Page 41 of Tore Up

“Yeah, uh, my purse is in that room,” she said, looking in the direction of the room like that was the last place she ever wanted to go.

“Linc is gone for today,” I told her.

She inhaled a shaky breath. “Okay.” But she remained rooted in her spot.

That had been a lot to dump on her. Hell, when we’d pulled the shit off the sick bastard’s phone once we had him, it hadbeen a fucking lot for me. He had all the calls on his sister’s phone recorded and sent to his phone. Guessed the fucker hadn’t thought about the calls that he’d made to her phone. We had all that too. Not just the ones between Crosby and Halo.

I hadn’t listened to all of them, but after hearing the few conversations between Crosby and Halo that Linc had forced me to listen to, I couldn’t deny that my brother had loved the girl.

“I’ll get your purse,” I said when it was clear she wasn’t going to go in there.

She let out a sigh so small that I would have missed it if I hadn’t been so close to her.

I went to get her purse and paused when I picked it up, then shook my head. My mother couldn’t buy a normal purse. She’d had to buy one that cost a few grand. I doubted Halo had any clue how much this thing had cost.

I went back out into the hallway and handed it to her.

She opened it, then pulled out several photos. “I have these, but your mom has the video on her phone. I didn’t have anything they could send the video to, so I don’t have that. Your mom had them do a 4D Ultraasound.”

I took the pictures. My hand shook as I stared down at the first color photo. For some reason, I’d thought ultrasounds were black and white, and it was difficult to figure out what the baby’s body parts were. These were so fucking clear that I could see my brother’s nose and the exact shape of his mouth. I moved to the next one, and there were perfect tiny feet with ten toes. She was just fourteen weeks, and this was already looking like a human being. One that my brother had helped create.

Moving to the next one, I stilled as I read the words typed at the top. I’d have been able to make that out without being told, but reading it was still hitting me hard. I swallowed and took a deep breath in through my nose. Fuck, this hurt like a bitch. There was no hiding the way my hand trembled as I held it.

“It’s a boy,” I said, my voice sounding thick.

“Yeah,” she replied softly. “He kicks a lot too. On the video, he was very active. When he’s big enough for me to feel him, it’s going to be interesting.”

I handed the photos to her, trying to hold myself together.

She took one and gave it back to me. “You can have this,” she said simply.

I reached out and took it quickly in case she changed her mind.

Watching as she tucked the others into her designer purse, I realized I was no longer bitter about my mother spending money on her. I was surprised my mom hadn’t bought her a fucking car after seeing this.

I needed to be alone. Without another word, I stalked off, leaving her behind. I couldn’t allow those emotions in. Not with a job to finish. That kind of emotion made a man weak. I would never be that.

The concrete cell under the ground in the dense, wooded area on the farthest point of my father’s two hundred acres was concealed beneath a hidden trap door. Reaching into the brush, I placed my palm flat on the smooth metal underneath. The security feature read my palm, and a small click followed. Grabbing the handle, I pulled the door up, and the light from inside spilled out, illuminating the darkness.

The damp smell of earth, tinged with that of blood, met me as I walked down into the area where Ares Talley had been hanging for the past forty-eight hours. Lowering the door over my head, I went deeper inside.

His wails of agony had faded to moans since he’d been brought down here. I’d stayed away since then because I hadn’t trustedmyself not to kill him too quickly. That was too good for him. I would live the rest of my life with the endless ache inside my soul from the loss of my brother. The bastard’s last days on earth should be a living hell, just in case there wasn’t an actual one for him to burn in.

Linc stood, leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed over his chest, observing Ares, while Oz sat on a stool, sharpening a knife. The sound was one that I found satisfying. He glanced up as I walked into the cell. The chains that held Ares up by his wrists rattled as he used what strength he had left to try and move back away from me. I smirked at the image he made. I’d snapped the last time I was here and enjoyed breaking his bones while he screamed out in pain. Oz had taken the knife from me, knowing I would regret it if I sliced his throat too soon.

“Our guest seems excited to see you,” Oz replied. “He’s been quieter since I threatened to slice out his tongue.”

My chuckle was anything but amused. It was sinister, even to my own ears. I moved closer to him as his eyes darted from my hands to my face with panic clear on his swollen, bruised face.

“I’m not a doc, but my guess is, he’s more than likely got some internal bleeding. It’s only a trickle, but you need to go on and move this along while you have him alive,” Linc told me.

The beating I’d given him before I snapped several of his bones had been the kind meant to do permanent damage. Linc had a point. I wanted my face to be what he saw as he drowned on his own blood. He needed to go to hell, remembering who had sent him there. I hoped there was one.

“Why?” His voice was a strangled rasp.

I’d tracked him down, taken him, then beaten him unconscious, never once telling him why. The beauty of him hanging here, suffering, starving, dehydrating, with no idea why was something that Crosby would have appreciated.

“You killed my brother,” I told him.

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