Vender steps up to the van without hesitation, fisting Daniel’s hair and yanking him out as he screeches in pain, getting shoved to his knees in the gravel.
Without missing a beat, Vender presses a gun to the side of his head. “Give her the truth, and Iwon’tkill youtoday.”
“O-ok-kay,” Daniel stutters, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth, his puffy bruised eyes landing on me.
“Where is she?” I snap, swiping at the tears still streaming down my face, as Ringo steps closer.
“Let’s move this into the barn,” he suggests quietly. “There are innocent eyes that don’t need to witness this.”
Glancing over my shoulder, my heart splinters as I find Tahli crying, being led away by Alana, whose arm is around her as she tries to get my sister to look away from me.
She doesn’t. Tahli may have innocent eyes, but she’s worried about me right now.
Ringo is right. This needs to be taken into the barn.
So, I nod at Vender, and he yanks Daniel to his feet, dragging him into the barn while we follow.
I try to get control of myself, working at steadying my breath, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t make my hands stop shaking.
Vender shoves Daniel down onto his knees in the middle of the barn, the sound of tables getting dragged out of the way loud as I start pacing.
My rage is building like a pressure cooker as I glare at the guy who destroyed my life.
Everyone shifts back, forming a loose ring around him, their dark gazes pinning Daniel in place as he squirms under their scrutiny.
Daniel dares to meet my eyes, and I bare my teeth like a savage as I fight for control.
I want to kill him. But it’s not enough. That would be mercy, something he doesn’t deserve.
He deserves pain, drip-fed over time, until he begs for an ending I’ll never give.
But first, I need answers.
“Where’s my baby?” I snap, pacing like a predator as Daniel’s eyes track me.
“B-before I t-tell you,” he stammers. “I w-want a-assurances…”
Is he fucking serious?
I see red!
I snatch up the cold bottle of beer on the nearby table, and lurch forward, smashing it across the side of his head.
He screams, tumbling sideways as glass and beer spray through the air, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he whimpers.
“Where the fuck is she?!” I scream, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking his head back.
The jagged glass still clutched in my hand presses tight to his throat, and a drop of blood beads beneath it.
“I-I don’t know e-exactly where s-she i-is. B-but I know s-she is s-safe,” Daniel stutters, his Adam’s apple bobbing against the glass pressed to his skin.
“If you don’t know where she is, then why should I keep you alive?”
He blinks up at me, tears spilling from his eyes as his lip trembles. Our faces are mere inches apart, and I fight the urge to lurch forward and bite his nose right off his face.
“I h-have other information y-you need t-to know. A-about our f-families. About the c-church.”
“The cult,” I snap, and he nods frantically.
