Page 118 of Shattered In Darkness

I spit blood at his shoes. “You’re not used to that, are you? People telling you to fuck off.”

The blow comes harder this time; kidney shot. My vision blurs, swimming in red. I can barely see Marcus, but I hear his breath, steady and calm. “Your side is losing,” he tells me. “You’re alone. Richard’s plan is broken. I know about the file. I know about the blackmail. But I want to know what he hoped to gain by moving Lola.”

Lola. The only light that still flickers in the dark. I force the words out. “Maybe she wanted to leave your sorry ass.”

He laughs. It’s cold, dry, and leaves ice on my skin. “She belongs to me. Whatever was between you two, it was a game. A childish distraction. You never had her, Brody. She was always mine.”

I see it in his eyes. The pleasure he gets from saying it. The need to remind me who owns her. The same way he’s always owned everything.

He signals again. Hands grab my hair, jerking my head back. My throat is exposed, pulsing, vulnerable. I could bite out my own tongue just to spite them, but that’s not in the script. Instead, they shove my face toward the plastic tub. It’s already filled, icy water, the surface trembling like nerves.

I brace as they dunk me under. Shock, cold, burning in my sinuses. I fight out of instinct, sucking water, gagging, spluttering. Countless seconds. I want to let the water fill me, drag me down, but they wrench me back, and I cough blood and snot and spit across the floor.

Marcus’s voice rips through my screams. “That’s enough. Again.”

They do it again. Each time, I claw at the edge of consciousness, never quite falling. They want me awake for this. When it finishes, I slump, vision gone gray at the edges.

Marcus kneels now. Eye to eye. His hand is steady as he grabs my chin. “You’re going to tell me. What did Richard want? What did he tell you about the accident, the transfer, the cabin?”

“Nothing. I swear.”

Lie. But he doesn’t know which part.

He slaps me. Not hard, just enough to humiliate. “You’re wasting my time.”

“So kill me,” I croak.

His gaze sharpens. “No. I want you to suffer. I want you to know, in your last hours, that you failed at everything. Especially her.”

He stands, pace measured. “Let’s talk about Lola. About that last night. The party. The betrayal. You remember that, right? How she let them touch her. How she fucked you over and you ran away like a dog.”

Something buckles inside me. I want to deny it, but the images come burning back.

Lola, sprawled limp and drugged across unfamiliar bed sheets, eyes glassy, mascara tracks running down her cheeks. Hands on her waist, a stranger’s mouth at her neck. Her head rolling back, helpless.

Me, frozen at the window, fists clenched, bile in my mouth. Blind rage.

I snarl. I can’t help it. “You set that up. You fucker. You sick piece of shit.”

Marcus’s jaw tightens. Just a flicker, but I see it. He likes that I remember.

“I orchestrated everything,” he says smoothly. “The drugs. The men. The text. You were always so easy to manipulate. Obsessive. Predictable. Like your father.”

I spit again, blood and hatred. “You had them rape her.”

He shrugs. “Call it what you want. Lola needed to learn what loyalty means. Pain is a better teacher than love.”

My wrists twist inside the restraints. I want to gouge his eyes out. I want to rip out his tongue and make him eat it.

“Fuck you,” I breathe. “You’re dead. I’ll kill you. I swear on her⁠—”

He laughs again, closer this time. “You really think she ever loved you? She was loyal. She stayed. She lets me do whatever I want. You were her distraction. Her toy. She grew bored. She came back to me every time.” My heart is hammering. I can’t tell if I’m dying or if this is what real living finally feels like. “She screamed for me, you know,” Marcus offers, voice almost gentle. “She begged. But in the end, she obeyed. That’s the difference between you and me. I understand how to break her.”

Something tears loose inside. “She’s not broken,” I rasp. “Not for you. Never for you.”

He shakes his head. “Keep telling yourself that.”

He turns to the guards and gives a jerk of his chin. “Again.”