Page 27 of Make Me A Sinner
So many jars.
So many dead bodies—cut, labeled, stored like inventory.
I throw up instantly, trying to find a corner as far away from the jars as possible.
"Told you to stay in the car," Set mutters, dragging the almost unconscious man toward a chair. "You want to go there now? Things are about to get messy?" he asks way too casually, like this is a daily activity to him and things weren’t already messy enough. Throwing the guy on the chair, he starts tying him using an electric cord he just found lying on the floor.
"No," I answer in a breath. No way in hell I'm leaving his side, especially after I've seen what he can truly do. And especially not now when I'm standing in the middle of hell.
"Might want to close your eyes for this part," he says, flipping out his knife and waving it in the hitman’s face. The guy must still have one good eye, because he flinches.
"The name of who hired you, and I'll make this quick," Set offers him adeal. But it gets afuck youin return.
"Have it your way," Set shrugs, dragging the knife across the man's hand until his flesh purrs open from the encounter. The bastard barely flinches, like the pain doesn’t fully register, while I'm one breath from throwing up again. But I brace myself. I have to stay strong. I know Set’s torturing him to get the name out for me. I won’t be the reason he has to stop. "Still not talking,I see," he grunts, trailing the knife over the man's chest, almost splitting him open.
I jolt, seeing the blood spilling out, and this time, I do knock over a jar, which shatters against the floor.
Some kind of sticky goo splashes everywhere, the smell of formaldehyde filling my nostrils. I instantly throw up again, seeing what I think to be a spine lying at my feet.
"You okay over there? Want me to come help?" Set offers again, like he could stop mid-torture and lend me abloodyhand.
I swear, the man has no concept of normal whatsoever.
Neither does his victim—who looks more rattled by the broken jar than the gaping wound on his chest.
"Good job. Good fucking job, Serena," Set praises me, like breaking the jar was on purpose. At first, I don't even get why. But then I see him heading to the shelves, grabbing another jar and smashing it on the floor.
Then another.
And then another.
Until the man tied to the chair screams, "Stop!"
Set was right. He kept them as trophies.
I didn’t do it on purpose, but the way he praised me hit a very sensitive spot somewhere deep within me, and he might just have involuntarily unlocked a new kink.
I’m screwed. This man has way too much power over me.
"Name. Now. Or I break every last one," Set presses, and this time, he gets the guy strapped to the chair to talk.
"Okay, okay just stop breaking them!" the man pleads with what seems to be the last of his powers. Then another word slips from his lips—probably the last one he’ll ever speak. "Chen."
The name drops like a grenade. Silence takes over.I think Set already suspected him, but just needed to make sure. This is bad, and I know it.
"Serena, I need you to look away. You can even cover your ears if you want to." Set says quietly. After the horrors I've witnessed, I didn't think anything could still shock me. But if he’s warning me… this is going to be unthinkable.
I do as he says, I don’t want this burned into my memory. But I still hear the man screaming, no matter how tightly I press my hands over my ears.
It's only when the screaming stops that I dare to take my hands away, and I can’t help but glance behind me.
Set also catches me staring at the guy, who looks more like a slab of raw meat by now than anything remotely human. "This is what happens to anyone who tries to hurt you, only next time I'll take my time. He was lucky you were here… and I realized you wouldn't enjoy the view."
I shudder at the gruesomegift. But I can’t feel sorry for the guy who took the job to kill me. I’m just in a rush to get out of here. "Let's leave... please."
He nods, but he's too covered in blood to walk back into the hotel like this, so before we leave the building, he stops in what used to be a bathroom. Now it's just a faucet and a broken sink. Set washes the blood off his hands and it feels like he’s not doing it fast enough—probably because the damn lightbulb keeps flickering on and off, making me think The Boogie Man will come out of a wall at any moment. But I'm safe with Set. I know I'm safe with him, and he just proved it to me in the creepiest way possible.
His men arrive just as we are leaving, and he orders them to go inside and clean everything up. No one will know what happened there, or the horrors that were committed. ButI’llknow. Just one more thing burned into my conscience.
