Page 117 of Cruel Revenge

Joshua groans again, and it’s only when I get closer to him that I notice the thick streams of blood rolling down his body.

Cuts are open all over his skin.

There may not be a thousand of them, but it looks like that’s how she’s intending on killing him.

I hurry over to him, trying to keep my voice low and soft. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to get you out of here, and I’m going to make her pay for this.”

He opens his swollen eyes, dark circles already forming beneath them. “Leave.”

“Not happening.” I glance at Aiden as he hurries up the stairs and along the catwalk to the rafters the chain is looped around. “We’re going to get you down. You just need to hold on and try not to bleed out on me, all right?”

Joshua swings a little as Aiden starts working on loosening the chains from where they are looped.

The door on the other side of the warehouse slams shut, heels clicking against the floor.

Zoe claps slowly as she approaches me. “I didn’t think you were going to get here in time. You must’ve broken every speeding law there is and then some. I’m impressed.”

“Leave, Sky.” Joshua’s voice breaks. “Please. You have to go. She’ll kill you.”

I smooth my hand over his leg, only briefly wondering where his pants went. “You can’t kill evil, Josh. It’s going to be okay.”

I have to keep telling myself that, even though it feels like I’ve lost all sense of control.

The world is spinning, and I don’t think I can find my footing. Not right now. Not when Joshua might die.

As Zoe strides closer, I stand between the two, making sure she can’t get to him.

I roll my shoulders back, keeping my gun at my side. I don’t know what she wants or what she has planned.

Shooting her now, when I don’t know about any traps she may have laid, would be a stupid decision.

Zoe looks up at Joshua, an amused smirk crossing her face. “You would not believe how long it took me to make all those cuts. Your fake husband is quite the fighter, Reaper. You should be impressed.”

I smirk, putting out a false sense of self-control that I don’t have right now. “Let him down, and I’ll let you go. For now.”

She scoffs, her eyes flashing with hatred. “Do you really think I’m going to do that? After all your family has done to mine? After all the people you’ve taken from me?”

“That was Aiden, not me.”

“And yet, here you are, with yourhusbandhanging in chains while Aiden struggles to get him down.” Zoe laughs and shifts to the side.

I follow her steps, staying between her and Joshua. “Enough of this.”

Zoe stops, the energy in the room shifting. “You want him? Why? You going to kill him? I’ve read all about you and the things you used to do to men. I’ve heard about the way you would stalk them through the night. Or the way you would seduce them, luring them in, and then, when they decided that you weren’t enough—as we all know you never were—you killed them.”

My teeth grind. “You don’t know the half of what I’m capable of.”

She smirks and looks up at Aiden. “You don’t think he’s here to help you, do you? In the choice between his supplier and his serial killer sister, he’s going to choose his supplier.”

I lunge at her.

Zoe is ready for me, catching the gun in my hand before I can whip it into the side of her face.

She rips it from me and tosses it to the ground.

I sweep my foot behind her knees, grabbing her collar and pulling her at the same time.

She collides with the ground, her head smashing off the cement.

---