Page 52 of The Road to Ruined

Bone Saw nods once.

"Why her?"

"That's none of your concern," he says. "But if this goes wrong, you and your entire family will pay for it."

"Open the back," the older man tells the younger one.

"She's too clean," the younger man says. "She doesn't look the part."

He brings back his fist and in a millisecond, it connects with my face. I fall into Bone Saw, my eye throbbing and nose gushing blood.

"What the fuck!?" I scream.

"That's better," the man says.

But when he goes to grab my arm, I reach behind me and pull the knife disguised as a hairpin from my braid and, in one smooth motion, drag it across his neck. The old man screams as he watches the younger one crumple to the ground, grasping at his throat, his body twitching in a pool of blood until he stops moving.

"Wow. You're right—that is sharp."

"What the hell was that?" the old man screams. "She just killed my bodyguard!"

"He had poor instincts," Bone Saw says. "He should have known what he was looking at. I was going to kill him when you were finished anyway."

I look the old man in the eye when I lick the blade clean. "Do I look the part now?" I ask.

Bone Saw takes the blade from me and cleans it on his pants before putting it back in my hair. "I'll put her in the back," he says. "And I'll be watching you the whole time."

"Are you okay?" he asks quietly when he pulls me around the back of the van.

"No," I tell him, whimpering just a little. I don't want to—not in front of him—but I can't help it. "I think he broke my fucking eye socket. It hurts."

"Well, you killed him," he says. "You're good and mad now, aren't you? That's not a bad thing." He reaches for the handle on the back door and then freezes. "Teagan, don't talk to them. You can't save them, so don't lie to them."

"What are you talking about?"

When he pulls open the van doors and escorts me inside, I see two other girls huddled close together in the back corner. They're barely conscious; they've clearly been drugged by the way they lean to the side, their eyes glazed over with their hands cuffed in front of them. Only one of them reacts when Bone Saw steps into the vehicle, and it's just barely. It's as if it's taking all of her energy just to show that small amount of shock and surprise at the masked killer's presence, and then her body surrenders—maybe because she's giving up or maybe because she knows there's no point.

I guess I know what he meant now by looking the part.

I sit across from them, and Bone Saw pulls handcuffs from his pocket, closing them around my right wrist.

I shake my head. "No," I say quietly.

"It'll be okay," he whispers before doing the same on the left side. "They're loose. You can slip out of them, and you know how sharp it is. You won't even need to. Remember to flash the lights upstairs when you're done, and stay put. I'll take care of the others."

I nod and look down at my feet.

He runs a gloved hand over my cheek and then beneath my chin, tilting it until I meet his dark eyes through the holes in the mask again.

"I don't want to play monsters alone," I say softly. My right eye is already swollen enough to impair my vision.

"You're not playing alone."

"I can't feel my face."

"It's not that bad," he says. "You're still beautiful. I'll take care of it when we get home, okay?"

I nod again, averting my gaze, and he slaps a piece of duct tape over my mouth. I shoot daggers at him with my eyes.

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