Page 70 of His Toy

I stepped closer to the man, ignoring the comment.

“Eric isn’t here,” I said. “Eric would kill you for less than I would. So I will ask this again,” I leaned my arms against the bars, “If you were free, what would you do?”

The man blinked, and his lips tremored. “P-please don’t kill me,” he whispered. He couldn’t answer the question for fear for his life. In his mind, this was a trap. There was no right answer.

“Answer the fucking question!” I shouted, banging the bars.

“Eric,” he said. “Eric. He’ll kill me if I don’t go back there.”

They were loyal to that monster, to the point of immobilizing fear. Perhaps there was something to that. Fear over love. What was the point in letting them go?

Still, if it would save them from death, from Eric, and from me, then I needed to consider it. I would have to discuss the particulars with Grant, Donna, and Heather, but the rest would come into place soon. It was only a matter of time.

Heather.

I climbed up and locked the cells. If they were gone by the time Heather asked, then they couldn’t ruin the image she had of me. I could admit to the things I had done, capturing them, but I could still prove to her that I was changing. Sometimes, that had to do with eradicating a problem. Sometimes, you fucked up everything before you made it right.

In the fireplace room, Heather fiddled with her hands. Standing, not resting, like she was ready to sprint at a moment’s notice. I reached forward to take her in my arms, but she stepped back. My heart wrenched. But I could take a hint. I stepped back too.

Her neck was bare. The collar was gone.

“I want to renegotiate,” she said. “New terms. But I need answers first.”

I nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Tell me what you’re going to do to those people.”

I closed my lips. This wasn’t a request. It was a command. It was unlike our dynamic. Had she already seen the cells? Was she so brave as to demand this secret of me?

“What people?”

“I’m not stupid,” she said, shaking her head. She crossed her arms. “Those people you’ve kept like wild animals in cages. What do you plan to do with them, Zaid? Answer me that.”

I stared at her, those bright blue-green eyes with pain behind them, hurting for those people she barely knew, people like her sister. Her sister, who, as far as anyone could tell, didn’t care what happened to Heather.

And yet, Heather was still fighting for them.

I was fighting for them in a different way. Wasn’t I?

No. I had started with murderous intentions. But it was different now.

“You’re going to kill them,” she said, her voice breathless. “Why?”

“They’re Eric’s followers.”

“And that makes it okay to kill them?” her voice raised. “Did they do anything to you, specifically you, Zaid?” She shook her head. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were planning to kill Hazel too. And me.”

Heather’s death was never part of my design, but if it happened, I was never supposed to care. I was never supposed to allow myself to have any attachment towards her. But now? Now, Eric’s death seemed necessary, but not for my mother. To make the world a safer place for Heather. To give her a better home.

It wasn’t just about my revenge anymore.

“You were,” she said, her bottom lip quivering. “You were going to kill me.”

I looked away. “I knew that it was a possibility that you might die in the process. But it was never part of my plan.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” she said. “You didn’t tell me I might die. That you wouldn’t care. That this was a fucking blood bath.”

“I warned you,” I said coldly. “I told you not to get wrapped into this.”