I briefly wonder if Emma will ever be able to touch me or if my aversion to touch will forever haunt me.
Clearing my mind of those thoughts, I quickly make my way to the chair and zip-tie him. His head still lolls to the side.
It’s time for sleeping beauty to wake the fuck up and realize there’s no handsome prince or a happily ever after for him.
I walk to the table and pick up my brass knuckles. The skulls between each groove should have the maximum impact necessary to wake his bitch ass up.
By the time I’ve returned, Karl is back with some tools of his own-the knife he used to interrogate Glen because Lola’s officially retired, a bone saw, and pliers.
“I thought we’d start off easy since we need him alive for this part,” he suggests, and a small smirk finally graces his face.
Returning his smile with one of my own, I slide the brass knuckles over my fingers, flexing them before I form a fist. I turn, pulling my arm back, and launch a punch straight to a still, very unaware Aleksi’s solar plexus.
He gasps awake, cursing in Russian, his face swiveling side to side as he tries to make sense of where he is. But fuck his awareness. I rear back and launch another hit, this time an uppercut to his chin. Blood spurts from his mouth as he screams. A piece of flesh falls from his mouth, along with at least two teeth.
“The stupid fuck bit off the tip of his tongue,” Karl snickers.
Aleksi spits the excess blood at our feet, and Karl punches him in the nose. The resounding crack of bone indicates it’s broken.
“You’re going to answer our questions, or things are going to get progressively worse really quickly,” I inform him, and he throws his head back and laughs.
“You fucking kids want to play big bad men? Do you even have chest hair?” He taunts, and Karl launches at him, grabbing his already broken nose and squeezing, making Aleksi holler in pain.
“Not so funny now, you dumb fucking rapist dick,” he screams, pulling his knife to drag across the other side of Aleksi’s face. “Now your ugly can match.”
Aleksi squints. Blood drips down into his eyes as the recognition of who we are finally registers. He smiles. “Oh, it’s you. Were they ever able to stitch you up? By the time we were done with you, that asshole was a little loose. Your little dick was nice and hard after Elena rode you. You should be proud to have lost your virginity to someone like her. We made a man out of you.”
My vision blinks out, and my heart pounds in my ears. I bite my cheek so hard to prevent the scream that wants to rip out of my chest. I never saw Elena, and Karl doesn’t talk about that day- ever.
“What the fuck did you just say?” My voice sounds far off.
Aleksi’s laugh taunts me, propelling me back to that day. It’s the same scene on a loop.
I’m outside the school, being dragged by my arm. They’re pulling me toward the black car, and they have a gun to Karl’s skull.
“Stop! Stop!” I shout, but it’s too late. We’re both in the backseat of the car, and Karl’s crying.
“Shh, we have to think. What did our dads say to do?” I whisper.
“If it’s safe, try to escape, even if only one of us gets away,” he sniffles.
Then I’m looking out the window, and as soon as an opportunity presented itself, I dove from the car. My hand reaches up, grabbing the phantom spot my tattoo now covers before reaching for my hair and yanking.
Why didn’t I do more? I failed him, and he suffered.
A hand jolts me from the oppressive memories.
“It wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you- I never will. If you didn’t get out, who knows when and if they would’ve found us,” Karl declares, gripping my shoulder and turning me until I stare into his amber eyes. “I’m not going to bullshit you and say I’m fine, but killing this fuck will do a great deal in helping me close that chapter, and I’m able to do that because of you.”
A snort pulls our attention, and both of us turn to Aleksi. “Aww, couple’s therapy, how nice. I want you to know I was there first, and it was nice and tight before I was through- his blood made for nice lube. Didn’t it,
O?
” he mocks.
Fuck this. He dies now. I want answers on Madeline’s location, but I want retribution more.
Pulling my fist back, I land three quick jabs to his temple, and his head slumps forward.
Perfect.
Now we can move the sick bastard without him putting up a fight.
Karl’s footsteps stop next to me. “Let’s fucking do this.”
KARL
I stride toward the closet while Liam cuts his bindings. I need more supplies for what I plan on doing. We can ask the prick more questions after I make him feel what I felt- if he’s coherent or alive enough to speak.
The hurt on Liam’s face gave me the ability to squash my spiral. He’s always holding in so much guilt- letting it eat at him. We were ten. There was nothing he would’ve been able to do if he’d stayed. Fuck, they might have killed one of us if they had the option of two heirs instead of only one.
Before I open the closet door, I push the button to lower the cross, so it’s easier to tie Aleksi to it. Nothing here will be consensual- it wasn’t when they had me. Consent can go fuck itself.
Opening the door, I grab three things- August’s favorite whip, the one studded with nails and shards of glass, a metal pipe, and a tactical knife.
Liam’s eyes pop, shocked at all the tools. His eyebrows furrow, and a crease forms on his forehead.
I see the moment his mind tries to reconcile what I’ve brought with whatever hellscape I endured, but I can’t bring myself to answer him. I’ve never shared the details of all that transpired-of how I got hard when that woman put her mouth on me, or… how… I came when they took turns.
Inhaling, I shut my eyes, trying not to lose myself to the monsters- trying to ground myself in the fact that I survived and that an erection is not consent. That coming doesn’t make me dirty.
I don’t answer Liam’s question when I open my eyes. Instead, I say, “Some of it is to return the favor tenfold.”
And it’s true. They beat me bloody, but not with anything like August’s whip. They threatened me with knives but never used them, and they never touched me with a pipe. But I’m going to fuck Aleksi’s whole existence up with this one.
I pick up the whip and ready myself, not waiting for Aleksi to wake.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.