By nail six, Nico was able to get the nail off in one piece and Hugo had pissed himself again.
“I think he’s had enough,” I say. “Let’s do Austin now.”
Austin spent the entire time Hugo was being tortured with his eyes closed, tears rolling down his cheeks. Fuck him. He had no problem watching me get hurt. I should have cut off his eyelids to make sure he didn’t miss a thing.
Manuel cuts Austin down, but he was probably waiting for that. Once he’s on his feet, Austin takes off at a dead run before anyone can stop him.
I shout for Carter to catch him, but he’s already two steps ahead of me, palming a serrated blade from Kai’s collection. He lets it fly and it lands in Austin’s thigh, taking him down to his knees.
Austin cries out and tries to reach for the knife with his bound hands. Nico and I walk slowly over to Austin, and I press my foot on the knife, shoving it in a few more inches. Austin cries and begs, blubbering as he looks up at us.
Nico gets down to his haunches and tsks at Austin. “Where you think you goin’ bitch? We were just getting started. Carter, look to the right side of Kai’s weapons table. There should be a set of garden shears there.”
“Got ‘em,” Carter says with more glee than I’ve ever heard in his voice. “You sure you don’t want something a little more…dull?”
“Excellent idea, brother-in-law,” Nico says, then pauses. “Yeah, I hated that.”
“Same,” Carter grumbles.
He steps closer and hands Nico a blade that looks like it could cut through bone, but with some effort.
Perfect.
Grabbing his index finger, Nico saws through the bone, his face a mask of concentration. Austin screams and curses, trying to wiggle away, but it only makes the pain worse for him.
When Nico succeeds in separating his finger, he stuffs itin Austin’s mouth, making him choke. Austin tries to spit it out, but Nico socks him in the face hard enough to knock out one of Austin’s teeth. “You’ll fucking swallow it or I’ll cut your dick off and make it your last meal.”
I didn’t think it was possible to fall harder for my fiancé.
Nico shoves all the fingers from Austin’s left hand into his mouth and they all end up Austin’s stomach. By the time he swallows his pinky, he vomits blood and bile all over himself.
Nico looks up at me; his head tilted to the side. “Satisfied?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Carter huffs. “You’re welcome. Dang, it wasn’t all Nico’s idea.”
“Can you not,” Nico snaps back.
Carter throws his hands up and walks over to Hugo, slapping him in the face to wake him up. He comes to with a groan, then whimpers pitifully when he flexes his fingers.
I get to my feet and stretch, a smile on my face.
My brother comes over and gives me a hug. “You did good, baby brother. Want me to finish them off?”
I start to say yes, then a better idea comes to me. “Nah. They’re still mine. Where’s Gavin? I need him to drive the speedboat for me.”
Carter looks confused, then his eyes reflect mischief. “I got a tranq to knock these bitches out, then we can have some fun.”
“It’s pretty out herethis late,” Nico says as he looks out at the ocean. “You can see all the stars.”
“Maybe we can come out here one night alone. Withoutthe fucking audience,” I say, wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing his cheek.
Kai grunts behind us. “You said we could come. Should have just said no.”
“And listen to you complain about being left out? Pass.”
Over the past six weeks that I was healing at the cabin, Kai came over and sat with me a few times. Our conversations were strained initially, but they got easier over time. We’re not friends, but we’re not exactly enemies either. He kept my secret from Carter, his husband and the person he shares everything with. That counts for something in my book.
