"How many women?" I asked, voice low, controlled.
His eyes went wide. Fear flickered, then denial. "I don't know what you're?—"
"How many women have you done this to in the past year?"
The truth was written all over his face. In the way his breath hitched. In the way his gaze darted, looking for an exit.
I'd hit the mark.
He opened his mouth to protest—or maybe to shout—and I headbutted him.
The cartilage in his nose crunched. Blood sprayed. His head snapped back, eyes rolling.
"Uh-uh. Don't go to sleep yet, asshole."
I slapped him. Once. Twice. His eyes focused, barely, swimming with pain and fear.
"Listen carefully," I said, my face inches from his. "If—when—you get out of jail, if youeverlay another hand on a woman without her consent, I will find you. And I will kill you. Understand?"
He nodded frantically, blood streaming from his ruined nose.
"Good. Time for your lesson."
I was methodical about it.
Three punches. Body shots. Lifting uppercuts aimed directly at his balls.
He screamed. Or tried to. The sound came out strangled, airless.
"Sorry, Julien," I said, voice flat. "Your things aren't gonna work anymore."
I let go.
He crumpled to the ground, unconscious from the pain.
I thought,touching takes hands.
I stomped on his right hand. Felt the bones crunch. He jolted awake, screaming, and then passed out again.
I did the left hand for good measure.
I crouched beside him, breathing steady, pulse calm. This part of me—the part that could do violence without hesitation—was the part I'd spent years perfecting. This was my domain, and I was its master.
I searched his pockets.
Wallet. I flipped through it. Credit cards, some cash, an ID that confirmed his name. Julien Mercier. I put it back.
A baggy of white powder. Cocaine, probably. I left it.
And a phone.
Despite his smashed nose, his face still unlocked the device. Convenient.
I opened his messages. Scrolled through. Found what I was looking for—texts to women, some of them graphic, some of them threatening. Screenshots of photos. Addresses.
My jaw tightened.
I opened a new message and typed carefully, using his phone to text the local police tip line:
