Page 104 of Restitution
Kade pulls me away from him as I scream bloody murder. “You piece of shit!”
“Stop. I’ll make it hurt,” Kade whispers into my ear. “I promise.”
Stepping back on heavy breaths, I shake the pain in my fist out and enjoy the burn searing across my knuckles as he wipes blood from his lip.
“I understand now why my wife was so interested in you. Feisty girl. I like it.”
“Stop talking,” Kade snaps, hitting the butt of his gun into Archie’s head and knocking him into a semi-conscious state. “Fucker never knows when to keep his mouth shut.”
“There’s a folder named Sebastian Prince,” Aria says. “And one for you.” She wipes tears from under her eyes and moves closer tothe screen. When she clicks on Kade’s folder, she gasps and pulls away, covering her mouth on a loud sob. “Oh God. What did they do to you?”
I catch a glimpse of a naked Kade, unconscious and coated in blood, surrounded by dead bodies, before he shuts it off. “I think it’s time for you both to leave.” He nods to a guard. “Take them to their rooms and make sure they stay there.”
“What the fuck is wrong with them?” Aria yells as her chest shakes. “They are sick and insane!” Then she grabs the gun Kade had set on the desk and points it at Archie’s head. “You monster!”
“You like what we did with him?” He laughs groggily, semi-awake. “Your daughter is next.”
Since she has no idea how to shoot, she throws the gun at Archie and hits him in the face. His nose bleeds all over her polished floor, but she ignores it and turns to her son. “This is what you’ve been going through? I knew they were abusive, but those images?”
Kade snorts. “If you think that one glimpse was bad, then you have no idea.”
He gestures to one of his team. “I want you to send this file to every organisation in our system, and send it to all the police stations, news stations, TV stations, CIA, MI5, even the fucking army. You name it, everyone. And make sure it’s known who they came from. There’s no pushing this shit aside. The Sawyers’ standing in the underworld is about to be blown sky-high.”
Archie’s eyes widen. He’s speechless.
I watch the man type on a laptop, giving Kade one more look. “Are you sure, sir? Your file alone will criminalise you.”
“No,” I say, moving forward. “Kade. Don’t send yours.”
“I’m in hundreds of those folders, Stacey. Who do you think killed them all?”
He blanks me when I try to take his hand, and he glares at the man with the laptop. “When I give an order, don’t question it. Send. The fucking. File.”
He types on the computer, and within a few minutes, it’s done. The incriminating files have been sent, and nothing will ever be the same.
I worry my lip. “Kade.”
“Don’t cry.” He takes my face and wipes a lone tear from my cheek. “Stay here. I can’t focus when you’re around, and Ineedto focus. Do you understand?”
I nod, and he presses a soft kiss to my forehead. “I’m going to make the world a safer place for you. Let me do this.”
Everything cracks inside me, and I release a sob. “Okay,” I croak as he pulls away from me.
When he opens the door, yanking Archie alongside him by the only ear he has left, Lu is standing at the threshold, completely confused. “Um… What’s going on?”
“Dad’s dead,” he says bluntly, and her eyes go wide. “Comfort your best friend, Stacey. Don’t follow me.”
He did that on purpose.
Luciella stares at her mother, then at me with furrowed brows. “What is he talking about?”
“Lock the fucking door.”
Lu scoffs and folds her arms. “What? No. You can’t keep us here.”
Kade glares over his shoulder before the door closes, and a guard locks it.
“Kade!”
