Page 193 of Hunting Pretty

He stared up at me with wide, fearful eyes.

Whoever took Ava, whoever he was working for, he was afraid of them.

I just had to make him more afraid ofme.

I grabbed his jaw and raised the knife to his mouth. “How about, every time I ask a question and youdon’tanswer, I take one of your teeth.”

His eyes widened with fear but his lips pressed together.

Very well.

I grabbed his jaw and squeezed hard. He squirmed and tried to yank his chin away, but I was too strong.

I wiggled the tip of the knife in between his teeth and lifted an eyebrow as the knife cut his lip, blood running down over his chin.

I let out a sigh, pulled back the knife, and shook his chin to get his attention.

“If you keep fighting me, I can’t be blamed if I cut off your face trying to get to your teeth. Now open up and say ahhhhhhh.”

“Sochaaaa!” he screamed, garbled through my grip on his jaw.

I paused, my knife an inch from his cheek. “Come again, dear doctor?”

Dr. Vale gasped for air, his eyes pinned to the knife, his face going pale.

“The Sochaí,” he repeated. “That’s what they call themselves.”

Sochai meantSocietyin Irish.

“Who are the Sochai?” I demanded.

“I’m still on the outside,” Dr. Vale said, eyeing the blooddripping from the tip of the knife. “I’m not a member yet. I just do as I’m told, I swear. I don’t know anything else.”

A chill traveled down my spine. A nauseous feeling made my grip on the knife slip with sweat as a realization hit me.

This was bigger than Liath.

Bigger than Ava’s investigation into Liath’s disappearance.

“Their members were abusing Liath and the missing girls,” I said, dread filling my stomach like acid. “You covered it up for them.”

I relished his renewed screams as I carved another line across his butchered cheek.

“Where did they take her?” I shouted.

Blood sprayed across my face as Dr. Vale began to laugh, surely going into shock.

I couldn’t cut him anymore. He’d lose too much blood. He’d pass out. Or worse, die on me.

And Ava would be lost to me forever.

I threw down the knife and shook him by the collar of his sweater.

“Tell me!” I yelled, heart beating far too fast. “Where is she?! What did they do with her?!”

Dr. Vale was so far gone he could only laugh as I began to kick him in the gut, ribs snapping in two, one after the next.

If he didn’t tell me something soon, I’d kill him. I wouldn’t be able to help myself. I was like a wounded animal, pained and desperate.

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