Page 146 of Ruthless God

My heart pounds.

I was with Gabriel that night. I kissed him. I touched him. I thought I was safe. But I was with a ghost. A dead man walking. And I never even knew it.

How many times has that happened?

A terrible thought crosses my mind. Was I ever even with Claudius?

I search for something. Anything that might help me solve this mystery.

SUBJECT: GABRIEL – DATE: ONE WEEK AGO

I click it, needing to know what it says. But what I see doesn’t make sense. It’s the day the grave diggers were there. Where I watched Claudius break down. The footage starts right before Agnes shoves the needle in his neck. Why not before that?

I search more, finding another file with a similar timestamp.

SUBJECT: CLAUDIUS – DATE: ONE WEEK AGO

I hit play and watch as the scene unfolds, stopping at the same moment the tape about Gabriel begins. What does this mean?

No. This doesn’t make sense. The files don’t match up. Both labeled, both with different names. Gabriel and Claudius. But they cut off at the same moment.

The moment Agnes drugged Claudius.

I drag the timelines side by side, playing them simultaneously. Both show the same scene.

Claudius standing at the edge of the grave, broken.

The workers hesitating.

Agnes stepping in.

The needle plunging into his neck.

One tape ends.

The other keeps going.

I pause the videos, my fingers trembling as I rewind. Frame by frame. This doesn’t make sense.

I push away from the desk, standing too fast. My breath is shaky, my pulse erratic. I need to move. To think. To process.

I pace, but then something catches my eye.

A screen on the far right. It’s not like the others. It’s not a camera feed. It’s something else. Something alive. I freeze. Because it’s not just a feed. It’s a chat.

A live conversation happening right now. The screen flickers, the text rolling in, line after line. I take a step closer, sinking into the chair.

And then I read.

My stomach drops and a cold, sickening wave of horror rolls over me. Because the messages aren’t just disturbing. They’re vile. Dark. Twisted. Unforgivable.

User_001: This is going to be the biggest sale yet. Anyone else get a hard-on thinking about it?

Dom6969: Fuck yeah. I can’t wait to buy the prized filly and fuck her into a grave.

User_458: Not if I outbid you, which I will. When I do, her head will be the last thing detached from her body.

My hands shake. I scroll, my vision blurring as I read more. They’re talking about someone. About a woman. About what they want to do to her. The words make my skin crawl, mystomach churn. They’re talking about her like she’s a game. A toy. A thing.

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