer.
I pick her up below her butt and take some of the weight off her arms. Judge appears by my side, holding the same knife Diego used on her. He easily slices through the rope, attesting to how easy it was for Diego to stab her with it.
