Page 140 of The Truths We Burn

As he wakes up, he is instantly aware of his tethered predicament. The ropes knotting his hands and feet together keep him on the ground. And I doubt he’ll be able to slither away from me fast enough. He’d gotten away with his sick offense for too long already.

Alistair walks towards me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “He’s all yours.”

I bite down on the match in my mouth, my thumb tapping my thigh. I don’t need his approval but appreciate his support.

Thatcher takes a deep breath, then spits onto Cain’s chest before looking over at me. “You better make him bleed for trying to shoot me.”

I scoff, smirking lightly as I shake my head.

Okay, so maybe grabbing Cain from his apartment hadn’t gone that smoothly. He’d pulled a gun on Thatch, just before he’d been knocked out cold. And I have a feeling Thatcher isn’t going to let it go anytime soon.

Cain tries to shout behind the duct tape on his mouth, only succeeding in reminding me that he’s still breathing the same air as her. I’m caught between wanting him to die quickly and prolonging his torture for as long as his human body can take it.

I turn my head, seeing Silas. He stands still for a long time, just watching me before scooping a set of chains off the ground and reaching them towards me.

“Make him beg for it,” he says simply, dropping the hefty links into my hands.

I nod, knowing what he’s telling me without needing a full explanation. With a deep breath, I crack my neck, zeroing in on Cain’s body.

He’s not stupid—I can see him trying to calculate ways to get out of this. It makes this even better for me because it doesn’t matter what solution he comes up with, there is no escaping me. I’m his reckoning.

Every time I look at him, the madness inside of me only stirs more violently. The pressure inside my head increases, and all I can see are images of a small version of Sage. Her tiny body curled into a tight cocoon as she cries silently into her sheets, feeling tainted and hollow.

All her dreams of the future, all the joy that comes from being blissfully unaware of the darkness that awaits you in life, it had all been stolen from her.

She needed a savior.

And when one never came, she became her own, forged from the wickedness that had been done to her. She became what she had to in order to endure.

I—we—of all people know what that’s like.

Better than anyone.

Sage doesn’t need anyone to slay her demons. I know that.

But her inner child did, and even though she probably prayed for an angel instead of an angry man with horns, I’m still going to do what no one else had been able to.

Protect her.

My shoes thud against the track as I make my way to his body. I take my time to look him up and down before speaking.

“Before I take this tape off your mouth, I want to get a few questions out of the way.” I squat down to the left of his head. “Why am I here? Well, Cain McKay, you’re a filthy fucking pedophile.”

His eyes widen, head immediately shaking as he tries to deny my claims against him.

“No, no.” I tilt my head as I click my tongue. “Lying isn’t going to help you. Nothing is going to help you. So when I take this off, don’t waste your last words on trying to convince me otherwise.”

I reach into my back pocket, pulling out two of the items I’d brought specifically for this moment. One of them is my Zippo, and the other is a set of pliers that I jacked from Thatcher’s collection of tools.

He’s not going to be happy that they are about to get very, very dirty.

“Let’s see, what else…Don’t do this, blah, blah. You don’t need to do this, blah—oh!” I tap his chest with the pliers. “What are you going to do to me? Good question, Cain. That’s my favorite.”

I flick my Zippo, the satisfying swoosh filling the air, making my fingers tingle with anticipation.

The flame burns steady, never wavering, patient.

“I’m going kill you.” I look him straight in the eyes as I say it because even though he doesn’t deserve to go out like a man, I want him to see just how dark my soul is. I want him to know that this is going to be painful.