Page 118 of Like An Animal
Nikolai’s eyes narrow and he absorbs what she explained before nodding.
Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out my knife before handing it to her. She glances at Cheryl. “Are you sure you want to be here for this part? It’s going to be a lot worse than what happened to Dimitri,” she warns.
Cheryl lifts her chin before smirking at Bronwyn. “Where do you think you got your thick skin from? My momma didn’t raise no bitch.”
I grin. That sounds like something my wife would say.
“Let’s go then,” Nikolai grumbles under his breath.
“Who pissed in your coffee?” Cheryl snaps and my eyes widen.
Well, that’s a first. I’ve never heard of anyone getting sassy with him before and anyone that has ended up six feet under.
Nikolai snaps his eyes around and glares down at her. “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Bron and I look at each other, amused and confused.
What the fuck is going on?
If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were using an argument as foreplay.
“Do not test me,” Nikolai warns.
Cheryl mocks him. “Oh, I’m so scared. What ever will I do? You’re not as scary as you think you are.”
He snaps around and growls at her before muttering, “I swear by all that is holy that if you don’t stop flapping your lips at me, I will snap your neck. Your voice is so fucking annoying.”
Cheryl glares up at him before flipping him off.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say she was Bron’s mother instead of her aunt because her retorts and energy is on point with hers.
“Sit and spin, bitch boy,” she whisper-yells and he snorts with simmering rage.
“Okay. Quit the theatrics and let’s get on with this,” Bron mutters, coming between the two of them. “Can we get onto dealing with Isaac before you two kill each other? I’d actually like to spend some time with my daughter today.”
They concede before Nikolai shows us to where he has Isaac. He takes us to one of the little torture rooms and when he pushes the door open, I hear some muffled screams until the light is turned on.
Isaac has his hands tied together with ropes and attached under the table while being bent over it. Duct tape is slapped over his mouth and his eyes bulge when he sees all four of us enter the room.
“Oh, you have him in the right position, too. Perfect,” Bron mutters before she steps forward.
Isaac screams more into the duct tape as she steps forward, spinning the knife in her hand before flipping it open.
She grabs one of his hands and lays it flat on the table before stabbing the knife straight through the center of his palm. Isaac bellows through the tape, his face turning blood red.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Then, she twists the blade and he thrashes in his restraints. “What’s the matter? You’re a sadist, right? You should be able to withstand the pain you want to put other people through. You reap what you sow, motherfucker.” She rips the duct tape off his mouth as she yanks out the blade.
“You dirty slut!” he hisses and I barely manage not to kill him just for those words, but this is her show. She has earned the right to do this more than anyone else.
“Manners, Isaac. Where’s your decorum now?” She presses the bloody blade against his cheek, a devious smirk across her lips. “You know you did worse to me than I could ever do to you. I could skin you alive and it wouldn’t equate to everything you took from me.” She smooths the blade over to his lips before slicing them straight down the middle.
“Fuck!” He turns his face away from her, but she grabs his chin and snaps his head back around to face her.
“I once heard there are people in the world that believe that however you look when you die is how you enter the afterlife. Do you think that’s true?” she asks before landing another slash across his lips. “Because, if that’s true, I want you to enter Hell with something that will make it clear to everyone that you murdered Massimo Aronin in cold blood. I want even the devil to look upon your face and realize that there is no fate worse than the one you will suffer before you are sent to him. I know exactly how to do it though. Don’t you worry. You’re going to befamouswhen you get there.”
She slashes at his face over and over as he fights, but every time he yanks his face out of her hold, she back hands him across the face before dragging him back to her.
