Page 117 of Fracture

He raises his hands, shaking visibly. “What the fuck do you want? I don’t have any money.”

“I don’t need your money. Now get your ass up and sit on the fucking couch.”

I keep the gun trained on him as he staggers to his feet, and moves over to the couch. He stinks of cheap beer, and he’s visibly sweating. Once he’s down, I take my place in the arm chair.

“What do you want, man?” His voice cracks as he eyes the weapon in my hand. “I don’t even know you.”

“Six years ago, you filmed yourself and your buddies raping a woman you picked up in a club.”

Ellis blinks slowly, his brow furrowing. “I what?”

“You heard me. Pretty blonde, you picked her up in a nightclub and drugged her.” I pull out my phone and bring up the video, holding it up so Ellis can see the grainy clip play.

He squints, then realization lights up his eyes. “Oh my god, that chick? Seriously?” His confused gaze moves back to me. “So, what? You her boyfriend or something?”

“Where are your buddies?”

He scoffs, shaking his head. “I haven’t spoken to them in forever, Joey moved to Texas and Kyle, I mean, he’s in prison as far as I know.” He throws up his hands. “You seriously tracked me down over this? That’s ancient history, man!”

“Do you know who she is?”

Ellis’s breath catches in his throat, and he shakes his head. “Listen, whatever is going on in that family, I had no part of it.”

I frown at him, leaning on my knees. “What do you mean?”

“Her grandfather, man.” He says it like I’m an idiot and should know what he’s talking about. “Some hotshot senator, Oswald somebody, I don’t fuckin’ know. He told me she’d be at the club and paid me to get footage of her doing freaky shit. I know it was wrong, OK? I get it. But I was broke and he offered me 20k.”

My blood runs hot with rage. I curl my fist around the gun, gritting my teeth. “How the fuck do you even know him?”

“Joey, he was friends with Oswald’s driver. He gave him a job when Joey got out of prison.”

“So, he just knew you’d be up for messing with some innocent girl, huh?”

Ellis hacks out a laugh. “Innocent?” He jabs a finger at my pocket. “You’ve seen the video, she look innocent to you? That girl was the easiest piece of ass I ever scored. Straight up whore.”

Ellis doesn’t even have time to be startled or throw up his hands in self-defense as I charge at him and smash the gun into the side of his face. His head snaps to the side, bright red blood spraying from his mouth, and he spits out two teeth.

“You fucking asshole!” Blood and spittle drip from his lips as he clutches a hand to his jaw. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Why did Oswald Perlmann want you to mess with her? Huh?” I shove the barrel of the gun against his temple, and Ellis whimpers.

“Don’t kill me, man. Please.” He blinks up at me, tears welling in his eyes. “Please, don’t kill me. Look at me. I’m pathetic. I’m nobody.”

“You got that right.” I press the gun harder against his head. “She asked you to stop, didn’t she?”

Ellis coughs out a sob. “I’m sorry, OK?”

“No, you’re not.”

“She dragged me into the bathroom! She opened her fucking legs and let me hit that without a fucking rubber, she fucking wanted it!”

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to contain my fury. “Why did Oswald want you to mess with her?”

“I don’t fuckin know!” Ellis drops to his knees, holding his hands up. “Please, he just said he wanted a video that’d show her being a freak, it was fucked up, OK? But I was desperate. You got any idea how much money that is to someone like me?”

“Did she ask you to stop?” I grit my teeth as my gaze locks on him. “Did she plead for you not to hurt her?”

“She just kept begging for someone to come get her,” Ellis says, his eyes pleading. “She kept sayingpapi, over and over. I didn’t know who the fuck that was. But she never asked me to stop! I swear!”

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