She shakes her head and I sigh, stepping back. Marcus lets her go, and moves around to watch her face as I turn my toy on the lowest setting. She shakes as I electrocute her from the inside.
This is something I’ve never done before and it’s fascinating, watching to see how far I can push her before I have to stop. Learning new things is what torture is all about for me. The human experience is one that still eludes me, but I’m able to get up close and personal whenever I’m allowed to play.
Cecily heaves a sob when I stop the current. “Please…” she says shakily. “Please…”
“This all stops if you give us what we want, Cecily,” I tell her gently. “You’re in charge here.”
She shakes her head. “I…I can’t… He’ll kill me.”
“Shhh,” I soothe. “We can help you, if you help us.”
“I…” She cries harder. “I can’t… Please…”
Sighing, I turn the dial up. “Very well.” When I turn the machine back on, her screams bounce around the room, hoarse and wailing like a dying animal. I can’t let it go on for nearly aslong as the first, due to the stronger current, and it takes her a while to recover her voice this time.
“Please…” Her words are barely audible. “Please…”
“Location?” I ask just as softly.
Cecily sobs, but rattles off an address. Marcus whips out his phone and repeats it back to her as he types. She nods in agreement that it’s right.
“If you’re wrong…”
“I’m dead either way,” she tells me in a shaky voice. “I’d rather it be by your hands. At least, then I know I died with honor, and not because I’m a disgrace like my brother.”
“Anything else we should know?” Marcus asks.
Cecily tries to smile, her teeth bloody from where she bit her tongue when I electrocuted her. “Don’t underestimate him… He will do anything to come out on top…even take out his own children…”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” I tell her gently. I look to Jude. “Any special way she should die, Little Lamb?”
Jude shrugs. “You already have her strung up. Finish this, Ten. I’d like to get back to my Boy.”
“As you wish.”
Turning the dial all the way up, I switch the machine back on. Cecily lets out a squeak, but it dies quickly, her vocal cords failing her as she shakes in her chains.
The smell of burning flesh fills the room, and as Cecily’s eyes roll in the back of her head, I turn the machine off, watching as she jerks a few times while the currents run through her.
Putting on my heavy-duty gloves, I walk over to the crank and release it, letting her fall unceremoniously to the floor.
“Well,” Marcus says once all is said and done. “That was very…educational.”
I huff a laugh. “Do you think she was telling the truth?”
He inclines his head. “Yes. There was no reason to lie. She would have known we’d double check anyway, so there was no point. If she was lying, well, Leandro and Hollis will be able to tell us soon, I’m sure.”
I stare at Cecily’s lifeless form. As much trouble as she’s caused, as much pain as she’s put not only Roman and Lio through, but Antonio, too, she got the easy way out. Sometimes, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. If we had more time, if the lives of those we love weren’t on the chopping block, I would have spread this out over several days. Sadly, that couldn’t happen.
Let’s hope the Senator isn’t as boring…
Tossing the gloves onto the cart, I turn to my companions. “We’ve all earned a good night’s sleep, I think. Tomorrow, we take back what’s ours.”
Wrapping my arm around Jude, the three of us leave Cecily to rot where she lays, her heavy weight no longer hanging over our heads.
I can’t wait to show Roman and Lio this video. Everything I did, I did for them, and I always will.
Iopen the door, unsurprised to see the guard waiting. He studies me carefully before stepping aside. I nod a hello, but can’t find it in me to make small talk. Not right now. I left the twins curled up sleeping. For a moment, I thought about waking them and asking them to come with me, but this is something I need to do on my own.
