No. All I see is love as he holds my gaze and blows me a kiss.
Happiness bubbles through my bloodstream, and a wide smile breaks over my face. He understands me. Heseesme.
Returning my attention to Coal, I reply, “No. It needs to be a woman who humiliates him.”
Coal tilts his chin. “Fair enough, but take a break when you need to. We’re here for you.”
“Thank you, Coal. And thank you all for welcoming me the way you have. I’ve missed this, and I don’t mean the torture. I mean everything else.”
He lifts his chin again, letting me know he understands.
Turning back to Burres, I make shallow cuts all over his body. His muffled screams are music to my ears as Bee reads all his transgressions aloud from her tablet. And they’re plentiful.
When I’m done with my knife, I pick up the salt and rub it into every cut I’ve made until he passes out.
“You want us to wake him up?” Brass asks.
“Nope. This should do the trick.” I walk to the sink and fill up a stainless-steel jug. I won’t need a lot of water for this part.
Carrying the jug back to the table, I pick up the remote and hand it to Cross. We’re all gloved, so I don’t worry about transferring blood to Cross, and the control is wrapped in plastic. Clean-up will be easy enough, although we’ll still wipe everything down with bleach once we’re done.
“You’ll have to turn him pretty sharpish so he doesn’t drown, but I want him to know what it feels like when you can’t breathe.”
“Huh, a simplified version of waterboarding,” Iron says, impressed. “I like it.”
Amused, I shake my head. “I won’t do this for long. Then we’ll question him. The truth serum will work quicker with him in this state.”
“We’re not in a rush,” Coal assures me. “Do what you have to do.”
I begin to pour the water into Burres’ open mouth. He jerks awake, and Crossturns the table so the water runs from his mouth onto the floor. I don’t want to kill him yet.
When I think he’s done, I nod at Cross, who turns Burres back over.
I lean over his head to meet his frightened eyes. Seeing his terror fills me with satisfaction.
“Welcome back.” I grin at him before pouring more water into his mouth.
I step back as he chokes. Cross turns the table again. The brothers step closer, interested in what I’m doing.
I repeat the process twice more until Burres is completely disoriented. When Cross turns him back over, I pick up the syringe I filled earlier and inject the truth serum into his neck.
And unscrew the Pear of Anguish, removing it from his mouth.
“Ready, Bee?” I ask.
“Ready. Ask away.”
We made a list of questions in Church, and Burres is forthcoming with all the answers.
I ask my final question. “Any other trafficking we don’t know about, and do you have names?”
“Babies,” he mutters. “Selling babies.”
His words chill me to the bone, and I sense the shocked tension in the room.
“What do you mean, selling babies?” I ask, my voice dangerously quiet.
“Take… women. Breed. Sell,” he mutters before passing out.
