Page 116 of Like An Animal

I still feel like I’m responsible for this, even though most of it happened before I met her.

It was my responsibility to protect her and some of this still happened under my watch. She can say differently but I still failed.

I take Bronwyn’s hand as I guide her down into the basement where all of my prisoners are being held. Cheryl follows close behind her as we make our way into the damp space.

I’ve kept Bron and Charlotte out of here intentionally, but she asked to be involved in Isaac’s demise and to watch Dimitri’s death.

“Are you sure?” I ask her one last time. This is her chance to back out but she slowly nods.

“I’m not backing out. This isn’t my first time, Jer.”

I smirk at her response. That’s true. She watched me obliterate her ex-husband who tried to kill her and barely blinked. She has a strong stomach.

Nikolai walks out of a corner, blood soaking down the front of his shirt, and strolls right over to us. “I took care of the guards. All that’s left is Dimitri and Isaac.” His gaze shifts to Cheryl as she looks around, anxious as hell. Then, their eyes lock, but it only lasts for a minute, some strange understanding passing between them. His hard gaze turns to me.

“Nikolai, this is Bronwyn, my wife,” I introduce them. “And this is her aunt, Cheryl. We just got back from Texas. They had to stay at the hospital after everything at The Fathers’ compound.”

Nikolai nods before giving Bron a rare smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Borza. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Jeremy!” A scream echoes through the air and Bronwyn jumps from the sudden noise.

“I swear, he never learned when to shut his big mouth. It’s like he thinks you’ll save him, Borza,” Nikolai mutters with irritation.

“Do you have him near the tank?” I ask, my wife’s gaze snapping between us as we talk.

“I figured we’d use his own torture method against him.”

“Tank? What kind of tank?” Bron presses, but Nikolai just smirks at her.

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

All four of us walk around the corner to the far end where a massive above ground pool sits with steps that lead to a deck that surrounds the pool. Three fins poke out of the water. The exterior is made of shatterproof glass so no matter how much the inhabitants ram it, it won’t break. And, what’s inside it? Sharks.

Big fucking sharks.

“A shark tank?” My wife gasps in shock.

“It wasn’t my idea. Dimitri had it here before I came to Newark. They’re man-eating sharks. Though sharks don’t normally attack people, these were bred to feed off of people.”

I turn to look at Nikolai before speaking again. “After we deal with Dimitri, we can feed the other bodies to the sharks. It will lessen the clean up.”

Plus, it will keep them fed until we find someone to take them. I don’t want them here after this.

“Jeremy! Let me down from here!”

I look up and see Dimitri tied to a crane hanging above the pool. His face looks blood red from screaming. Serves his ass right. A taste of his own medicine must be painful.

“Oh, you want down? Why didn’t you say so?” I taunt him before picking up the remote for the crane.

Dimitri panics. “No! Don’t you dare drop me in there!”

I chuckle, but then Dimitri goes silent and I realize his eyes are trained on Cheryl who’s focus is on the sharks.

“Charly, is that you?”

Charly? Who the fuck is Charly?

Cheryl’s head pops up, her gaze moving to Dimitri.