Page 86 of Two Chambered Heart

“Forceps first,” Jason guided.

Kayden moved behind the man and held onto his jaw, applying enough pressure that he opened his mouth, Kayden’s biceps bulging under his shirt.

“Catch the tip of his tongue and then pull it out.”

Corey did as directed, catching onto the piece of muscle and squeezing the forceps tight to keep the tongue from slipping out. The man was barely fighting at this point.

She picked up the scissors in her other hand, but realized her dominant hand was holding the forceps. She didn’t know if she’d have enough control with her non-dominant hand. “Can you hold the forceps for me?”

Jason nodded and replaced her hand on the tool with his own, brushing her fingers as they traded places. It sent a shiver up her spine. He pulled the man's tongue out a bit more, and Corey angled the scissors. “Fast or slow?”

“Doesn’t matter. Slower will be more painful, but the tongue is extremely vascular. He’s going to start gushing blood immediately.”

Corey closed her grip around the plastic handle of the scissors, fighting against the tissue to cut through. She made the first cut, and then moved the scissors farther along the muscle to make the next, and then the next, all while Jason held the forceps strong against his tongue, sounds of pain escaping from the back of the man’s throat. Kayden kept his mouth open enough for them to continue working.

When the tongue fell away, Jason moved to the table and got another tool. He latched it between the man’s jaw to keep it pried open. Then Jason used the forceps to hold the nub of muscle that was still moving around in his mouth. Kayden gave Corey a pair of tinted glasses to protect her eyes from the laser and turned on the cautery machine. She picked up the wand and started to cauterize the stump under Jason’s direction, the smell of burnt flesh and metal thickening the space around them. There was a lot of blood, but it looked like burning the tissue had stopped the flow as intended. The man passed out from the pain before she’d even finished.

“I don’t think I should take him to the hospital and drop him off at emergency,” Kayden said. “I’d love for him to live out the rest of his miserable life like this, but there’s other ways to communicate, and he’ll need a lot of medical care to put him back together. The taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for that.” He motioned to the slumped body in the chair, bloody and mutilated.

She looked at the vile creature before her and wondered how people became that way. Maybe someone could ask the same of her, but the god's honest truth was that inflicting that pain on him had been heaven. Maybe that made her just as corrupt as him, just as broken and brutal.But Corey had never really cared about morality. She had seen men like George Martosh get away with absolute depravity, and she’d been forced to do what she could to survive for so long that it never really mattered.

Every person she’d talked to about that man who had done nothing about it was just as guilty as him. Maybe they hadn’t perpetrated those vile acts, but they had contributed to the pain that all the children who’d come before and after her had suffered. They hadn’t been willing to do anything about it. But she was. And so were the twins.

She didn’t mind his blood on her hands one bit. “Fine. Cut his head off and burn the body.”

Chapter thirty

- Jason -

Itake back what I said before. I like seeing you in this more than our sweatshirts.” Kayden whispered into Corey’s ear as she linked her arm through his, loud enough that Jason could hear his brother.

Corey was in a silver satin gown. The dress was completely open in the back, the silky material pooling sensually just above her ass before rippling from her like a waterfall to the ground. She had a matching thick silver choker around her neck, a prissy sort of collar, and Kayden’s eyes kept wandering to it like a moth to a flame. He was probably wishing he could squeeze the metal tighter. Her shoulders had filled out with muscle from all the work she’d been putting in, and the dress showed off her defined back.

Her combat training had escalated to the point that both of them had sustained some pretty serious bruising from her. Neither were holding back in their sparring, and she could still successfully fend both of them off while landing some of her own hits. She attacked like a wild animal, moving on instinct. It was feral, but calculated. She was also terrifyingly good with the throwing knives. They had used the moving target, and she’d still never missed a death shot. She was so comfortablewith the knives that she currently had two strapped to each leg under her dress, a safety precaution they’d both agreed was necessary.

This public affair would be risky after the last two attacks they’d faced, compounded by the fact that they would be deaf to any potential threat with Corey in their vicinity. Jason had argued for weeks against her attending. For him, the discomfort of thousands of voices infiltrating his head did not outweigh the risk of missing intel. Kayden didn’t believe there was any danger for them with big pharma, and that their conflict was solely with Kreig and Hanson, since they were black market.

Obviously, he’d lost the argument.

Corey held out her other arm, waiting for Jason to join them. He hesitated, considering the optics of the Haeven twins walking into this kind of formal gala on the arm of the same woman. Then Jason remembered he didn’t care about what people thought and that anyone with a problem could go fuck themselves. He linked his tuxedo-clad arm through hers, and the three of them stepped away from the black sedan that had driven them here and onto the awaiting red carpet.

The camera flashes were jarring as they strode towards the grand atrium of the chateau-style hotel. Jason liked to minimize his exposure to the public, but being the owner and operator of Alpha Moneta came with certain requirements, such as attending this gala to raise money for a new woman’s wing in the large hospital downtown. A plate cost $25,000, most of which actually went to the funding of the wing. It made the whole thing more palatable for him. There would be a silent auction as well, which he was sure would bring in millions for the expansion.

There was a stoic set to Corey’s lips as she walked between them, her eyes roaming the ostentatious display of wealth before her. There was enough money here in jewellery to fund a whole new hospital, let alone a new wing.

He could see her calculating just that as her painted red lips pursed disapprovingly. Her eyes, outlined in thick black eyeliner, were shining liketwo shards of cerulean gemstones. He wasn’t used to seeing her in so much makeup.

She looked fucking stunning. Stunning anddeadly.

All the art for the auction was on display in the atrium, suits and gowns buzzing from one piece to the other, the cloying stench of too much cologne invading his senses. Everyone of importance was here. Jason could see council members, various board members, a select few members of Congress, top surgeons, representatives from other drug manufacturers and representatives from medical equipment companies. Kayden was discretely pointing everyone out, whispering names and positions into Corey’s ear.

Jason led them towards one of the high-top tables, a server popping out from nowhere to take their orders. Jason ordered four fingers of whiskey on the rocks for himself and Kayden and champagne for Corey.

The server was just disappearing back into the shadows when the president of Zantek Medical walked up to their table, his own drink in hand.

“The Haeven twins!” he said enthusiastically. Avery Wilkinson was a tall man who filled out his tuxedo well. He flashed his expensive veneers at them and looked Corey up and down appraisingly, an undeniable hunger in his eyes. “Only one girl tonight? And what’s your name?”

He reached his hand out, but Jason stepped around her, taking it instead. “Her name’s inconsequential,” Jason said and smiled in a fake show of congeniality. He saw Corey’s jaw clench from the corner of his eye, her face hardening.

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