Page 74 of Degrading Her

“What do you want with my sister?” she asked.

I sucked in a breath, then smoothed my clothes.

“It’s all right,” I said, patting her shoulder. Even when we were teenagers, Maisie had always stood for me, even though she was younger than me. She was never afraid.

I tried to emulate her fearlessness right then, but inside, I was terrified.

Sawyer’s brows straightened, his eyes narrowing in on me, focusing with precision, as if he knew that whatever this was, I would never be ready for it.

He motioned to the UTV, and I got in the passenger side. It rumbled across the grass and dirt until we reached the Dairy Barn. A warmth built in my stomach, but I suppressed it, knowing that those memories weren’t important right now. There was nothing warm, or even cruel, about Sawyer right then. He was closed off.Cold.

Inside, there was a new projector screen hanging from the wall. A computer was on the metal table in the back. One chair sat in front of the projection screen: an audience of one.

“What is this?” I asked.

Sawyer pointed to the chair. I wrapped my arms around myself and took a seat. I held my breath. The screen lit up with an image of a man with his neck strapped to the wall by a metal locking device. A faceless person in black pressed a long nail to the man’s temple. A hammer came into view. One swift thrust and the nail shot an inch deep. The man’sface twisted in agony, but there was no audio: only the silence of his twisting mouth.

I turned away. Sawyer switched to the next video. A person drenched in liquid, their hands cuffed together. A match was thrown from the side. The flesh melted to black beneath the flickering flames.

I tried to make eye contact with him, but he played the next video, refusing to acknowledge me.

Why was he showing me these videos?

The next video had a man on his knees with the barrel of a gun resting on his forehead. I was almost relieved that it was nothing worse. A swift death. A pair of dice threw across the screen, falling to the floor. The man trembled as he bit his lip, tears falling down his cheeks. Then the gun shuddered, and the man fell to the side.

“What is this?” I whispered. Sawyer clicked on the next video. The images flashed on the screen, but I shook my head, refusing to watch anymore. “Why are you making me watch this?” I asked, my voice full of tears. I didn’t want to see people in agony.

Because I didn’t want to face what this meant.

Sawyer came forward, standing in front of me, the bright images from the projector rippling across him like he was part of the videos.

“This is my true power. My only legacy,” he said. “Our business is murder. Our clients describe these violent fantasies and we serve it to them with discreet elimination.”

Elimination.An emotionless word.

He had to be lying. There was no way this could be real.

But why would he have those videos?

Was he showing me everything about himself, even the ugly parts he didn’t want me to see? Why would he show them to me?

Was this love?

“Each of these videos?” Sawyer said, bending down, our eyes at the same level, “All of these murderers were me, Fiona. Even the one you had on that file. I know you’ve seen it.” He chuckled, forcing a stoic expression, like none of this bothered him. “The scary part isn’t that I murdered that many people.” He stepped closer. “It’s the fact that I felt nothing. I don’t feel any remorse for what I’ve done, and I never will.”

My stomach twisted. He couldn’t be serious.

“My family has been entrenched in murder for generations.”

“But the farm?—”

“The farm is a cover.Thisis who I am. And I’m going to make this business more profitable, no matter how many people we have to kill to get there.”

“Then why did you buy the library?” I asked.

He paused, his eyes twitching. The library was a cash sinkhole, and he knew that.

But then I knew the answer.

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