Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Jack’s my husband. He’s the one and only person that will ever get the response you’re looking for.”
“Want to bet?”
“God, no,” I moaned. She’d practically thrown down a challenge, and his ego just wouldn’t let that challenge go without a fight.
My eyes stayed practically glued to the screen. My stomach roiled as I witnessed the naivety in my young wife’s eyes die with each stroke of his hands against her.
Just as he was reaching down between her legs, the door slammed open and Winter’s mom came in with a twisted look of disgust on her face.
“Get off my baby, you fucking sick fuck. That’s your sister!”
“What?”
“You heard me. Sister. Now, where’re the drugs you promised me.”
“Go find my father. I’m busy.”
“No you’re not. That’s just gross. Get ‘er the fuck out of here.”
Winter’s mom, who was obviously pregnant, left as soon as Peter leveraged himself from between her chained thighs, slamming the door behind her as she went. Not once did she show concern that her daughter was chained up and being tortured. No, she only gave a shit about how disgusting it was that a man wanted to fuck his own sister, but not that her own daughter was being tortured to death.
Winter only tugged harder on her bonds after seeing her mother there, and hearing the bomb she’d just dropped. Her wrists were bleeding now, even though the bonds holding her were made of leather, unlike the metal cuffs that were holding us now.
“I told you to stop. You’re going to be fucking damaged and then I won’t get anything for you.”
“Oh, bitch. You’re gonna pay. We’ll find another bitch to replace you. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”
The video stopped after over thirty minutes of punches, kicks, stabs, burns and derogatory language was dispensed on Winter. I refused to shut my eyes, making myself watch every single detail that Winter had endured.
Burning it into my memory, so that when I finally got the chance to see Peter and felt his vulnerable flesh beneath my hands, I would make him pay for every single thing that he did to Winter. I would copy every single cut, burn, pinch, poke, kick, punch and insult he gave her.
Then I’d repeat it. Over and over until he died, and I would enjoy every single fucking second of it.
The black screen finally signaled the end of the video, and I looked over to Winter. She was asleep, curled into a fetal ball, shielding herself away from the hideousness of the world.
I didn’t know if she was awake to understand any of the video I’d just watched, but I prayed that she wasn’t. Whatever memory she had yet to recover, I prayed stayed buried forever. I didn’t want her to experience any of that ever again.
“Did you enjoy our afternoon matinee?” Edward asked as he pushed into the room, followed shortly by his son.
The dead man.
“Get him out of here.” I hissed through gritted teeth.
Peter’s eyes widened at the gruff timber of my voice, and something must’ve shown on my face, because he didn’t even wait for daddy’s order. He left without another word or glance into my direction.
A flash of nervousness washed over Edward’s features, but was quickly extinguished as fast as it came.
“I’ll enjoy killing you.” I said with a deadly calm.
He smiled mockingly. “One more video for you, then we’ll talk.”
My eyes screamed for me to look away as I saw video surveillance of the explosion and subsequent fire that took Adam’s life. I don’t know if it was luck, or precision on the bomber’s part, but it was blatantly apparent to me that Adam was to be the only one hurt. My brother had been an accident. He was lucky he was so far way when the blast went off or he’d have been dead, too.
The video started out with the fire trucks arriving near the front entrance. The video flashed to when movement was caught by something on the deserted floors. Each firefighter took a floor and looked for the child. Adam’s showed in the basement, and had just stepped past a concrete barrier calling the child’s name when the bomb exploded. The screen went black, but it was on long enough for me to see the fire, as well as Adam’s body being blown to pieces.
I desperately wanted to scream, to rage and cry, but I wasn’t giving that asshole the privilege of seeing me break. Instead, I took my rage out on the chain I was attached to, pouring every single bit of my strength into ripping the fucker from the wall.
Grasping the chain with both hands, I plastered my feet against the wall for leverage and yanked. At first, nothing happened other than me expending energy I didn’t need to be wasting.
Then it started to feel different. Like there was a little extra give in the chain, which only made me harder. I poured all of my pain, and rage out of my muscles, let them strain until I had nothing left to give.
Which turned out to be enough.
The chain ripped free from the bolt in the wall, and I went sprawling backwards. The chain sailed over my head.
My eyes scanned around the area, looking for cameras, wondering if my activities were caught, but as far as I could tell, there weren’t any.
I strained my ears and listened for any sign that they realized that I was loose, but there were none.
I fought the urge to go to Winter and check on her, resisting only be sheer force of will. I needed to stay where I was in case they came back, and when they did, I’d be ready for them. I’d satisfied myself with the steady rise and fall of her chest. My years of military training seemed to fly out the fucking window when it came to her and that was not in her best interest.
Coming to my knees and then to my feet, I backed up until my back was covering the offending hole in the wall, then palmed the length of the chain in one hand, while doubling it around the other hand so I wouldn’t lose it when I swung.