Page 59 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions

“I am not,” I defended automatically.

Jason’s eyes narrowed. “Did you fuck him last night?”

My cheeks heated. “That’s none of your business, Jason!”

“You are my business!” he roared, his voice a behemoth. “And the moment you started sucking that cop’s cock,hebecame my business too.”

My back stiffened. “I deserve to be happy, Jason! I am doing this so I can move on so I canbe happy!And Master Malmakes me happy. Why is that such a crime?”

“People like us don’t get a happily ever after, Hols. What are you planning on doing? Pack up down here once there’s no one left and pretend like you’renormal? Because you’re not. You never will be. And he,” Jason pointed up the concrete stairs to his right, “will never accept you for who youtrulyare. Best get that through your head now.”

The sudden pain in my chest made it difficult to breathe. “I never planned on giving him the choice of accepting me.”

“Yet you took off your mask for him?”

My eyes shot up. Of course, he’d followed me. Really, I shouldn’t be so surprised. This wasJason, after all.

“I thought we didn’t keep secrets, Hols. I thought you and I were open with one another.”

I made a face, because he was right. If Master Mal was just like any other guy, I wouldn’t feel the need to protect him from Jason. Hell, I might not have even met up with him last night with how exhaustedIwas, but I wanted to see him.

Jason must have seen something on my face to confirm his suspicions. “Break it off, Hols. I won’t kill him as a favor to you—butonlyif you break it off.”

Ultimatum given, Jason turned his back on me. I sat there for a long time, just staring at where he’d been. I didn’t realize I’d been crying until I bent back over Hannah and a tear dropped down onto her newly tattooed clown nose.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Mal

I slammedthe photo of Holly Marteen onto the table in the interrogation room before even introducing myself.

Jerome Roberts’ eyes widened a second before he rushed to the corner where he threw up in the waste paper basket.

Rachel Steiner paled and started to shake slightly. Emmet Renfrew didn’t even blink.

“I don’t even know who that is,” Renfrew said cockily.

“Really?” I asked, letting the skepticism bleed through my voice. “Because your friend there seems to.” I turned to look at Roberts, who was leaning up against the wall by one hand, still heaving.

“That pussy is no friend of mine,” Renfrew snapped. His eyes narrowed in disgust as he glanced at Roberts.

“That’s funny. Because you guys seemed all buddy-buddy when you were raping a fifteen-year-old girl!”

Rachel bit her lip, looking away from me.

Renfrew sneered, “You can’t arrest us for that.”

“You’re right,” I said evenly. Straightening up, I crossed my arms over my broad chest. “I can’t arrest you for it. While Alaska does not have a statute of limitations on sexual assault, all the evidence I have is circumstantial at best and tampered with atworst. Short of a confession, I can’t do anything to you. So, congratulations, Mr. Renfrew, you and your friends pulled off the perfect crime. Soon, the world will know that you gang raped Holly Marteen and not a single cop in the universe can arrest you for it.” I slow-clapped mockingly. “Well done indeed.”

Rachel’s chin quivered as she looked back at me. “Then… Then why are we here?”

“Because, Mrs. Steiner, I have to offer you protection. It’s myjob. Someone is hunting down everyone who was involved in the attack on February 18, 2010. We’ve already found six bodies, five more are missing, one is under house arrest for an entirely different crime, and then there’s you three.”

I scraped the chair out, dragging the metal across the floor like nails to a chalkboard. Sitting down, I faced the three rapists. “Now tell me every-fucking-thing you can remember about Holly Marteen so I can figure out who is hunting you down like the rabid dogs you are.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Mal