Page 77 of Midnight Torment

A smile tugged the corner of my lips. Yeah, I was a bit of a psycho but who was keeping count? I never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it or who hadn’t pissed me off. I guessed that put a big red X on Dante’s back.

“Fine,” I grumbled, pushing myself to my feet. “Get everything that needs tested up, including the breathing apparatus in case we need to swap to underwater extraction. I’ll take the boat along the coast another few miles and make it look as if we’re sightseeing along the way.”

“Roger that,” Flynn said. “I’ll start to put our kits together as well. Caleb seems to have put a small arsenal in the hold. At the end of this, I’m going to have to have a chat with that guy to see how he put this together across borders.”

“With a lot of money thrown at it,” I called over my shoulder. That was the way of our world. Currency was king and most people could be bought if the price was right. The only ones that didn’t apply to were the type of fat rats on the Council, and even they could be enticed with the promise of power. Human slaves were not about the sex or slavery, they were all about sick fucks exercising power over others. Matteus had got a kick out of making people do what he wanted. The human organ trading was another sickness creeping into the world. Rich men who wanted to abuse their bodies and have others walking around as extra body parts to replace what they’d damaged.

We stopped again, and I tested my board and then the underwater masks in my kit. Each cannister of air would last about twenty minutes and would be enough to take me under the radar of any systems watching the waves around his island.

I hauled myself back on the boat, shook the excess water from my hair, and grabbed a towel.

“Caleb left food,” Flynn said, holding a massive sandwich made from an entire baguette. “We may as well eat since we don’t know when we’ll have the opportunity later.”

Everything tasted like sawdust, but I swallowed it to keep my strength up. Every hour took me closer to Megan and nightfall couldn’t come fast enough. As soon as the sun started to dip, we would make the final part of our journey.

Death was waiting to dance, and fate had sentenced Dante to die.

***

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Megan

I tried to inhale and winced, as everything hurt, including my attempt to breathe. Wherever I lay was no longer that room where I was strapped to the bed. A groan escaped when I attempted to roll onto my side to see my surroundings.

“We didn’t think you’d make it,” a male voice said somewhere to my left.

My fingers skimmed over my still swollen lips, and I tried to bite back another moan. A shadow moved to my left and I shrank back, waiting for the next blow.

“I tend not to hit women.”

No, he had a psychobitch who did that for him. Everything hurt because she lost her shit when I wouldn’t scream for her. I crept toward the edge of the bed and tentatively sat up. What did he want with me? And why was he here?

The room swam around me as I straightened, my legs hanging off the end of the bed. “What do you want?” My voice emerged raspy, and it hurt to talk.

“I want to talk to you about Jordan.” My head came up so I could watch him move around the room. “Something you said earlier intrigued me.”

My hand grasped the wooden nightstand as another wave of nausea hit me. “Leave me alone.”

“You’re an orphan, I’ve already checked,” he said as if he had the right to go prying into my past. “You said Jordan fought his demons every day but at least his parents loved him for three years.”

I could barely remember my name right now, and didn’t want to answer his questions. “Leave him alone.”

He waved off my comment. “If what you say is true, then why does he use his grandfather’s name?”

I glared at my tormentor. “Can I have a glass of water before you interrogate me?”

His jaw flexed and his head tilted to the side while he studied me. He turned and walked to the other side of the room, returning with a tray with a sandwich, a muffin, and a bottle of Pepsi on it. “You haven’t eaten since you left South Africa. Food helps remove the toxins from your system.”

I picked up the muffin and broke a piece off the side before popping it in my mouth. Chewing hurt and my throat was dry. Dante stood and watched as I managed a few mouthfuls before giving up. The liquid helped revive me a little as it tingled on my tongue.

“Why are you so interested in Jordan?”

“That’s simple. I hate Horatio Berkeley and everything he holds dear. His grandson is the son and heir he never had, and that makes him his greatest weakness.”

“Why do you hate him?”

“He ruined my life and killed someone very precious to me.”

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