“Shut the fuck up. You deserve worse than this,” I hiss.
When I’ve liberated his genitals, Barrett’s body goes limp. I hold up the severed penis and turn to Seth, who watches through bulging eyes. All the color has leached from his sallow features, leaving his jaw hanging.
“Remember the hatch?” I ask, my lip curling.
He swallows hard, trying to maintain some semblance of control. “Can’t you take a joke?”
“Well, how do you like this prank?” I hold the severed penis in his face. “Put it in your mouth.”
He swings backward, all signs of bravado faltering. “No.”
I rush to the table, set the balls to one side, grab a taser and test its trigger. The room fills with an electrical crackle. When I turn back to Seth, he stiffens. Sweat breaks out across his skin, and his chest rises and falls with rapid breaths. Even a former assassin can’t be stoic in the face of losing their genitals.
“Did Lizzie feel like this when you electrocuted her?” I ask, pressing the taser’s electrodes to his side.
I press the trigger again, releasing screams that stoke my thirst for revenge. Smoke rises from his skin, filling the air with the acrid scent of burning flesh.
“Stop,” he rasps.
“Then eat it,” I say through clenched teeth.
He shakes his head again and wheezes, “I can’t...”
I press the taser back into his burnt side, setting off a surge of electric shocks that make him convulse. “Do it!”
“I... I can tell you something Barret doesn’t know,” he says, his voice straining with desperation. “Just... just stop.”
Silence stretches for several heartbeats, broken by the rasp of his breath. Xero hovers farther away in the background, deep in conversation. I turn my attention back to Seth, wondering if this is a bluff.
“Speak.” I punctuate the word with another blast of the taser.
“It’s about D-Dolly,” he stammers. “Everything we did... it was for her revenge. She came to Parisii Drive to capture you. She’ll probably trade you for Camila.”
His words hit me like a sledgehammer, even though I shouldn’t be shocked. “What do you mean?”
Seth nods. “She’ll release Camila if you go to her.”
My breath catches. “How do I arrange a swap?”
“She added you as a friend on her social media. Just send her a message.”
“That’s it?”
He nods.
“Thank you.” I bring the severed penis to his mouth. “Now, eat. Unless you want me to fry your brain.”
Eyes burning with betrayal, he gags and chokes on the cock meat, letting blood and bits of flesh dribble down his lips.
I scrape the debris from his chin and bring it back to his mouth. “Spit it out and I’ll slit your throat.”
Tears roll down his cheeks as he eats.
“Good boy,” I say. “You’re taking Barret’s cock extremely well.”
He squeezes his eyes shut and whimpers.
Satisfied, I step back and wait for him to swallow. As his throat bobs, I return to the torture table to set down the taser, place a scalpel between my teeth, and pick up a tourniquet. Barrett will probably die of blood loss, but I need Seth alive a little longer.