Page 42 of Peak Cruelty

Everything she needs.Nothing else.

I unbuckle the straps at her ankles.

“Stand up.”

She doesn’t.

I crouch.Unclip the chest strap next.

“I said—get up.”

She doesn’t look at me.Doesn’t move, either.That’s the thing about her.She never refuses outright.Just absorbs it.Like a sponge that dares you to squeeze harder.

So I do.

I lift her by the upper arms.Set her on her feet.She wobbles once.Doesn’t reach for me.

“Do you know what happens to liars?”

Her voice is quiet, but clear.“They end up in your house.”

I grip the back of her neck and shove her toward the toilet.

Hard.Fast.Her knees hit tile with a sound I feel in my spine.

I flip the lid.Take a breath.

I start to force her head down.

But something in me shifts—and I don’t.

I pull her back.

Her mouth is open, but she doesn’t speak.

Then she goes still.

I wait.

No plea.No sputter.Just...surrender.

I grab her jaw and tilt her face up.

I say, “Tell me you knew.”

She doesn’t.

So I try to do it again.

But I can’t.

Her face is blank.Eyes wide.Not brave.Just scared—and trying hard not to show it.

That, somehow, is worse.

“You want to die over a lie?”

She coughs.Once.Then?—

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