Page 68 of Vow of Vengeance
"I know." I assure her. "That's not what matters. What matters is that he hurt someone before you.”
There's no doubt he hurt Marissa worse, but that's not the issue. The issue is that in between whenever he paid Vin to fuck my girl and whenever he lured Marissa to his basement, he escalated wildly. I don't know who or how many people may have been affected in between, but even if there were no others, this, what he did to Marissa, is heinous enough that it's clear hewouldn't have stopped. How long would he have left her there if he hadn't been caught? How long would he have ignored Soren's concerns? Would he have gotten bored enough to kill her? Would he have gone for somebody else?
"Ren?" Her voice is so small, so broken saying that name, that I don't even bother denying it.
"Yes."
Marissa sobs, cupping her hands together in front of her mouth like she's going to be sick. "Why wouldn't she tell me that? She didn't tell me that."
"She doesn't know." I swallow. "And she's not going to, okay? Her husband used to drug her and let people pay to rape her. I stumbled upon recordings and Khan was on one of them. It's why I came here to kill him. I didn't know that he was this vile, that he would do this to you..."
She shakes her head. "I trusted him."
"And that's why we can't let him live. You get that, right? You and Soren trusted him because he was your friend for years. How many times did he drive you home from her house when you drank too much? How many times were you alone together where he could have forced himself on you?"
What I'm doing feels shitty, but I don't know how else to do this. I don't know how to guarantee that she keeps her mouth shutwithoutdoing it like this.
Somebody has to die, so it's him or her. I'm really hoping her sense of self-preservation outweighs the tattered remains of Khan's mindfuck.
"All that time, he played you both. He victimized you both. And he wouldn't have stopped. Hewon'tstop."
She sobs, but nods her understanding. My words are getting through to her.
"Youhave to make him stop. You have to put an end to it."
"Can't you?"
I shake my head. "If you do it, it's self-defense. If we do it, it's murder."
"I can't. I can't. I can't breathe..."
"Calm." Wes tells her, his breath close to her neck as he still holds her, keeping the blanket in place, trying to stop her shaking. "You can do this. You've got this. You're doing so good already."
Marissa whimpers in denial, but Wes isn't deterred as his hands trace her arms, closing overtop of hers.
"You just keep breathing, okay? You can do that. You've done it all your life, haven't you? Without even thinking of it, too."
Marissa nods just a little, and I watch her take a tiny breath in, her lips twisted into a small O.
"So good." Wes praises her. "You're a natural, aren't you?"
A Naturalbreather?
I want to snap at him to shut the fuck up, but whatever he's doing, it fucking works. I can see her calming as she takes another breath.
"This gun is light." Wes says softly. "No recoil. The silencer takes care of any noise other than a littlepuff." He imitates the sound, rather than explains it, and Marissa nods.
"You feel how light it is, sweetheart? Power doesn't have to feel heavy."
Marissa nods, and I get the sense she'd agree to anything he says at this point. His voice is calming her, probably more than the words. But I'll take it.
"I'm gonna put your finger on the trigger." He says calmly. "But we're not gonna pull it until you're ready. That okay with you?"
She nods again and I take the smallest step back, shocked that this is actually fucking working.
I watch Wes guide her hand with a soft caress that looks a bit too sensual given the tension of the situation. Her finger sits onthe trigger without any pressure, his touch ghosting on top of hers. I see her finger twitch, an impulse, as she looks down at the man who caused her so much hell. I can't even begin to imagine the extent of it.
"You ready to taste vengeance, pretty girl?"
