Chapter 37
EVE
By the next round of electro-shock therapy, I was barely hanging on—that was how I categorized it in my mind now, as the word torture just twisted so nastily in my head and fucked with more than my body.
It fractured that last sane part of my brain, and we couldn’t have that.
I knew I had to hold on long enough for help to come.
The faith I held in my boys so unwavering and unshakable, I had no doubts they would come for me.
It was what had me enduring each painful shudder, each contracted muscle and heart arrhythmia, when my lungs seized up and wouldn’t breathe, for what felt like hours, but was only seconds between shocks.
Elijah was clearly well trained in this sort of therapy, as he never pushed my body quite beyond what it could handle, though clearly each round was weakening me a touch more.
“Ah, I see a few hits on our broadcast,” he murmured during one break, where I hung panting and shivering against my restraints. “I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer.”
That was the point I realized that there were a lot more of his people out there beyond the stark spotlight shining on me.
That made my odds of surviving lower, since they’d be prepared for a literal army to come through that door.
At this point, I didn’t give a single shit who came to rescue me.
I’d even take Abraham’s help long enough to survive, before promptly demoting him back to the position of absentee father.
Twisting my arms again, I felt the bindings move against my bloodied and bruised wrists.
I’d been trying to loosen them between every bout of therapy but hadn’t managed to get more than a little give in the bindings.
Again, this wasn’t these assholes’ first therapy session; they unfortunately knew what they were doing.
My ankles were the same, and though the sweats protected them a touch more, I’d still worn them raw with my efforts, to no avail.
Even with my head down, I felt the moment Elijah’s slimy gaze landed on me again and was already bracing myself for the next zap.
I hadn’t even realized tears were dripping down my cheeks until I noticed the wet drops on my pants.
It worried me that even with a decent dose of compartmentalizing and deliberate word substitution, I wasn’t holding it together quite as well as I’d hoped.
Despite the trauma in my past, I was clearly not hardened enough to handle what was happening.
I knew I didn’t have one more round in me.
“Please,” I murmured in a voice so hoarse it was barely audible.
Still, I heard the hints of fury in my tone, even when I was beyond the ability to care about how pathetic I sounded begging for my life to this piece of shit.
“Just…give them a minute to come. You’ve m—” A ragged cough burned my throat and lungs.
“You’ve made your point. There won’t be any of me left to use against them if you keep this up. ”
The feel of his gaze didn’t lift, but there also was not another shock yet, as he murmured to someone again.
Forcing myself to raise my aching head, my vision was fuzzy as I looked around, too far gone to even care about the light near blinding me in its intensity.
“He’s here,” Elijah said suddenly. He hurried over to me with two other men, both of whom drew guns and positioned themselves around my chair.
There were a few shouts, and maybe two gunshots, before everything quietened down, and in no time a familiar, weathered, and bearded face came into view, two men holding guns against his sides.
“Abraham,” Elijah crowed, like they were old friends.
His gun wasn’t held up, his hands spread magnanimously on either side of him.
“You’re one tough guy to track down, let me tell you. ”
Even as fuzzy as he was in my vision, I could tell Abraham’s eyes were laser focused on me. I was barely holding on to consciousness, trying to lift my head up. “Sup, Dad,” I mumbled. “Nice of you to join the party. I hope they don’t have a chair for you.”
One of the men nearby snorted out what sounded suspiciously like a laugh, before his boss quelled that with a single glare.
“Let my daughter go,” Abraham said. Despite how outgunned he was, he showed no distress—outside of the way his worried gaze traced over me.
I had no idea what he was seeing, but I doubted it was pretty.
Not if my outsides looked as fried as my insides felt.
“She has nothing to do with this, and you have me now. I’m happy to accept my punishment for whatever crime I committed. ”
I was struck again by the thought that he had so many skeletons in his damn closet that he actually had no idea what they wanted him for today. “Ah, that’s very noble of you,” Elijah said, sounding like he thought it was anything but. “However, that’s not the plan today.”
He took a step closer, leaving me with just two of his guys.
“You see, the people we work for—very, very”—he lowered his voice for extra emphasis—“rich people, would like to see you suffer first. You took something from them. Something they loved. They want you to understand the depths of their pain.”
Elijah’s gaze darted toward me. “They want you to know how it feels to watch someone you love die right in front of your eyes, before you’re then tortured for weeks, so you have enough time to really feel the pain.
It’s a plan that’s been in motion for years, but it’s only recently that anyone knew enough to make it happen. ”
So much fucking talking. “Just get the killing over with already,” I mumbled, dark and light spots flashing across my vision.
Abraham made a sound that was part broken agony, part disbelief. “This is about Daisy?” he said, and I realized he’d known all along what the issue was. “Her parents know what happened that night?”
