“Fuck you,” he grits, fighting to hold my stare, darting it up to the ceiling when the intensity gets too much.
I knock on the wood with my fist. “Do you like what I had made for you? Been sitting here a while, waiting for your arrival. It’s a podium by the way, quite similar to the one Daddy Judge would sit at and hear people’s crimes.”
His throat bobs as his eyes flutter closed, snapping open when my voice hits a new depth. “I’m here to listen to yours.”
“You’ll get nothing from me.”
A laugh rumbles deep in my chest. I lean an elbow on the dark wooden surface before stabbing my knife into the top, the metal splitting through the wood as the crack fills the cell. “You will confess them all, Conrad. I’ll have you fucking chanting them like a hymn for me.”
His head vibrates as the panic takes over his body, giving away his true feelings that his face is trying so hard not to convey. “And just in case you’re not well rehearsed in religion. My favourite part is the deadly sins. Of course, I like to put my own spin on them.”
I go to speak again, but his scream pierces through my ears. “FUCK YOU! And your fucking whore!”
Metallic fills my mouth as I bite down on my tongue.
Not yet, Saint.
“You interrupt me again, it only prolongs my time with you. You insult my wife, I’ll have your balls shoved so far up inside you they’ll replace your fucking tonsils.”
“You’re fucking deranged.”
My laugh sends goosebumps over my own flesh. “Compliments won’t get you anywhere.”
I shove my hands in my pockets, pulling out the seven metal blades as I preach. “First up, we have pride. Well, I practice that every day. You get quite creative when you exhaust all the ways to kill a man. I’m quite proud of how many new ways I discover.”
He watches as I place the razor down in front of me, repeating it with the next. “Greed. I’m going to spend every breathing minute with you, and I can’t wait to hear your cries for mercy spill through these cells.”
I place it down, watching as his eyes have widened so much, his swollen one has managed to open. “Lust. Mine’s for blood, for my soon-to-be wife. A woman you thought you could turn into a victim, but in the end it’s her that decides how long you live.”
The razor pinches between my fingers, and I let it clatter against the metal, the facade he’s managed to keep up breaking as he yanks on the restraints. “Envy. I’m jealous that it’s Indie that gets to cease your existence. Or maybe it’ll be Jenna. Fuck, maybe the two of them will fucking gut you.”
“You’re fucking crazy! LET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING CHAIR!”
“Gluttony. I can get quite carried away with myself down here, so there’s that.” I shrug my shoulders as I place the razor down.
“Sloth…” My throat growls a hum, curling my lip as I stare down at the pathetic excuse of a human being trembling in his seat. “That one’s on you, Conrad. My hunger for the hunt has never known fatigue. You, however? You got too comfortable thinking no one would come for you, a perfect example of being lazy in power.”
When I go to pinch the last razor, I hold it up into the light, rotating it as the metal winks against the light with thesharpness. “Wrath. That was already mentioned in our little introduction, wasn’t it? I prefer to show it, rather than tell.”
The fight picks up in him again as I scoop all the blades back up into my hand. “You’re fucking weak, Saint.”
My head throws back at his attempt at insult. “Go on then, Conrad. Entertain me for a minute.”
I stalk around the podium, scooping the razors up in my palms as I lean against its side.
Sweat trickles down his forehead, despite the coldness down here, his matted hair sticking to his forehead as he flashes me the smile I’m responsible for. “Love makes you pathetic. You’ve given yourself a target on your back for a worthless piece of pussy. My people will come for her. I’ll make sure of it.”
Hold. It. Together. Saint.
There’s a roughness to my voice. “That’s where you’re wrong. The right woman by your side, you can conquer the world. Just look at what me and mine did to yours.”
He bares his teeth as I push off, seething violence he can’t inflict as his eyes glass over with every step I lazily take towards him. “That’s it, Conrad. Cry for me. I fucking love it when they cry.”
“Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK Y—”
I grab his jaw, yanking him forward as much as his restraints will allow. I pry open his mouth, shoving the blades in and pulling the leather dangling from his seat to cuff the gag in place.
His eyes go savage as he thrashes.
