Page 22 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

Tears track silently down his face as Garrett's voice continues through the speaker, each word carving fresh wounds into both of us.

Colt slips back into the room and nods once. Wolf is working on the trace. We need time. We need Sunny to keep the line open. We need the strength to endure hearing what we all know is coming.

I let Levi go, but he doesn't move. Won't move. Can't move. Each of us is frozen, suspended in this nightmare, barely breathing. It feels as if the slightest sound, the smallest movement, might shatter this fragile connection—cut our only lifeline to her.

Through the speaker, Garrett laughs. It's a low, satisfied, revolting sound that raises every hair on my body. "Such a good girl now, aren't you? You're so pretty when you cry for me."

The bed springs groan in a steady, thumping rhythm that makes me sick.

Sunny whimpers, a jagged sound that cuts straight through me. "Please, no more... it hurts... I can't..."

"No one's coming for you, Sunny." Garrett's breathing grows heavier. "Where are they? Your precious protectors?"

His voice turns mocking. "If they loved you—really loved you—they'd have found you by now."

A shuddering breath. A series of loud grunts and wet sounds that make my skin crawl.

"You think they'd even want you now? After all of this?" The cruelty in his voice is surgical, precise. "You're ruined, Princess. Used up. But I still love you. Only me. I'm all you have left."

Colt's fingers race across his keyboard, the blue glow of the screen reflecting off his pale face. His jaw twitches and I swear I can hear his teeth grinding. He catches my eye and holds up one finger—sixty seconds. That's all we need.

"That's right, Princess." Garrett's voice comes in short bursts between heavy stuttering breaths. "Show me how much you love me."

Sunny's cry is muffled this time, like she's biting down, trying to stay quiet.

I've taken lives before. Many times, many men. Felt their last breath leave their bodies. Watched the light fade from their eyes. But I've never wanted to kill someone as much as I want to kill Garrett.

"Say it." Garrett's voice turns ugly. "Say you're mine."

"I—I'm..." Her breath comes in hitching sobs. "I'm yours."

The resignation in her voice when she says those two words fractures something inside of me.

Levi slides down the wall, head in his hands, chest heaving. The heavy gravity of what we're hearing settles over each of our shoulders, pulling us down.

We're failing her. Again. All we can do is bear witness to this… this thing we can't stop.

The rhythm of the bed springs picks up. Sunny's sobs become desperate pleas for mercy.

My fist clenches until my fingers scream.

"No one else will ever want you." Garrett pants the words out.

A pause. Heavy breathing. "But I love you. Only me."

Colt's screen flashes. Coordinates appear and vanish in green text. He scribbles frantically, maintaining his silence.

We're so close now. When we find him he's going to pay in ways he never dreamed possible.

"Look at me." The sound of another hard smack. "Show me those pretty eyes."

I meet Levi's gaze across the room. His rage mirrors my own.

It's pure. Murderous.

There will be no end to the damage we inflict on him.

Sunny's next cry is cut short. Snipped. She gasps like she's struggling for breath. The rhythm grows violent. Garrett's breathing turns erratic.