Page 67 of Shattered

“I think it’s your turn,” Rocco says.

Rooney holds up the tool in his hand. “I’ll have fun with my new toy. It looks like it might win for her tattoo removal. Sixty percent want the torch.”

Rocco puts down the toothpicks and approaches me with the knife. The blade has to be eight inches long and serrated, like a bread knife. I clamp my eyes shut as he places the blade flat on my inner knee before slowly dragging it up my inner thigh. He stops far too high up my thigh and turns the blade on its side. I feel every slice as it shreds deep through, macerating my tender flesh, and my scream burns in my throat, popping both my ears. I can feel the blood pouring from me, draining me. For a moment, they only watch me bleed. Then Rooney points the torch between my legs.

When the blue flame fires out and singes my bleeding flesh, the white-hot blinding pain pushes me deeper and deeper into my body. When Rooney yanks his pants down and jumps on the table, I realize they’re just getting started.

I try to fight, squirming beneath him, but I can hardly move, and each movement feels like my thigh is splitting open. Then he tears inside me.

“NO!”

He’s way too big, both in girth and length. I feel myself ripping apart as he forces his cock through my bone-dry walls and slams against my cervix like a punch to my insides. When he pulls out and slams in again, harder this time, my vision whites out.

“STOP!” I cry.

“We’ll stop when you’re dead,” Rocco says coldly. When I try to force my legs shut again, he leans over my head to grab my knees and forces them open as far as he can while his brother rips me apart.

Chapter 24

Asher

Turner stuffed tissues in his ears so he wouldn’t crash the car. It was for the best since every single one of her screams was like a rusty knife twisting in my gut, and I couldn’t imagine trying to drive through it. He pulled over at some point so I could move into the back with Bane and keep the video away from him. I continued to watch, and Bane called every time they demanded it, sometimes two or three times, just to be safe.

Not that it fucking mattered.

They’re telling her I abandoned her, that I’m not coming to save her. That she’s just another disposable whore. The worst part is she doesn’t fight them about it.

She believes it.

When I first met Lila, I thought she was just another bitch. Some inappropriate fun. Now, everything’s changed. You can’t be this afraid for someone you don’t care about. She’s infuriating. She pushes every one of my buttons, and she doesn’t fold when I lash out at her. She’s not afraid of me. And the way she kissed me…

I have to save her. If she dies… The thought makes tears spill down my cheeks. They’ve been a near constant, and I don’t even give a fuck that I’m crying in front of Bane and Turner. From what I can see of Turner in the rearview mirror, he looks on the verge. He cares about Lila. But I’m not sure what he feels is even a fraction of what I am right now.

The drive feels endless. Every moment we’re stuck in the damn car while I watch Lila being brutally tortured is torture in itself. It’s impossible to watch, but I can’t tear my eyes away. As long as I can see her struggle and hear her screams, I know she’s still alive. But as time goes on, her screams, which are already hoarse from her shredded throat, weaken, along with her struggles. She’s tired.

I know I’m going to have nightmares about this because it’s the most fucked up shit I’ve ever seen. They started by shoving toothpicks under her fingernails and toenails, and by the panic in her eyes, I knew she was already in agony. From there, they started cutting her with a serrated fucking knife as if they couldn’t find anything crueler. They’d let her bleed until I feared she wouldn’t have any left, and then they’d use a torch to cauterize the wound, burning her alive. And then, after each one, they take turns raping her, covering their clothes in her blood. From what I can see, she can handle Rocco, but Rooney is too big for her. The violent thrusts he hits her with make her howl worse than her damaged flesh.

After an eternity, Turner takes the tissues out of his ears and speaks.

“We’re here, where am I going?”

I turn to see a highway sign for Kingston, and though we’re almost there, I can’t help the sickening feeling in my gut that we’re almost out of time.

“Get off the ramp and turn left at the stop. Keep driving til you reach the end.”

The end of the fucking world.

Some part of me hopes we’ll find them here at home, but it’s not the case. When we swerve into the driveway, the only car there is Raven’s. The blinds of the modern two-story house are all closed, and everything is black. I’m out of the car before it’s fully stopped, abandoning my phone with the video while Lila is cut open again.

I can’t feel my leg as I run. In fact, I haven’t felt anything but panic since waking up.

I’m already pounding on it when Bane and Turner reach the door. Just as I expected, I don’t hear a thing. I just hope she’s hiding and not dead.

“RAVEN, OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!”

Turner thinks fast and grabs a large rock from the grass, pitching it through the window, and he sticks his hand in and unlocks the door.

“I’ve got upstairs, you two check down here,” Bane says, taking the lead.

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