Page 64 of Shattered

It takes him a moment to grasp the situation, but finally, he nods, stepping into the back of the car and slamming the door. Bane peels out of the driveway.

“Do you know any more guys with muscle?” I ask.

He considers it. “They all have families that need them alive.”

“And you don’t?”

“No one who needs me,” he says. “Can the three of us take them?”

“I think so. But if they have a gun…”

Turner nods, turning his attention to Bane. “Pull over, I’m driving.”

“The fuck you are, we need to get there fast,” I say.

“And we won’t with princess driving. PULL THE FUCK OVER!”

Turner wasn’t wrong. I thought Bane was a fast driver, but Turner’s faster.

The video is still open, but nothing’s happening. Lila and Jared spoke a little at first, but Jared’s in bad shape, and I think he’s in and out of consciousness.

The only sound from the video now is Lila’s crying. It comes and goes, her sobs consuming her and then tapering off to lend her some air. Her fear is palpable. The stream shows how many people are watching, and the number keeps growing, holding now at over two hundred. Two hundred sick fucks are watching Lila cry, terrified, waiting to be tortured or killed.

“Raven, fucking call me, it’s an emergency!” Bane growls from the backseat. He’s been calling and texting Raven, but she won’t answer. She’s usually glued to her phone. “If they killed Raven, we’ll never find this cabin,” Bane growls.

“Thanks, Bane, very fucking helpful!” I snap.

The possibility of Raven being dead was only a fear before; now, it’s starting to feel like a real possibility. If we find her dead…

The sound of the door opening in the video steals my breath, and I watch in horror as the brothers walk in.

“We’re ba-ack! Sorry we were gone so long. We were reading all the comments on our feed,” Rocco says in a sick, cryptic voice as he twirls his ponytail in his fingers.

“Go to hell,” Jared says, his voice weak.

Rocco approaches him like a stalking predator before dragging his nails down Jared’s mangled back, cutting him open and spilling blood. He roars in an all-consuming pain, and Lila screams with him. All I can do is watch, helpless.

“The votes are in, Jared. The people had some great suggestions for how to end you. Do you want to hear them?”

“Go to hell,” he repeats.

“Maybe later, and I’m okay with that. We made bank off you today.”

“What the fuck are they talking about?” I growl. What comments? When I minimize the video to look at the page, Bane reaches over his shoulder to snatch the phone from my hand. “HEY!”

“Ash, do not look at that,” he warns. I try to snatch it back, but he slaps my hand away. “ASHER! Do not read the comments; it’s just gonna freak you out more. People are sick. I looked at it earlier when I first checked the stream. People pay for the guys to do things to their captives. By the look of it, they do this reasonably often.”

The sound of Jared’s scream fills the car and makes Turner veer off, but he corrects it quickly.

“What are they doing to Jared?” I demand.

Bane shakes his head. “Don’t, man.”

“BANE!”

“Someone paid to funnel acid down his throat. That’s how they’re finishing him. Want to watch!?”

I don’t need to watch. The sound of both Jared and Lila’s screams fill the car, as Lila pleads with the brothers not to kill Jared. Her pleas fall on deaf ears.

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