Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 85183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
I grab the knife from my back pocket and flip out the blade, cutting the rope. I use my knee to pin down one of his arms as I take the other and shove it into the fireplace. There he goes with his high-pitch wailing again. He bucks beneath me trying to free himself.
"Where?" I ask.
He drags in several deep breaths. "Fuck..." he pants. “It hurts!"
I glare at the back of his head. He is standing in my way of finding them. I yank his blackened hand out from the fire, watching the smoke rising from it. My fist clenches around the knife still in my hand. I press the blade to his cheek and slice down the side of his face, down to his shoulder. With one swift movement, I flip him over and slice over his stomach. His back arches from the pain.
"Fuck you!" I shout so loud my voice goes hoarse. I'm swatting at him like a maniac, the blade ripping open his skin with each movement. "You fucking tell me where he is!"
"Jude," Marney attempts to get my attention.
"Where is she?" I straddle him. "Tell me!" I ram his head against the brick hearth. "Tell me where she is!"
Blood is everywhere and the man's no longer fighting me. I crush his windpipe with my hands, then release him. "Tell me, and I won't make you suffer any longer. If you don't tell me, I will fucking beat you all night if I need to." I raise my fist and punch him in the jaw. One of his teeth flies out of his mouth, bouncing across the floor.
"One...." he pauses to whimper from the pain, and I halt in my assault. “One fifty-five, highway seventy-five," he chokes through his blood.
Marney types the address into his phone. His eyes narrow on the screen before lifting to mine. "It's an old furniture factory?"
The man groans and nods. I take the knife and place it on his throat. "Thank you," I whisper in his ear as I slowly slice his throat open. Blood pours from the wound, splashing onto the brick.
Marney stares at me briefly before glancing around the room. He rubs over his stubble. "What a fucking mess," he exhales. His gaze drifts down to my blood-soaked jeans as he shakes his head. "You gotta get control of yourself."
I'm drenched in blood, but I don't fucking care. "Come on," I mumble in a slight daze, as I stand. My head spins violently, and I feel like collapsing onto the floor, but instead, I lean my forearm against the wall, resting my head against it. I focus my eyes on the white carpet, watching the red droplets fall from my elbow and splash onto the floor. There is no controlling this wrath.
I'm shaken awake roughly. The cold stone floor is biting against my bare back, and I've lost feeling in my hand from it being attached to the pipe above me. I hear the clink of metal, and the handcuff is released. My arm falls to the floor limply.
I barely have the strength to drag my eyelids open. A blow collides with my cheek, and my head snaps to the side. I don't react. I can't.
"Ah, fuck," a man grumbles as heavy footsteps move away from me. I don't hear the door shut, and I manage to crack my eyelids enough to see bright light pouring through the open door. It’s right there, wide open, and I'm so weak I can't escape no how much I want to. A small tear of frustration slips from the corner of my eye.
The room smells of death, and I feel like fate is mocking me because I know I'll be dead soon.
A few minutes later and I hear more footsteps, two sets this time. They approach and stop next to me. A hand fists my hair and pulls my head from the ground. I whimper as the stench of heavy cigar smoke blows across my face.
"Well, little bird, I said I would break you. I have to say, I'm disappointed. I thought you would last longer than this." He strokes my face gently, and my stomach clenches violently. My body trembles, fear overriding everything else I may feel.
I manage to pry my eyes apart enough to look at him. I hate him. My only regret is that I will die without getting to see Jude kill him, because Jude will kill him for what he did to Caleb, innocent, beautiful Caleb.
Joe has done things to me that have made me pray for death, and yet I would take it all a hundred times over if it would bring Caleb back. Joe thinks he broke me, and he did, but he didn't do it by raping me or beating me. He broke me when he shot my only friend in front of me. He broke me when he destroyed one of the best people I have ever known, and I will never recover from that. I want him to kill me, and I will die safe in the knowledge that Jude will make him suffer for this.