Page 103 of Nanny and the Beast

“You might not know me, but I know you,” I say. “I know what you’re involved in.”

I press the tip of the knife against his Adam’s apple. He tilts his head up all the way to keep the knife from slicing his throat open.

He squeezes his eyes shut.

“I don’t know anything,” he says. “I really don’t.”

“Who are you protecting?” I ask, trailing the knife down his body. I circle his nipple with the sharp end. “Don’t make me ask the same question twice.”

“Nobody,” he says.

With a flick of my wrist, I slice his nipple from his body. He howls in pain. I grab the cauterizing gun and graze it against the bleeding tissue. His scream rises in pitch as the smell of burning flesh prickles my nostrils.

“I can’t have you making a mess all over these floors,” I say. “That’s why I’m going to have to burn every wound I give you.”

“If you want to kill me, just get it over with.”

“Do the other nipple now,” Alaric says helpfully.

I move the knife toward the other nipple. The kid swallows, bracing himself for the pain. He doesn’t beg me to stop, which tells me another thing about him.

He’s even more afraid of whoever he’s protecting.

He’s not going to speak now. So I change tactics and move south instead.

Every man is tough until something sharp is pressed against his balls.

True panic forms in his eyes now. He tries to get away from me, but it’s no use. He’s secured to the chair and unable to move.

“There’s something you should know about me, Kevin,” I tell the kid. “I pride myself on follow-through. If I say I’m going to do something, I do it. Don’t think for a second that I’m going to hesitate cutting off your balls and then cauterizing the bleeding flesh.”

He searches my eyes. He knows that he won’t be getting out of this alive.

“Why are you doing this?” he asks.

“You know why.”

“I’m innocent,” he says.

“I know you’re not,” I reply.

“Please just kill me,” he says. “And do it fast.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Tears stream down his cheeks now.

I raise my knife, prepared to carve him up like a pumpkin when he speaks up.

“I’ll tell you,” he gasps. “I’ll tell you everything.”

“Ah, fuck,” Alaric says.

I glance at my friend and find him shaking hiscandy box.

“I just ran out of chocolate,” he says. “And we were just getting to the good part.”

I turn my attention back to the kid.

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