Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Cato said nothing as he brought me into the living room. I took one look at what he had done, and quieted so deep and through to my soul, speech left me—possibly for good.
Wesley sat on the carpet—zip ties around his wrists and ankles. Blood dripped from his ruined nose and mouth, garbling what he started shouting at me when I came into the room.
His distress was understandable. Spread out next to him was a rollout case filled with matches, lighters, flammable chemicals, and a blowtorch.
Cato grabbed his chin and snatched his head back. Bursting into tears, flames glinted in the wetness staining his cheek as Cato led the lighter close, closer, and millimeters away from his eyes.
“Ready.”
My swallow echoed in my ears. Torture. Cato expected me to torture this guy here and now.
Who says I have to? another voice answered. Wesley is perfectly free to save himself the pain and give me the name of the Phantom. If he chooses to continue protecting that murderer and monster, he chooses what he gets.
Lifting my chin, I steadied myself. “Let’s not waste time. Who dared you to go after Winter?”
Wesley’s eyes rolled in his head. Sweat mixed with tears, soaking his face in a thin sheen. He was quickly realizing there was no way out. I had a feeling there was about to be another accident on the carpet.
“O-okay,” he rasped. “Let’s just calm down. You don’t—”
Cato flashed, pressing the fire to his cheek.
“Arrrggghh!” Wesley screamed, curdling my insides.
“I believe that’s Cato’s way of saying that if you give an answer other than what I’m asking for, you’ll get your... face burned off.” My nose wrinkled.
A dark growing patch stained Wesley’s pants and the carpet. He pissed himself.
“Don’t make this harder,” I said. “Give me their name.”
“Fuck you!” Wesley half shouted, half sobbed. “I know things about you too, Sinclair. Shit you don’t want anyone to know. Let me go or everyone finds out— Arrggggh! No, no! Stop!”
I forced myself to look, still my trembling veins, and close the distance. I asked for this. I didn’t get to flutter and blush and look away now. This is who I’d become.
I owned it.
“Who sent the T.O.D. club after Winter?”
“I can’t say! You have no idea what t-they’ll do to my family. So do your worst,” he said with tears and snot running down the blistering welts on his face. “I’ll never tell you.”
I looked to Cato, and nodded. His scream punctured my eardrums.
“We will do our worst, Wesley, and eventually you will tell me everything I want to know. Save yourself the pain and stop protecting them. Get it through your head that the Phantom isn’t going to hurt your family.” The look in my eyes pinned him to the floor. “They won’t get the chance.”
Something flashed across his face. The first crack in his armor.
“Who killed my sister?”
His mouth parted.
“Luna? Luna, are you here?”
“Victor?”
Footsteps came down the hall, squeezing panic around my neck. “Hey, I need to talk to you about—”
“Victor, wait! I—”
He stuck his head in the living room. The grin died on his face.
“I can explain,” I blurted. No the hell I can’t! Cato is holding a lighter to the face of a tied-up man on our carpet. There was no explanation that would get me out of this.
“Luna, what the fuck is going on?”
“Victor, thank God!” Wesley strained in Cato’s grip. “Help me, man. They’re crazy. Look at what he did to me! You’ve got to help me.”
I shot between them. My pale face reflected in Victor’s wide eyes. “This looks bad—”
“Bad?! It looks like you’re torturing a man in your living room next to the Hangover Trilogy DVD collection.”
“Because that is what’s happening! But I have a good reason, Victor. He left me no choice.”
“She’s lying. I never— hmh hphf!”
His muffled shouts told me Cato took care of his noise.
“Look, it’s hard to explain quickly, but the truth is that my sister didn’t just commit suicide. Someone bribed Owen, Giovanni, Ashton, Levi, and this piece of shit to bully her so badly, she lost hope. Her suicide was exactly what they wanted.”
His face changed. “Are you serious?”
“They’re murderers, Victor. No better than hired hitmen. And the worst thing is none of them will give up who rewarded them for beating, manipulating, torturing, and raping my sister. If they had— If he would, I wouldn’t have to do this.”
Victor tossed his head. “You’re willing to go this far? Look around you! Your asylum-escaping boyfriend is burning a man’s face off!”
“Yes,” I said, expression hardening. “I’ll go as far as it takes. How far will you go?”
He stepped back. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means what are you going to do? Call the police? Try to free him? Are you going to help the guy who ruined my sister’s life?”