Page 104 of At Your Mercy

I swallowed.

Ro turned his head slightly, not to Elias, but to the small group gathered—my nephews, Lane, and me, the makeshift jury that had decided to stand with him. He didn’t look for approval. He looked for presence. For the knowledge that he wouldn’t be alone, even if what he did made him alone afterward.

He set the mallet down beside him gently and picked up the ice-pick again. His hands did not tremble. He drew a breath that made the muscles in his throat move.

Ro stared at Elias’s handcuffed hands.

In an instant, he’d tugged Elias forward, pushed him down flat on his stomach, and sat on his arms.

Elias looked up from the floor where he’d fallen, and smirked at Ro’s ass. Even when facing death, he was a fucking creep.

Ro shifted so that he was kneeling on his arms, and Elias winced from pain. Ro then picked up the mallet once more, angled the ice-pick under Elias’s thumbnail, and struck.

Elias shouted as his thumbnail tore from the finger.

Ro wasted no time, moving to Elias’s pointer finger. Again, he struck, and again, the nail popped off, causing Elias to yell from the pain.

He continued this until all five fingernails on Elias’s right hand were on the floor of the cell.

I cringed at the gore, but didn’t look away.

Ro needed me to see this.

Hayes laughed from beside me as Ro asked himself out loud, “What next?”

When I glared at him, he shrugged. “He’s a good fit for the family.”

Setting down the pick and mallet, he peeled the dirty bandage from Elias’s gunshot wound, wrinkling his nose once it was uncovered.

“That’s super infected.” He was still for a moment, then shoved his finger into the wound, resulting in Elias screaming and thrashing.

He dug his finger around in there for a few minutes, making me nauseous. Elias had turned a pale green color.

Once he’d had enough of that, he pushed Elias into a sitting position with his back against the wall. Ro was easily able to maneuver him, as he’d quickly lost the fight he had in him.

I froze as Ro began undoing Elias’s pants, pulling out his flaccid cock.

Ro seemed to sense my unease, and looked over at me. “I’m just going to smash it.”

I frowned, not sure if I was following. “Smash it?”

He nodded, sending me a hesitant grin. “With the mallet.”

All four men beside me shuddered at his words.

There was a chorus of “Damn,” “Holy shit,” and “Wow.”

Hayes applauded, to which Ronan rolled his eyes. “That’s my new uncle!”

I smacked him on the back of the head.

We all watched as Ro raised the mallet above his head and brought it down on the head of Elias’s dick.

Elias screeched weakly, his face covered in snot, tears, and spit.

“Just one more. I don’t want you to die until the next round,” Ro said, his voice void of emotion.

And like he said, he raised the mallet and brought it back down. Elias looked to be on the verge of passing out. Honestly, I didn’t understand how he hadn’t passed out yet. I’m pretty sure I would have.