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“Fuck!” Timothy curses, spittle flying from his mouth, some of it drooling down his chin.
“What do you think, Hunter?” Silas turns to me. “Think he’s telling the truth?”
Leaning back against the wall, I shove my hands into my pockets. “Only one way to find out. There’s a pair of vise grips on that table. Bet he’d sing like a canary if they were clamped around one of his balls.”
“Hmm.” Silas turns back to the table, picking up said vise grips and flipping them over in his hands.
“You bastards!” Timothy yells, desperation and fear making his voice hoarse. “I don’t know how many! I didn’t fucking keep count!”
He’s telling the truth, and while we already knew he had raped more women than Kendra and his attempt against Katie, his answer still has my blood boiling. The stiffness in Silas’s shoulders confirms that he feels the same way.
“Hunter,” he growls, his blazing eyes meeting mine over his shoulder. “You still want your shots, get them in now.”
I don’t need to be told twice. As I step away from the wall, I pull my hands from my pockets. Timothy’s gaze drops down and he sees the brass knuckles I’m fisting. His eyes widen and panic sets in. Laughing, I slowly stalk toward him, enjoying the pathetic noises he makes as he wiggles against his bonds.
“Please, Hunter. I swear, man, I won’t touch another woman for as long as I live.”
I flash him my teeth. “You’re right about that. You won’t touch anyone again.”
The first punch I throw lands in his gut. He falls slack, his arms pulled as taut as they can as his natural reaction is to huddle into a ball. With his head hanging forward, I deliver an uppercut. Blood spews from between his lips, slinging across the room, some of it landing on my shoes. My next strike, I aim for his kidneys. He grunts in pain, his body too weak to hold him up, so his arms bear his full weight.
As I take in Timothy’s pathetic form, I’m not nearly satisfied, but I leave the rest to Silas.
I take a step back, my eyes turning to Silas. “He’s all yours,” I grunt.
Anticipation flares in his eyes seconds before he plunges a knife into one of Timothy’s thighs, making sure not to hit a vital artery.
For the next thirty minutes, I watch Silas work him over thoroughly, not feeling a smidgen of remorse for the man slowly being tortured to death. It’s people like Timothy the world needs to be rid of. If it were up to me, I’d kill every single one, starting with Whisper, then moving on to Henry, Terry, and Howard. Rotting in prison isn’t good enough for the two bastards who are still there. If they’re alive, then they have a chance of being put back into society, just like Henry, and that shit doesn’t work for me.
A knock comes at the door I’m leaning against. Timothy has long since become quiet, only occasionally letting out whimpers of pain. Upon hearing the knock, Silas pauses in his pursuit of removing Timothy’s other ear and glances over at me.
“Continue. I’ll find out what they want,” I tell him.
Giving me a chin lift, he goes back to work, and I turn to the door. The basement is strictly forbidden to most of the staff. In order to even open the door, you need a code, so there’s only so many options for who’s on the other side.
When I open the door, a grim-faced Kurt stares back at me. I step out and close it behind me.
“Got a problem, boss.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Katie sent me down here to tell you that Presley is here. No clue who that is, but from the look on her face, I take it she’s not supposed to be here.”
“Shit,” I mutter, my gut pulling tight. Of all the times for Presley to make an appearance, right now couldn’t have been a worse one. “Tell her I’m on my way. And donotlet her out of my office or let anyone in. If you see Cat, don’t ask questions. I’ll explain later.”
Kurt has never met Presley before, and he’s only met Scarlett once. It was the night she appeared at Slate, dressed in a revealing outfit Cat would never wear. Kurt was understandably confused by the changes in my wife. I had already noticed her and was making my way to her when Kurt found me. Because I trust Kurt implicitly, the next day I told him about Cat’s personality condition. There was no need to tell him about Presley and Athena because I never thought either of them would show up here. Athena only comes out at The Grove and Presley only appears at the house.
Kurt walks away to do my bidding, and I return to the room. There’s so much blood on the floor beneath Timothy, he looks only a few drops away from bleeding out completely.
“Presley’s here,” I state and Silas whips his head around, his shocked gaze meeting mine. “You finish up here. I’m going to my wife.”
“Go,” he demands.
Without another word or a spared glance at Timothy, I leave the room. The whole trek up to the second floor, my nerves are shot. Why is Presley showing up now? What brought her forward? She usually only appears when Cat’s emotions are heightened and she needs a reprieve from her dark thoughts or reminders of her past. There’s a part of me that isn’t surprised though. None of Cat’s other personalities have emerged since the night she found out about them. I expected maybe Scarlett would appear, possibly even Athena, but not innocent Presley. Slate is not a place she should ever be. My only consolation is that she’s in my office with Katie.
The door is closed when I approach my office. Kurt stands guard outside, like he knows my whole life lies behind that door and he’s determined to protect it without being told.
“Thanks, Kurt. You can head back downstairs.”
