Page 174 of Prized Possession

“You did nothing to deserve it, and I’m sorry. I’m begging you to accept my apology and let me go. I’ll leave Blackthorn and never return.”

I look between Marcus, Jake, and Miles, silently asking them what the hell I’m supposed to say to that. Marcus just nods towards him, letting me know it’s up to me.

“I have a question for you, and I expect you to be honest with me,” I tell him, and he quickly sits up, making eye contact with me through the tears.

I expect to shy away under his gaze, but he’s the one to drop his eyes to the floor first, looking terrified. Marcus chuckles beside me.

“He wouldn’t dare lie to you, love. Would you, cocksucker?”

Frank shakes his head vigorously, his words tumbling out. “No. No, I’d never lie to you. I only tell the truth now.”

I’m frozen at the absurdity of this moment, glancing between the guys, who are looking incredibly smug right now. I have no idea what they did to break him, but it seems to have worked.

“I need to know if you did to other women what you did to me?”

Frank freezes, remaining totally silent as the last bit of colour drains from his already pale face. If I thought he looked terrified before, it’s nothing compared to now.

Jake clears his throat, startling Frank. “I don’t hear you answering.”

“Yes,” he replies, barely above a whisper, his body deflating as the word comes out.

“How many?” I ask through gritted teeth.

Frank looks over at Marcus, but whatever he sees on my guy's face must be scary enough for him to talk. With his eyes fixed on the floor, his trembling voice says the words that guts me in a way I wasn’t expecting.

“Twenty-six, including you.”

I gasp loudly and Marcus steps forward, punching Frank on his nose. Blood spurts out while he falls backwards, sobs racking his body as he curls into a ball on his side.

Miles stands behind him and grabs his hair, dragging him back onto his knees. I take a small step forward, Marcus’ hand in mine.

“You need to pay for what you’ve done.” I then look at the three guys. “Is there any way to get him to hand over every penny he owns, along with the names of his victims, so they can be reimbursed for what he did to them? Money won’t take away the horror of what he did, but it’ll help.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Clo,” Jake says, pressing a soft kiss against my temple.

Miles pulls Frank onto the chair in the middle of the room, not needing to tie him down as he just stays there, sobbing as he holds his nose.

“I’m going to get you a pen and paper, and you’re going to write down the names of every one of your victims. Can you do that?” Miles asks him.

Frank nods his head slowly, almost like he’s given up.

“How will we get his money?” Jake asks.

Frank clears his throat, spitting blood out of his mouth. “If you get me a laptop, I can transfer the money online.”

“Why are you volunteering to do that?” I ask, suspicious as to why he’s giving in so easily.

Frank lets out a sigh. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here. I don’t want to die.”

Miles tells us he’ll be back in a minute, and we wait in silence for his return. It’s not long before he’s back with a pad and pen, and his laptop.

Jake pulls a small dirty table over and places it in front of Frank. I don’t miss the way he cringes when he sees it, and I wonder once again what the hell they’ve done to him.

As Frank starts making a list of names, with as much detail as he can remember, to help us identify the girls, Miles works on getting a bank account set up for him to transfer the money into.

Once Miles is ready, he grabs Frank’s attention. “Right, the login page is open. What next?”

“I can log you in,” Frank says, holding his hand out for the laptop.

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