Page 176 of Gunner

When I nestled Grayson against my chest, a surge of protectiveness and awe washed over me. I held the bottle in one hand and used my other hand to support his head. As I guided the bottle to his tiny mouth, his lips latched on perfectly. He drank eagerly from the bottle, his little cheeks puffing out with each swallow. It was an intimate moment, one that bonded us in ways words could never express, and I was grateful for Jasper giving me this moment.

As I fed the baby, his eyelashes fluttered against his porcelain skin.

“He’s so small,” I whispered.

“He is, but he’s one tough little boy.”

We both fell silent. Jasper’s thoughts were going in the same direction mine did. My sister would never get to see her son.

When he finished the bottle, I handed him to Jasper, who rubbed his tiny back until he burped. “Good boy,” Jasper praised. Watching them together raised my hope. He would be okay.

“Jasper, thank you.” I stood. He needed the moment with his son, and I had important business to take care of.

“Not necessary. He should be discharged later. Will you come by? I’d feel more confident with someone else around.”

“Of course. I will see you later, then.”

“Ben.”

“Yeah?”

Jasper glanced around the room and lowered his voice. “Promise me you’ll make them pay.”

I nodded. “Don’t worry about it. Take care of the baby. I’ll handle this. For Alice and Grayson.”

I’d been inside the nursery for so long I was surprised Gunner was waiting for me. He got to his feet, his eyes roaming my frame. “How’s—”

I walked up to him, took his face in my hands, and kissed him hard. “Thank you for everything. I love you. Only you. I swear it on my life.”

“I know. I feel the same way about you, Ben. It’s eating me up inside, seeing you suffer a loss like this. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, then. Let’s go settle the score.”

We entered what Gunner explained to me was the Blood Hounds slaughterhouse. It smelled like piss and a metallic tang that made my stomach churn. The drip-drip of water and the occasional whimper filled the brightly lit room. Gunner led me through the maze of cages and hooks hanging from the ceiling. Once upon a time, I would have given a kidney to be able to find this place and use it against them, but when I saw a naked, wet Thoms, covered in bruises and cuts, grunting and shivering on the floor with his hands tied behind his back by barbed wire andtiny nails embedded in his soles, I was grateful such purgatory existed.

A few feet away from him, the goth kid who seemed to have a thing for Dr. Collier was checking his phone.

“You’re here already,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “Does that mean I can go now? I’ve primed him for you.”

Gunner nodded. “Thanks, Bloom. Where’re you going? You don’t want to watch?”

“Have to get back to the hospital. Don’t do a fucked-up job with him, yeah? He deserves nothing but the worst treatment for what he did to those women.”

Bloom handed Gunner a cattle prod, which he must have used to electrocute Thoms.

“Please, please, please,” Thoms mumbled, raising his head. “Witter, please save me. Please, I’m sorry.”

Gunner kicked him so hard in the face his jaw cracked and his head flew backward.

“You have no grounds to beg, you heartless fucker.”

I placed a hand on Gunner’s arm to stop him from advancing toward Thoms, who’d curled up into himself. The barbed wire had sliced his wrists, and blood dripped from his fingertips to the floor.

I walked over to Thoms and stooped next to him. “Are you in pain?”

He nodded with jerky movements, and tears streamed down his swollen face. “Y-yes,” he choked out.

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