Page 105 of The Mercenary and the Mortician (The Silent Hollow #1)

I was tearing against the ropes that Damian had used to tie me down so hard I could feel blood pooling in my palms.

“If you fucking touch Naomi I will fucking bathe in your blood!”

The shit I was screaming at him was getting increasingly more violent as I tore through my own skin and flesh in an attempt to get free.

Damian chuckled at my attempts to release myself from the chair as he prepped what looked like another needle.

“I’m going to rip your spine out of your fucking throat!” I roared as Damian flicked the syringe to distill any air bubbles.

“You’re going to do none of that, Callum. You’re going to sit still, and I’m going to have my fill of you. Then, when I’m done, I will kill you. Just as I should have done the day I found you in that fucking precinct.”

He came forward and fisted my hair, jerking my head to the side to expose the veins in my neck.

“Get the fuck away from me!”

“Shh, shh. This will help you calm down. Don’t worry. You’ll still be able to feel everything. It’s no fun if you don’t come while I fuck you.”

“Damian, I will literally bite your fucking dick off!”

As he looked down at me with those hungry whiskey eyes, more repressed memories seemed to wiggle free from the depths of my mind. I couldn’t believe I had buried them so deep.

He had always been a fucking child abuser. My mind had tried to protect me from it, but I hated myself for being so weak. All the times he had touched himself while he had me tortured as a child. Sometimes he had touched me too, and I had fucking repressed it.

If I’d remembered, would it have taken me so long to break free of him? How the fuck could my mind betray me like that!?

“I’m going to fuck you raw, Callum. We’re going to go again and again . I’m going to make you beg for it. Then I’m going to sell little Naomi into the trade you tried so hard to dismantle. I’ll let you watch the auction. Tight little pussy like hers will fetch a pretty penny. Then, once she’s gone and you’re mine again, I’ll slit your throat and watch you die. Maybe in front of her, just so she knows for sure her big brother isn’t coming to save her.”

“Why are you doing this!?” I snarled, though I knew it was a stupid fucking question. There was no rhyme or reason for Damian’s sadism.

Some men just wanted to hurt people.

Some men fucking got off on it.

I knew this because I was one of them.

The difference between Damian and me was that I didn’t want to be like this. I didn’t take pride in the fact that I was a monster.

Damian loved himself, which I supposed was lucky for him, considering no one else ever would.

“Why am I doing this? LOOK AT MY FACE!” he roared, positioning the tip of the needle against my throat. “Look what you fucking did to me! Did you really think I would let this go unpunished!?”

I scowled. “No. I thought you would fucking die! Jesus Christ, you’re like a fucking cockroach! At least now you look like one, too.”

I spat on him, and his face went purple with fury.

He reared back, pulling back the needle as he readied himself to plunge it into my neck.

Suddenly, there was an explosion.

The entire room shook, and dust rained down from the concrete walls. The steel door to the room he had me locked in blew inward, and Damian and I both stared in shock as Ryan Fairview stepped into the frame.

Theo appeared behind him, and they both looked ready for fucking war.