Page 50 of Peripheral Vision

I feel Callum’s muscles tense as his eyes lock back onto mine, the desperation clear. I knew that it wasn’t all real when I ended up here, but for some reason hearing that makes me want to save him evenwhen he doesn’t deserve it to come from me. “Connor,” I manage to rasp. “Please, let him go.”

His grip from my jaw moves to my throat where he squeezes. “You think I’m going to listen to you, Dylan? You don’t get to make demands. Especially not after this little act of rebellion.”

Before I can reply, Connor shoves me away from him and I stumble backwards, crashing into the wall. My breath catches as pain shoots through my ankle, but there is no time to focus on it. I have to move, try to move, but an enforcer steps up behind me, grabbing my arms and holding me in place. Connor uses his forward momentum to punch Callum in the face, except he doesn’t stop after one. He rains down blow after blow after blow. Callum doesn’t make a sound at first. His jaw is clenched, his body tense with each brutal hit, but he doesn’t give in. He fights the restraint, the humiliation, his gaze never leaving me, desperate and full of something I don’t know how to name.

“Stop!” I scream. “Connor, please!”

But he doesn’t listen, and soon enough Callum is no longer looking at me. He had lost consciousness, and only then does Connor slow his assault, leaving me thinking he was done. Callum’s blood stains the walls and the floors like a gruesome painting. I fight harder against the enforcer, but it’s no use. Connor pulls his gun from somewhere in his waistband, aiming it at Callum’s limp body that now lay on the floor where the enforcers dropped him. I scream, my voice raw, but it only seems to amuse Connor. He crouches down next to Callum’s still form, the barrel of his gun gleaming. “You should’ve known better than to defy me.” His tone is cold. And then he pulls the trigger. My heart races, pounding against my ribs as blood rushes to my ears, drowning out every other sound. People move around in front of me, and it looks like Connor takes a phone call, but the world is spinning at a nauseating rate and just as I feel as though I’m about to succumb to gravity, I hear Connor say, “Take her to the loading dock. This isn’t the only surprise I have for her tonight.”

Chapter

Thirty-Four

FLETCHER

We had barely made it through the first floor of the factory before we came face-to-face with none other than Callum himself. Nathan had to hold me back when I charged him with my knife, threatening to cut him into little pieces for stealing Dylan away from me. But when he admitted to being the one who had been helping us, and that he knew where Dylan was, I had to halt my homicidal tendencies. I wasn’t entirely sure that we could trust him. In fact, I was far from it, but we could use all the help that we could get, and I wasn’t too prideful if it meant getting her out safely. Unfortunately, about ten minutes after he left, we heard crackling voices through the radios of the downed men we had killed alerting everyone else that the bodies had been found outside.

“Fuck, we need to move faster.” We are crouching in the shadows below the first stairwell, the faint glow of light from the floors above raining down on us as well as from inside the loading dock that we are just around the corner from.

“We can’t go up without clearing this area though, first. The last thing we need is to be cornered. Then this was all for nothing,” Nathan reasons.

Before I can respond, voices sound from above us followed by a gunshot and a scream that echoes down the stairwell.Dylan.We’re out of time. “I need you to trust me. I’m going to create a distraction. You need to hide until I give you a sign.”

“What?” Nathan scoffs.

“Just listen to me, I’m going in there and giving myself up. When I do this, I need you to find a hiding place. Listen for a two-tone whistle and then open up hell on them however you can. The only goal…”

Nathan finishes for me, “Getting Dylan out. I got it. You know this can go fifty different kinds of bad, don’t you?”

I nod. “We’re out of options and we’re out of time.” The voices above us continue to echo down the stairwell and while I can’t make out everything that’s said, it’s obvious it’s not good. They got caught. That’s why I have to do this. Standing up straighter, I tuck my hands into my pocket and stroll into the loading dock. “Good evening, boys.”

About twelve different rifles are aimed in my direction at once. They really keep this area heavily guarded, and it makes me wonder how frequently auctions are held and shipments are received and sent. “Who the hell are you?” one of the guard’s barks. His voice is gruff, authoritative. I keep my hands in my pockets, my pace casual as I continue to approach. Confidence is my best weapon right now, at least the illusion of it is.

“Oh, me? I’m nobody important. I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d pop in.” My eyes sweep the room quickly, cataloging exits, potential weapons, and most importantly, the position of the guards. There don’t appear to be any other innocents in here. Good. That’s a relief.

The guard, who I assume to be in charge down here, flicks his gaze behind me and I feel myself shoved to my knees, my hands wrenched behind my back before they dispose of my own weapons. Fortunately, they don't discover the knife that’s sheathed on the inside of my belt. It’s small, but it can still do some damage. Theleader steps closer, his boots echoing on the concrete floor, and I can hear his other men fanning out around me. One sounds like he’s on the phone with somebody. “You’ve got guts strolling in here like that, especially considering you’re likely the fucker who left three of my men dead out front.” He pulls out a pistol and juts the barrel against my forehead as another guard secures my wrists with what feels like zip ties.

“You heard about that, huh?” Of course, I knew they would. The whole compound likely did.

He hits me over the head with the pistol. “Shut the fuck up. You’re lucky the boss wants you alive, otherwise you’d already be in hell.”

I flash a tight grin. That was quick. “Hell? I thought I was already here. Figured they had just done some redecorating.” He hits me in the eye this time, brass knuckles adorning his fist, and I can feel the bone below my eye crack with the force.

“Just because he said alive doesn’t mean you have to be in one piece, cunt.” He wipes the knuckles off before replacing them in his pocket. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of movement—Nathan. He’s just a shadow in the rafters above, but it’s enough to give me hope. He’s in position.

“You pack a hell of a punch, I’ll give you that.” I wet my mouth and spit toward his feet.

Whatever the fucker wanted to reply with is lost on his face as more footsteps enter the area. “Fletcher?”

I turn as much as I can on my knees. “Dylan.” Fuck, she’s in worse shape than I thought. She’s in nothing but a baggy shirt and some small shorts right now. Her wounds and her bruises are much more prominent in person, in this light. Contusions in multiple shades speckle her arms, her neck. They also extend down her legs, something that hadn’t been super visible in the video. She has healing scabs where it looks like she’d been cut on other areas of her skin. She’s limping badly, too. Her ankle is out of sorts along with her splinted arm. And even though her face is battered too, she is stilljust as bewitching as she has always been. They are going to pay for everything they’ve done to her. They’ve built their empire on hers and so many others suffering, and now it’s time for it all to come crashing down. I’ll make sure they feel the weight of every ounce of hurt they inflicted—tenfold.

I will pull them apart joint by joint, limb by limb, cutting into their skin down to the marrow of their bones before pulling their muscles and tendons apart until they pass out from the pain. And then I will wake them up and keep going until they are begging for death and then go a little further. I will burn them alive so that they don’t go easily and so they can get a taste for what their eternity in hell will be like.

She’s shoved down next to me, her arms bound in front of her with zip ties that are cutting into wounds that are already around her wrists from being bound too many times before. Blood trickles down her arms and I see red at seeing her own. “You’re really here,” she breathes.

I lower my forehead to hers, but she flinches back. “I’ve told you before, little viper, there’s nowhere you can go that I wouldn’t find you.”

“Well, well, well. I was wondering if you had something to do with all this chaos. I’ll admit, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get more time with Dylan before your arrival. She isn’t quite as broken as I wanted her to be for you to see.” My blood runs absolutely cold.No.

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