Page 103 of Restitution

Is there a nail in his…? Oh God.

Instead of being scared and begging for his life, Archie scowls at me and tries to lunge in my direction, but a blade is through his hand, pinning it to the wall before any of us can blink.

He lets out a strangled scream as Kade sinks the blade further. The void of his eyes is the only thing we can see with his hood up and his mouth covered. “I wouldn’t try that again if I were you.”

Then he pulls the blade free and wipes it on Archie’s chest, slicing the skin there.

“What do you want?” he sneers, wobbling. He can barely keep his balance.

He’s very thin, his bones nearly protruding from his skin, and his eyes are sunken into his skull. I sometimes forget that he’s locked in the basement – just along the corridor from the home studio where I spend so much time dancing.

Kade nods to the computer. “There’s a file I want you to open.”

Archie snorts. “Can’t use your fancy gadgets now, can you, boy?”

Kade grabs his chin and squeezes. “Don’t fuck with me. Open the damn file.”

His rotten teeth bare. “Or what?”

“I’ll put another nail in your dick.”

Archie’s eyes go wide at the threat, and the fight in his eyes vanishes as he tries to get free of Kade’s hold. “What file?”

Kade shoves him towards the desk, and I need to cover my mouth and nose with the smell coming from him.

He snatches the back of his head and digs his fingers into his skull. “Open it.”

“This file? No. Absolutely not! Are you insane?”

“Yes,” Kade says blankly. “Open it.”

He types slowly, because he’s trembling so much that he can’t coordinate his fingers properly. He fails the passcode six times before it cracks, and Kade launches him off the chair, causing him to land on the floor on his back. “We’re both dead if you release those!” Archie yells, spit hanging from his mouth.

Kade points a gun at his head, not looking at him as he scrolls on the computer. “There are over five thousand files here.”

Aria rises and slowly walks to stand beside him, and I follow her. I freeze behind Kade, looking sideways at Archie as he studies the new wound in his hand, rolling his jaw before he picks something from his unbrushed teeth.

A gasp draws my attention back to the computer, and I see Kade scrolling through hundreds upon thousands of folders. Each one has a name, and when he clicks on the contents of one, both Aria and I turn away and gag.

“You recorded everything,” he says, scrolling through more folders and clicking random files. I want to slap Archie when I see an image pop up of himself with a girl who looks not a day over sixteen. In the same folder, there’s a clip where Bernadette joins in.

I feel sick. These people are twisted.

There are so many files. Evidence of their crimes. Like they’ve created their own diary of the times they’ve had. Some have long captions describing their victim’s bodies, and the way they screamed for help.

Kade stops scrolling and opens Cassie’s file. “Why do you havea folder on your—” He pauses, narrowing his eyes at the screen, then glares at Archie in disgust. “You fucked your own daughter?”

Archie spits at him, uncaring. “She was a good girl.”

Kade huffs at the ridiculous comment then nonchalantly says, “I was the one who killed her.”

Archie’s smile falls. “I’m aware.”

Kade cocks the gun and presses it to his forehead. “She was an annoyance. I didn’t even need to think before pulling the trigger. She was just like her mother and irritated me like you do.”

Rage fills Archie’s face. “You’re lucky your baby girl is dead, or I would’ve made a file for her.”

I punch him across the face without thinking at the same time Kade does, and although my knuckles sting, I put as much force into it as possible as I throw my fist at his face a second time, knocking him on his side. Kade boots him in the ribs as my nails score down Archie’s cheek.