Page 63 of Shattered

No. Fuck, no, this cannot be happening.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, Ash. I’m going to absolutely fuck up your girl. I’ll even be generous enough to send you a livestream link so you can watch.

Panic, as I’ve never felt in my life, fills me until I swear my chest might explode. “DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!”

“That’s up to you, Asher. We’ll give her back after we’ve had our fun; if we decide not to kill her, anyway. Unless you call the cops. If I get a whiff of suspicion, I promise you, you’ll never see her again. Don’t forget to watch.”

Sheer terror rips through me. “Wait WAIT WAIT!”

The room fills with a heavy silence as the call disconnects. I can’t breathe. All I can think about is Lila… What are they doing to her?

My phone vibrates, and I lift it in a panic. I find a text with the link.

“Bane, I can’t!” my voice breaks.

He snatches the phone from me, and I don’t fight him as he tends to it before letting out a deep breath.

“It’s okay, she’s alive. They have Jared, too.”

He hands the phone back but looks over my shoulder as I take it in. The video is a clear aerial view of a dungeon with two big tables. Lila and Jared are both naked and strapped down to them by collars around their necks. Lila is in a ball on her side, pulling desperately at the collar, but she can’t get it off, and by the hopeless way she tries, I’m guessing she’s tried for a while now. Other than her split lip, swollen cheek, and the huge gash out of her forehead painted in dry blood, she looks unharmed. Jared is not. He’s on another table, out of reach, and his back is butchered. His dragon tattoo is gone, replaced by mountains of damaged, lumpy skin. What would even make a person’s skin do that? It’s the only injury I can see on him, but it’s bad. I can see part of his face, and it’s twisted in agony.

“I think they’re at the brothers’ cabin,” Bane says.

“What fucking cabin!?” It’s where they wanted to take me before, but Raven begged them not to.

“I’ve heard rumors from a couple of their druggies, but I figured it was just bullshit…” Bane aggressively slams his hand down on my table as a thought comes to my head.

“There’s one person who might know where it is… If she’s still alive.”

“Raven?” he asks.

“If they didn’t kill her.”

“You think they would?”

“I don’t know. This could be their average level of crazy, or maybe they’re on some psychotic suicide mission.”

I shake my head angrily. “We’re gonna need more muscle if we want a hope in hell of taking them down.”

“You’re right, and I know justthe guy.”

He said it himself. No one fucks with his people.

Thank fuck I know exactly where Turner lives, so we head there first after I trip-run so fast down the stairs that I see my life flash before my eyes. The pain is excruciating, but there’s no time to slow down.

Bane drives since I can’t focus. I direct him to Turner’s house and honk the horn as we pull in. A few cars are out back, but only one person emerges from the door, watching with confusion.

I roll down the window as Bane swings his car around and slams it to a stop halfway up the walkway right in front of Turner.

“We need your help,now!”

He straightens himself up, a furious glare brewing on his face. “What the hell do y-”

“It’sLila!” I plead, cutting him off.

His jaw drops, his face paling. “What the fuck happened?”

“She’s been taken. We think we know where they took her, but we need help. Man, I know I was a dick before, but I am not fucking around right now; we’ve gotta get her out of there!”

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