Page 624 of Rage

Rapid gunfire explodes as the bullets sink into the bodies, the screams of the girls in the cages rattling off the metal doors.

The magazine clicks, indicating an empty round. Throwing the gun onto the ground, he directs his gaze to me. “Liam won’t let this go. This is his best producing warehouse.”

“I’m counting on it.” I whisper, motioning him to move toward the bodies.

Elias grabs the rope from one of the walls and wraps it aroundstink breathswrists. Pushing him onto the bodies, he knees him in the face.

“Your blood is like an aphrodisiac.” Turning him around, he removes his belt, then pants and briefs, exposing him.

“What are you doing?” I ask the question beforestink breathcan.

“Giving it back to him.”

“What!?”Stink breathprotests, trying to wriggle out of Elias’ hold. “No! Are you crazy!?”

“Why does everyone ask me that?” Pushing his arms up,stink breathwails in pain. “Now hold still, princess, this is going to hurt a lot.”

I cover my mouth with my hand as he places a condom on himself.

“Look at her.” He yanks his head up and I see pure fear instink breathseyes.

“Please don’t do this! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Elias looks to me for approval when a flash of white fills my vision. My own voice in my head yelling, pleading for all of it to stop when he was inside me multiple times. It didn’t matter that I never said anything and just took it, he would still make it hurt as a challenge to see how much I could take. No matter how much it hurt, or how badly I wanted to die in those moments, I never said a word or made a sound.

“You don’t have to do this! I can tell you where Liam is!” He tries to bargain.

I nod to Elias and turn around, blocking my ears and closing my eyes. Sounds of struggle are muffled in my ears and I try to think of the last moment of joy I remember, but I can’t seem to find one. Sighing, I turn around.

“Just kill me, please, just kill me!” He sobs, his face now pressed against the dead bodies.

“How does it feel?” I crouch so he can look me in the eyes.

His lip wobbles, giving up in his struggle.

“Every time you were inside me, I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw your fucking face off when you hit me.” I twist his ear and bring the whirring chainsaw beside his face. “Just know what you’re feeling won’t ever amount to the times you tortured and killed innocent women and children.”

Sawing his ear off, I throw it aside like litter and just when I think he might pass out. I watch as the life in his eyes dies right in front of me, until there is nothing left but hatred for himself.

“That’s enough.”

Elias stops and removes himself as I lean intostink breathsface, I whisper, “I’ll hang your teeth around my neck, like you wore my dignity beneath your boots.”

A tear rolls down his cheek, his eyes absent from the present moment, clearly disassociated. A wave of calm rushes over me at the sight of my him immobilised.

“We should clean up,” Elias says, discarding the used, bloodied condom on top of the pile of bodies.

“First, we let them out.”

I head over to the cages and swing the axe onto the lock of each of them. The girls gather beside me, thanking me and Elias for rescuing them.

“There’s a car parked just outside the gates, can any of you drive?” I ask the one who looks to be the eldest and she nods. Handing her the keys, I give her a small smile. “Don’t stop, okay, there is a police station an hour drive from here and the car has plenty of petrol to get you there.”

“Thank you,” she says, ushering the rest of the girls out the door. When I turn around, Elias has already gathered the bodies into black body bags.

“Where did you find those?” I ask, watching as he zips the last one halfway,stink breathstill breathing inside it.

“Does it matter?”

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