Page 71 of Fighting for Lucy

“It looks like nothing more than thicker water, and yet it is so vital,” Zimraan continued as he moved the knife, this time lying the whole blade sideways against the flesh on Lucy’s stomach. Right how you’d hold a knife if you were preparing to skin someone.

Zander’s entire body went taut with fear.

He was consumed with the need to save his woman, and yet he was powerless to do anything to stop this from happening.

Just as he’d been powerless to save his team.

“Without blood we die. So simple. Skin is also a curious thing, don’t you think? It keeps our entire body together, holds everything in, and yet when removed, it seems so inconsequential.”

With that, he slid the sharp blade with pinpoint precision through the skin on Lucy’s stomach, removing a good-sized portion with the skill of someone who performed skin grafts for a living.

The scream that was torn from his girl’s lips was a sound that would haunt Zander for an eternity. Dead or alive, that sound would forever echo in his ears.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

January 28th

8:44 A.M.

Whoever saidbreathing through pain helped was an idiot.

Nothing helped this kind of pain.

Not a single thing.

It was just … there.

Kind of living inside her like it was a real being with its own thoughts and feelings. It ran from her wounds through her body, spending time in her stomach making nausea churn, then it would dart up to her head, into her brain, making it spin and spin like she was stuck on a carousel running at full speed that never stopped.

It made no difference if she tried to block it out, smooth out her breathing in an attempt to regulate it, it was just there, doing its thing, uncaring of the impact it was having on her.

At least it was quiet.

Zimraan had had his fun and disappeared inside to have breakfast with his men, leaving her and Zander alone out there. There wasn’t really anything to talk about, he’d been beatenand she’d been skinned, and they were both scared, alone, and hurting. Talking about it wasn’t going to change anything, and anyway, Lucy didn't think she had the energy to talk right now.

She just wanted to lie there, soaking up these moments of peace, even if they were ruined by pain because sooner or later Zimraan would be back.

How long did it take to skin someone alive?

Hours?

Days?

Weeks?

If he paused in between, went slowly, taking his time, only doing so much each day so he didn't throw her body into shock, could he keep her alive for weeks?

That was a terrifying possibility.

Just like Zander had warned her would happen, she was more than ready to start praying for death and she’d only survived maybe an hour or so of torture.

How had Zander survived the aftermath of living through something like this?

Her admiration for him went up even though she already thought he was one of the most amazing men she had ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was so strong and so brave. He was loyal and been willing to do whatever it took to get justice for the men he had served with. But he was also compassionate enough to put her life above what had been his only purpose for living.

If he was the only one to walk away alive again, Lucy prayed that he wouldn’t shut Scarlett out this time, he was going to need his sister and her support to make it through this. Because the last thing she would want was for her death to destroy him. Zander deserved to be happy, he deserved to be loved, he deserved all the joy in the world, and if he couldn’t have those things with her then she hoped he could find it with someone else.

Someone who could see just how special he was.

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