Page 158 of Restitution

“Yeah.” I smirk and cross my arms. “You loved to play games too. Didn’t you, Bernadette?”

She doesn’t say a word, but her eyes are pleading with me. She’s delusional if she thinks I’ll help her. She’s still in her dress. Still dirty as hell. So when Base told me his plan, I dived into it.

Base grabs her by the throat and lifts her off her feet. Then he walks into the river with her and smashes her into the surface, holding her under while her hands slap at his arms. Her body is so frail and weak; I’m used to her being a little curvy and tanned and always walking about in stilettos while issuing orders.

She looks so fucking pathetic.

Base pulls her from the water enough for her to choke and gasp. “We should’ve brought some soap. She’s disgusting.”

“I don’t think that’ll help.”

“Nah,” Base replies, shoving her back into the water. “Being rotten comes naturally to her. Do you want a shot?”

I shake my head. “I’ll kill her if I go near her.”

Base lifts her from the water, walks back out with her and drops her on the ground. “Beg for his forgiveness,” he snaps, yanking her head up by grabbing her nested hair. “Tell him you’re fucking sorry.”

“K-Kade,” she coughs. “Please.”

Something snaps in my head, and I drive my foot into her face, bursting her nose and causing blood to piss down her mouth. I want to hit her again, but I fist my hands.

Base sees me struggling to keep it together and opens the bottle of vodka he had sitting to the side, crouches beside her and grabs her jaw to pry it open, then upends the bottle so she chokes on the strong spirit. He shoves the neck of the bottle as far as he can into her mouth, so she’s deep-throating it. I can see her throat contracting around it as vodka spurts up, coming out her nose, puddling in her eyes.

Her pulse is racing in her neck. Her eyes are wide despite being filled with the strong spirit.

I move forward and wrap my fingers around her throat while Base keeps the bottle in place. I squeeze, and I can see the pressure building behind her eyes. “How does it feel to have your control taken away?” I ask, not really needing an answer. “You feel powerless as your lungs beg for fucking oxygen.”

“You’re going to kill her,” Base says, pulling the bottle out of her throat, which only makes me tighten my grip. “If you don’t want to yet, then stop.”

I let go, stepping back, my heart racing in my chest with adrenaline. She gags and spits and coughs as much up as she can, vodka no doubt stinging her eyes and nose. The projectile vomit nearly hits Base. He flies back in revulsion.

Once she stops spewing, he steps forward, crouching in front of her. “Do you remember doing that to me? You made me stand still after forcing me to downtwobottles, and if I stumbled, you used a taser on me.”

My head snaps to him as he stands straight. “I didn’t know that.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know. You were in France working. I ended up in her little hospital wing for a week because of that night.”

I knew other shit happened, but I always assumed it was the same stuff we always went through.

“Stand the fuck up,” Base demands, and I can see the rage building in his eyes. He tosses the empty bottle into the water behind her while the dogs paddle around. “Stand. Up!”

Bernadette lets out a sob as she pushes to her knees, her body weakly doing as it’s told as she gets to her feet, staggering to the side. She tries to grab Base’s hand to help herself stay put, looking pathetic, but he slaps her arm away.

“Don’t touch me. You’ll never touch me again.”

“You won’t win,” she says in a shaky voice, the alcohol starting to take control. She’s looking right at me. “You won’t break me. My team will find me, and you’ll all be dead.”

I scoff. “Funny. Your little minions are gone, and there isn’t a competition to win. It’s just us and you, and everything we have to do to you as payback.”

Base comes up beside me. “Get into the water,” he says, gesturing behind her. “I want you to drown yourself.”

Somehow she manages to pale even further. “N-No.”

Base sighs and shoves her so hard, I hear the air rush out of her lungs as she catapults backwards into the water. Her head hits a rock, and she struggles to keep herself up. It’s shallow, about knee deep, but for some reason, she’s unable to stand.

There’s blood coming from her head too. Maybe she hit the rock too hard? I don’t care.

Base chuckles beside me. “I won’t let her actually drown,” hesays. “But check out how ridiculous she looks.”