“There’s a good boy.”
“I won’t,” the other declared resolutely, shaking his head at dickhead one. Look, I knew they had names, but they didn’t deserve to be thought of by names, when they should be thought of as the monsters they were.
“Get the video running,” the first guy demanded, and we watched as the other guy, the one arguing with his cowardly friend, was dragged away, gagged, and held in the furthest corner of the room by Ryder and Harley.
“Remember to name names. I wanna hear you singing like a fucking canary,” Has-Been gritted out, backing away from the camera, and the man who’d be on the feed.
“We’re rolling,” Ice said, gesturing at the cowardly fucker, who looked like he’d taken a hit or two, and wanted to cry yet again.
“I… Bill Savage… I’m… I have something to confess,” he glanced down and took a deep breath, and forced himself to look at the camera again. He was probably doing his best to avoid catching Torch’s eye, or witnessing the sick bastard flicking the blowtorch on and off and waving it at him.
“I did bad things… I… I preyed on the weak. On… on children… in my care.” He stopped to suck in a ragged breath and shook his head. He was playing the part of showing actual remorse, butwe all know it was purely the horror of being caught, and held accountable, that was playing on him.
“I… I abused… children in my care. I abused… sexually… abused… children who worked on… my shows. I’m… I’m an abuser. I’m… a rapist.” A few gasps filled the silence as he paused, and he cleared his throat, taking another fucking moment to drag this out. Maybe because he knew he’d die after this. Grease was working on a laptop, setting up whatever the fuck needed to happen for the bank transfers, but this was more interesting than that turncoat fucking pretender.
“I’m… I didn’t do this alone…” he proceeded to name the other asshole we’d captured, and the dead one, then four other fucking men.Four other powerful men. I mean, I’d never heard of them, but they always are, right? Abuse of power literally requires the person to be in a position of power over others first, and these cunts always were.
“It’s worse than I thought,” V whispered to me, “I mean, I know this stuff happens, with so much of it coming to light in recent years, but… they’re still getting away with it.”
I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for much longer, especially once this went viral, and those names that were named are everywhere.
Torch was gesturing at him to wrap it up, and practically fucking leering at him. Fuck me, don’t make us stay to watch him at work. I threw up the first time I witnessed it. And the second, and the third.
“They’re making me say it! Phoeni-”
The camera lowered as Torch jumped at the guy, and Micro grabbed his hair, as Torch pummelled him in the face. Those two were a fucking tag-team again, and it burned in my chest to see it, because how the fuck do you forgive a guy who literally stabbed you in the back, and left you for dead? Why the fuck were they all just letting him stay, giving him power, when he’ddone those things? I tried, I really tried to do the same, but it still pissed me off. The amount of times they suspected me, accused me, and all along it was him. It felt like he’d been working alongside that bitch to try and destroy me, destroy everything I held dear.
Nixie was fussing in V’s arms, and I knew what it meant. The little darling needed to pee. She was calm and well behaved most of the time, but when she needed to pee there was very little time to act before it was too late.
“Gimme,” I said, taking the little one from V, and heading for the door, but I’d only taken two steps when I reached back and grabbed V’s hand, tugging her with me.
She didn’t protest, and for once I was fucking relieved that she wasn’t putting on a front, and was listening to reason.
Outside, I found a small patch of safe looking ground, and let Nixie down, keeping a grip on the thin lead attached to her harness. The little sweetheart started sniffing and following a trail we humans couldn’t see, but I knew it wouldn’t be long. Small dog, small bladder, right?
“She just needs to pee,” I finally said to V, who I realised hadn’t moved since we stepped outside. Fuck me, she was more upset by all this than I’d realised. I should have pushed harder for her to leave, despite how savagely she’d have handed me my ass.
“V? Look at me, darlin’.”
She swallowed hard, lifting her eyes to mine, and fuck me, how much torment was there in that stare? How much fucking pain was she feeling right now?
“I’m sorry, V. I really didn’t-”
“It’s my fault, Rocket. I just… I didn’t expect to hear him actually say it out loud. Like when it was just hinted at, I could pray that it wasn’t… but… but he said it… rape. They fucking raped… children. Innocent, trusting children!”
V
Ithought I couldhandle it. I mean, I could handle it, I was definitely handling it, until the awful images that started to cloud my mind. Until the harsh reality of what they were talking about broke through the bravado, and I was forced to literally absorb what was happening. How the hell Has-Been had risen above all of that, I had no idea. The strength it was taking right now, to face them, and force them into his own form of justice, was incomprehensible to me. I’d been through a bad marriage. I’d been cheated on, but this?This was real evil. Pure, twisted evil.
“V…”
I swallowed against the rising bile, as those images assaulted me again. I only had to hear about it, but he lived it. They all lived it. Suffered through it. Survived it.
I darted a few steps away from Rocket, and doubled over as the bile escaped, and I groaned at the bitter taste, and the weakness I’d just shown. Both things I preferred not to do, like any sane person would rather hide.
“V, Jesus. This is all my fault.” Rocket had a habit of taking the blame for my actions, and I didn’t want it to become a thing. I didn’t want to be something that always caused him to have to accept blame, or apologise for me.
“Wind it in, Rocket,” I hissed sharply, calling up a little of my fire to keep me standing as I straightened up.
