Page 174 of Seven Deadly Sins

Bruce handed him a Glock.

Robert opened the cellar door and led the way down the concrete steps. “Hello. Are you ready?”

Both prisoners turned their heads to face him. “After your little invitation to those outside the gate, we need to get a move on. You need to receive your punishment before it’s too late.”

~

Liam’s heart froze at the sight of the whip in the second man’s hands. He then met Harper’s frightened glance. Gone was the strong determination only to be replaced by sheer terror. After a few seconds of locking gazes with him, she hitched her chin and stared at the camera, resolve coating her features.

Good. She’d need to be strong to endure what was coming. They both would. It didn’t seem as if help would arrive in time for them.

Thompson aimed a gun at Harper. “Agent McConnell you will be untied and shackled to the wall. If you resist, I will shoot our lovely detective between the eyes. Understand?”

Liam nodded.

His ropes were cut, and he was secured facing the wall, his back to the camera. With a quick slice of a knife, his shirt and jacket fell open, exposing his skin to the cool air of the cellar.

“No.” Harper’s cry rang out. “You can’t do this. It’s barbaric.”

“Since I’m the one in charge, Detective, I can do anything I desire.”

Liam glanced over his shoulder and met the cold eyes of the man holding the whip. He’d endure the best he could. Taking a deep breath, he faced the wall.

“Let’s start with twenty, shall we? I prefer to watch from the comfort of my office. Wait five minutes before you start.” Thompson dropped the keys to the shackles on a wooden shelf on the wall. “Annie will come after the lashes are dealt.”

The five minutes after Thompson left were the longest five minutes of Liam’s life. Harper’s pleading for the man not to do this echoed through the concrete room as the man cut away the rest of Liam’s shirt and jacket, dropping the pieces to the dirt floor.

Never in his wildest nightmare had Liam thought he’d be whipped on live feed for the world to see. Orders from Payson had ceased. The battering on the gate had stopped. All eyes seemed to be glued on what was about to unfold in that underground room.

The first slash burned like fire along his ribcage.

Harper’s scream pierced the air.

The second slash took Liam’s breath away. A hiss escaped his lips. He shut off his mind, filling it with an empty darkness and removed himself from the pain. He barely heard Harper’s sobs as the lashes came with a painful regularity.

He lost consciousness by lash fifteen.

He woke to Harper calling his name. He opened his eyes and struggled to his feet to take the pressure off his wrists.

“The man is gone,” she said. “But said he would return.”

“Did he finish?”

“Yes.”

So, there would be more. Thompson intended to continue the whipping until Liam stopped breathing. “Payson?”

“We have an hour until daylight. I have no idea what’s going on out there. Everything is quiet.”

He coughed, then took a deep breath, regretting the movement instantly. Expanding his ribs pulled at his back, or what was left of it. “How bad is it?”

“There’s too much blood for me to be sure, but I think it’s pretty bad.”

The man who had whipped him entered the cellar with a bucket. He tossed cold water onto Liam’s back, the liquid mixing with his blood and soaking the waistband of his pants and the dirt under his feet, turning it to mud. Then, he tossed the bucket in the corner and left.

Liam shivered so hard the chains rattled and his teeth chattered. He’d take the cold over the whipping, though. “Looks like I get a break.”

“Maybe something is happening up there after all.”