Page 110 of Misery

"And you came here, why?" Magnus asks, still suspicious.

"Because I want him to suffer." The words come out venomous. "I want him to lose everything like I lost everything. Months of my life. My dignity. My..." She stops, collects herself. "I know where he has the old man. Your friend's father. I'll tell you, but I want something in return."

"What?" Runes asks.

"Protection. And I want to watch when you take him down. I want to see his face when he realizes he's lost."

Vanir's been quiet, but now he speaks up. "Could be a trap. Thiago could have sent her."

Eleyna turns on him with fury that could melt steel. "You think I'd let him use me again? After finding out I wasnothingbut camouflage while he obsessed over another woman? I found notebooks. Notebooks full of her name. Drawings of their imaginary children. Plans for their life together after he 'removes all obstacles.'"

She pulls out another phone—different from the first. "This is his backup phone. The one he doesn't know I know about. Check the photos. Check the messages. Tell me I'm lying."

I take the phone, start scrolling. It's all there. More photos of Elfe I've never seen. Messages to various numbers about "the little artist." Plans detailed enough to make me sick.

One message stands out, sent yesterday:

After tomorrow night, she'll have no one left but me. Father gone. Oskar gone. She'll have to choose me.

"Where is he?" I ask.

"There's an old meat packing plant. Closed down five years ago. He had Los Coyotes buy it through shell companies—I found the paperwork in his things." She gives us the address. It's on the outskirts of town, isolated. Perfect for what he's doing. "He has at least six Los Coyotes soldiers with him. Maybe more. And the old man... he's in bad shape."

"How bad?" Magnus asks.

"I saw him yesterday when Thiago brought me there. Didn't know who he was then. Just some old biker Thiago was 'interrogating for information.'" Her voice breaks slightly. "He was conscious but barely. Lots of blood. Thiago's been... creative."

"Why were you there?" I ask.

"He wanted me to see. Said it was important I understood what he was capable of. What he'd do to anyone who got in his way." She meets my eyes. "He talked about you. A lot. Said you were brothers once. Said you betrayed him by touching what was his."

"She's not his."

"Tell that to the wall of photos. Tell that to the recordings."

"Recordings?"

She nods. "Audio. Video. He has cameras in her apartment. Had. In her parents' house. At the bar where she works. He knows everything. Every conversation. Every breakdown. Every moment."

The violation of it hits fresh. Not just watching but recording. Keeping it. Studying it.

"We need to move," Tor says. "If she's telling the truth?—"

"I am."

"Then we need to hit him now. Before he expects it."

"He's planning something for tomorrow night," Eleyna adds. "Kept talking about midnight. About choices. About her finally understanding who really loves her."

"The church," I say. "He demanded Elfe meet him at the old church tomorrow at midnight."

"He won't be there," Eleyna says. "That's a distraction. He'll be watching from somewhere else. Probably the plant. He has monitors set up, can watch multiple locations at once."

Runes makes a decision. "We go now. Full force. Eleyna, you stay here?—"

"No." Her voice is steel. "I'm coming. I need to see this through."

"It's dangerous?—"