Page 51 of Unexpected Heroine

That’s one lie I won’t feel guilty for. I absolutely refuse to tell her it’s a video.

After removing the headphones from my pocket, I plug them into the auxiliary jack on the laptop and discreetly slip one bud in my ear, hoping she doesn’t notice.

With my hand hovering over the trackpad, I hesitate to click play.

I need to steel myself before I watch it; otherwise, my expression will broadcast everything I’m struggling to conceal.

Reaching deep into my psyche, I open the metaphorical box that used to keep me protected from pain. From hurt. From hunger. From crippling loneliness.

No matter what appears on this screen, I cannot let her see the fury or the devastation.

She’s already lived it, and I won’t make her do it again.

With parts of me tucked safely inside that box, I meet her inquisitive gaze over the laptop and offer a semblance of a smile.

After all this time in the light with Lettie, it’s harder to mask my emotions than I recall.

My gaze veers reluctantly to the screen.

I hit play.

The four seconds it takes for the video to begin might as well be years. My heart thrashes wildly, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

And then the screen lights up with an image.

My heart, which was beating so wildly only seconds ago, stops.

It falls to the floor with a heavy thud.

I can’t breathe.

The images nauseate me.

And the sounds . . . the fucking sounds.

Her crying. Screaming. Begging.

My stomach contorts, twisting in tight knots, and my veins ice over.

I’ll kill them.

It takes a few moments, but I eventually recognize the man in the video. I saw him the night we rescued her. He’s a bouncer at Yuri’s strip club. The one Shep left bound and bleeding in a closet in Yuri’s office after forcibly extracting the prep house location from him.

Yevdokim Ivanovich.

Lots of letters. I hope they all fit on his motherfucking headstone.

That is... if there’s a body left to bury when I’m finished with him.

Unlikely.

I click the X in the top corner of the media player. I’ve seen more than enough of this disgusting video. I can’t force myself to watch the whole thing.

Not now.

Especially not with her looking at me.

From an early age, I learned to shore up my emotions. If I didn’t, there were harsh consequences.

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