Page 79 of Healed

“Like I owned your pathetic ass the other night when I knocked you out cold?” he spat at me.

I just laughed. “Ahh, here he is. I wondered when you were going to drop the pretence. Come on,” I said cheerfully, grabbing him under his armpits and hauling him to his feet. “It’s time for you to leave.”

I let go of him, and he immediately crumbled to the floor, yelping in pain.

“Does that hurt?” I asked, watching as he tried to crawl away from me, rising onto his knees and keeping his feet up in the air.

“Do you think it hurt Gabby all the time Nico had her in this same position?”

I kicked at him, my foot connecting with his ribs, knocking him onto his side.

And then for good measure, I stomped on his ankle until he was writhing in pain, spit flying from his mouth, his hands pushing uselessly at my leg.

“You stood by her father and swore to protect her. And then the second he was gone, you stood by and listened to her cry and beg.”

I walked over to the garage door and pressed the switch. The door opened, making the alarms louder, and gestured outside.

“Go on,” I encouraged.

Sam got to his knees again and crawled to the opening, slipping on the blood pooling next to him.

“My patience is running out, Sam,” I said, keeping my tone light and pleasant.

As he continued crawling over to the door, I went over to Tools’s workstation and grabbed hold of his welding gun.

I plugged it in and changed the power regulator, moving it all the way to level five, and then examined it, seeing it already had half a welding rod in from the last use.

Still wearing my riding gloves so my hands were protected, I pulled on a pair of goggles and then turned the welding gun on.

The sound of the machine was deafening, and Sam visibly panicked in front of me, seeing me approach him with slow, measured steps.

At first, he attempted to pull himself to his feet, falling back to the floor when he remembered he couldn’t put any pressure on the balls of his feet thanks to the earlier snipping. Then he began to crawl, his hands slapping against the floor.

I laughed manically and followed him, holding the welding gun in front of me. Sam screamed as I got closer, feeling the heat from the gun, and then let out a soul-splitting, guttural roar as I pressed the gun to the bottom of his foot.

Sam screamed as the welding rod bit into his skin, the smell of burning flesh thickening the air between us.

Was this how she’d sounded?

Had anyone heard her?

Had she cried until her voice gave out, praying that someone—anyone—would open the fucking door?

I didn’t know, and I probably never would.

Michelle’s face flashed through my mind, and my jaw tightened.

I knew enough, and it was that thought that had me pressing the gun harder against him.

Sparks flew out, and the smell of burning flesh hit my nostrils. I coughed past it, shaking my head to rid the stench, and then applied the same treatment to his other foot.

“Stop!” Sam screamed, falling to his stomach, his feet jerking wildly.

“If you insist,” I said, letting go of the trigger.

And then I brought the welding gun to his temple.

“Run, Sam,” I hissed, bending down low to speak directly into his ear. He shivered at my cold tone. “Make my fucking day and run. I’m just getting fucking started.”