Page 161 of Scatter the Bones

Wrath drops the guy on the floor with heavy thud and frowns at me. “What the hell are you doing?”

I kneel next to the prisoner, cradling his head in one hand. He stares up at me, eyes wide, mouth slack, shaking his head in frantic denial.

“You stabbed my boyfriend.” My voice is calm. Robotic. Detached. “Tried to hurt his friends.”

I grip the scalpel tighter.

“I drain blood from the jugular all the time,” I murmur. “Tilt the head, nick the vein, let gravity do the rest.”

The man shakes his head violently.

“This might be a little messier.”

I grip his skull in my palm, fingers digging into his scalp to hold him steady. Bodies on my table are much more compliant. This one still squirms and reeks of sweat and fear.

“Margot.” Jigsaw’s voice slices through the fog. “Don’t!”

Too late.

I drag the blade across the man’s throat, firm and smooth. The scalpel glides through flesh. A surge of blood much warmer than I’m used to bursts free.

No cannula to guide it. No drain to catch it.

It sprays across my chest and forearms—wild, chaotic, and hot.

Probably the messiest kill I’ve ever made.

Because I didn’t plan it. This was all instinct. Reaction.

His body twitches. Spasms. Then stills.

Silence floods the room.

I lift my head.

All four men stare at me with wide eyes and stunned mouths.

I hold up my hand with the scalpel; blood drips off my fingers, runs down my arm and patters against the floor.

“Can someone hand me the paper towels?” I nod to the roll hanging by the sink. “This one was messier than I’m used to.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Jigsaw

Wrath yanksa long roll of towels free and hands them to Margot.

The rest of us stand there staring.

Margot’s confused gaze slides from me, to Rock, then Murphy.

“What?” She lifts the scalpel, blood still dripping. “I’m the one who knows how to make precise incisions. You didn’t want to spray blood everywhere.”

“Uh, I was going to just snap his neck.” Wrath shrugs and waves his hand at the body. “But this works. Dead is dead.”

He’s finding this way too fucking amusing.

Am I hallucinating?

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