Elijah clapped his hands together, gun still held in one, meaning no real sound was produced. “Yes, gold star for Mr. Fix-It. They know exactly what happened that night.”
“She was already dead,” I blurted, trying to understand. “Dad didn’t kill her, he just staged the body or got rid of it, right?”
There was a pregnant pause as my words echoed in the large room, then Elijah canted his head at Abraham, as if to say This one is on you, old man.
“Is that right?” I asked again, forcing my head a little higher, ignoring the trickles of liquid that traced down my cheek. I had no idea if it was blood or sweat or both, but it wasn’t important. “Dad…” I pushed, hoping that might jog him along.
“No,” he finally said, and his body, which had always seemed larger than life to me as a child, looked small and broken as he crumpled. “Daisy wasn’t dead when I got there. Andrew doesn’t know. He believes he killed her. Within thirty minutes of my arrival, she did die.”
Horror flashed through me. It was all so much clearer now. The depths of the targeted assault against my father, and the way they had been tracking him for years. It was about more than covering up Andrew’s negligent behavior. “You killed her?”
Abraham sucked in a shuddering breath. “No, I just let nature take its course rather than get her medical attention. Which most likely wouldn’t have saved her life anyway. It was cleaner all around for everyone involved.”
Translation: cleaner for the president and her son.
Mr. Fix-It seemed happy to break more than he fixed, in my opinion.
“How’s that cleaner going for you now, Abraham,” I shot back, a new surge of adrenaline giving me the strength to lift my head and glare. “Working out just how you imagined?”
His eyes pleaded with me to understand, but he would be getting none of that from me today. “Why did they take so long to come after Eve?” he asked, still watching me, though that question was clearly for Elijah. “Why now?”
The gangster shifted, and his scoff sounded annoyed.
“So interested in the details now. Honestly, I don’t really know that much, and I care even less.
They hired their neighbor first, since he was in love with Daisy.
He tracked down a witness that must have caught some of what happened that night.
That took time. Then he went after Eve at her school but fucked it up. ”
I’d run and hidden after that, so he’d had to adapt. But he’d found me eventually.
“When he failed, you picked up the hit,” I said, voice flat.
He nodded. “Clever little princess. But I don’t get paid until I finish it in full. So, sorry. Pretty face or not, you have to die.”
Amazing. I was thrilled to hear that.
Dad surged forward, but the beefy man on his right lifted his weapon and smacked him right in the face, sending him reeling back. “Don’t fucking move,” he sneered in a heavy Russian accent. “It’s not your turn yet.”
Elijah wore that pleased, smug, yellow teeth smile again. That did not bode well for me. “Say your goodbyes,” he said pleasantly. “We’ve wasted enough time.”
This time, when he lifted the small device he’d been using to inflict electrical current into my body, I saw him adjust it, and knew this time it was designed to kill. There’d be no second chance. I found myself turning toward the camera, hoping it wasn’t on any longer.
I didn’t want my boys to see this. They’d never forgive themselves.
Just in case it was, though, I mouthed quickly: I love you. Not your fault.
Someone would be able to lip read that for them, and with that, I yanked at my binds with renewed vigor, but they were too tight. Dad tried to fight for me again, but he was one older man, who clearly couldn’t take on the Crusades.
“I love you, Eve,” he called, his face streaked in tears that did nothing to move me. They dragged him back, but not so far he couldn’t see this. “Close your eyes, sweetheart. Close your eyes.”
Not a fucking chance. I would stare into their souls as I died, and hope my face haunted them for eternity. It was the least I could do, and if there was a way to come back, I’d haunt these fuckers for real.
“Do your fucking worst, you piece of shit,” I snarled.
There was a bang from nearby as the first jolt hit me, the agony too intense to even quantify.
As my heart stuttered for what might be the last time, there was an explosion far enough away that I barely heard it, though I felt the crackle when all the power to the building cut out, including that in my electric chair.
The lights went out, and barely conscious, I instinctively threw myself backwards, and despite the solid feel to the chair, managed to topple it over to the floor.
Landing heavily, the wind was knocked out of me, and I gasped as a few beams of light crossed my vision.
I heard gunfire and curses, saw the flash of bullets nearby, but nothing hit me, which was a win.
There was no sign of Elijah or my father from my angle, but I heard fighting nearby, and figured they were in a battle of some kind.
Darkness that had nothing to do with the lack of lighting pressed in on the sides of my vision, and as consciousness faded, I heard the sound of a dark, familiar laugh, followed by screams and what could have been bone breaking.
It was pure carnage, and as darkness finally stole me from this world, I knew my guys had finally arrived. Just in time.
Unless of course this was still my end, and I could go peacefully knowing everyone here would suffer the consequences of their actions. That was one piece of unfinished business that would be taken care of, though there were many others I hadn’t managed.
I wasn’t ready to leave them, but my body couldn’t hold out any longer.