Dr. Chamberland takes in a shaky breath. “I left her container door open on purpose, so someone who was working the dock would look in it to inspect it and find her.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “I hate myself for everything I did. I realized it too late.”
“Yes, you did.” I check in with Kenz one more time to make sure she’s okay. She nods slightly, letting me know she’s fine.
I walk to the silver tray and grab my gun. I back up and stare at Dr. Chamberland. Bill begins to buck against his chains, the drug having lost its effect on him already. I nod at Rex to take care of it and focus on Dr. Chamberland again.
Within a few moments, Bill’s bucks lessen. I don’t know if Rex gave him the entire syringe or not. Right now I don’t care. I want Bill to suffer for what he did to McKenzie. I have a little more sympathy for Dr. Chamberland. He was deceived by mother just like I was.
I don’t have enough sympathy for him to let him live, though. The moment I found out what my mother did and had time to process it, I chose McKenzie. I’ll always choose McKenzie. “Close your eyes, love, if you don’t want to watch.” I glance at McKenzie over my shoulder, but she doesn’t close her eyes.
She stares at Dr. Chamberland, who gives her a sad smile. “I’m so sorry, McKenzie. I wish I could change it.”
“Why did you give me drugs to make me lose my memory?” she asks.
“I was trying to spare you. I didn’t want you to remember everything that was done to you. I…” He swallows. “I don’t know what all was done to you. I refused to watch, but I was trying to help, so you didn’t have to live with it for the rest of your life.”
McKenzie steps forward, with tears streaming down her face. “That’s a bunch of shit and you know it. You were saving yourself, so you wouldn’t get caught. All you did to me was give me these gaps in my life I can’t remember. And even the memories that have come back, I don’t trust them. Not completely. It still feels like something’s missing.” She shakes her head and wipes her hand across her face.
She motions to me to finish it. Dr. Chamberland looks at me with understanding in his eyes. I raise my gun and shoothim between his eyes. McKenzie flinches at the gunshot and Bill’s eyes widen slightly. I turn and grasp McKenzie’s shoulders lightly.
“Are you okay?”
Tears are still streaming down her face and she sniffs. “Yes. Why do I feel sorry for him?”
I pull her into my arms and hold her tight. “Because you’re good.” She wraps her arms around my neck and holds me tight. I lift her slightly. “You’re better than me; the best person I’ve ever known.”
She kisses my neck, my cheek, my ear. “You’re good. You’re so good,” she whispers in my ear. I’m not, but I’ll let her believe it. When she loosens her grip, I set her down and kiss the top of her head. Turning my attention back to Bill, his eyes are looking toward Dr. Chamberland. He’s unable to move.
Without giving him time to process what I’m going to do, I grab the switchblade in my pocket, flip it open, and plunge it into his thigh. He groans and his eyes widen to the size of saucers. McKenzie squeaks in surprise. I look at her and she’s staring at the knife sticking out of his thigh.
“Is there anything you want to do to him?” I ask her.
Bill looks from me to her. I’m sure when he got here tonight, he didn’t think it would be his last night alive. He probably thought that he’d get to party upstairs, then go home and fuck Shay who he has chained to his bed. And next weekend he’d get to come back for the next fight, all the while keeping me in the dark. Why he thought he’d be able to get away with this forever is beyond me. He’s obviously been hit too many times. But now he’s going to meet the man people are afraid of. The man people won’t cross because they know what I’ll do to them. McKenzie grabs the drink that Rex brought her and gulps it down.
“No,” she finally answers. “I just want to kill him.”
I glance at Rex and Jason. I don’t think Bill ever touched Anna, but you never know. “What about you Rex?”
He shakes his head. “I’m saving my revenge for Dick.” Jason smirks, and I nod in approval. He hasn’t been to an auction since I bought McKenzie. He probably knows better. I made sure he got fired from Brighton. Photographs of him buying those girls were mailed to each board member with a threat that if something wasn’t done swiftly, they would all be fired as well.
I turn my attention back to Bill. “Guess you’re all mine.” I grab the forceps and click them in front of Bill’s face. He sucks in a breath and I think he attempts to shake his head, but nothing happens. I could pull the beer bottle out of his arm. I wonder if he’d bleed out. We don’t need that. Not yet.
I grab the hand on his unhurt arm, put the forceps under his thumbnail and yank it off. He moans against the gag in his mouth. I walk behind him and unhook the gag, taking it off him. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to scream or not, probably not, but that’s why this room is soundproof. No one will be able to hear him.
I remove the rest of his fingernails one by one, talking to him as I do it. “You know, I bought McKenzie at an auction.” I look at her to gauge her reaction, but her eyes are stuck on Bill and what I’m doing to him. Bill groans as I yank another finger nail off, tears, sweat, and blood streaming down his face. I reach up and yank the shard of glass out of his cheek.
He screeches slightly, and I hum. Not quite screaming yet. “I made it clear when I had to have sex with her in front of all those people they were to stay behind the boundary I created.” I have four more nails to go. “Five men didn’t respect that boundary and tried to get closer. Of course, Rex took care of that. Later that night, we came to this very room. I cut their dicks off, stuck it in their mouths, sewed their mouths shut and left to go grab something to eat.”
I’m done yanking his fingernails off. I grab my hammer and without any kind of warning, bring it down on his left hand. The bones in his hand shatter instantly. McKenzie turns away at that, so I stop and walk over to her. I don’t try to turn her around or get in front of her. I have some blood on me and I don’t want to upset her.
“If you need to go to the other room and take a break, you can,” I whisper behind her. I wrap my hand around her hair and lift it off her neck. She’s flushed and sweaty, but maybe this will help cool her off slightly.
“I’m okay, Nix. The sound was worse than watching it,” she whispers.
“Rex can get you some earplugs if you want.”
She sucks in a breath and nods slightly. Rex goes over to the wardrobe I have in the corner of the room and opens one of the drawers. He comes back with some earplugs.
“You twist them slightly and put them in the ear canal, then they’ll expand,” he explains. She opens the packet and does as he instructed and turns back around to face me. I study her, making sure she really is okay.
