“What am I doing? Why the fuck did you put me in a hole in the fucking field? Why the hell—” She stopped mid-sentence, unable to finish her sentence.
“Bree.” Her father scolded her like a child. I was getting the feeling he hadn’t been truthfully honest with her yet.
“You lied to me. You put me in a fucking hole, and you lied to me. Do you work for someone?” Deep betrayal could be heard in her voice as the words flowed freely from her lips.
Rolling his eyes, he smiled. “I was protecting you, child. Simple as it is, I knew you wouldn’t stay away from him.” He was referring to me now as him, huh?
“You fucking lied,” she mumbled again as if in disbelief.
A moment passed as her eyes began to look glassy. I turned to face John again, and I managed to catch the smirk on his face. He wanted to use her against me. He wanted to hurt me. Fuck, he even wanted to hurt his own daughter. Fuck him. I would use the one thing I knew had to mean the most to him. He might not have a problem hurting her feelings, but he definitely didn’t want her dead.
I was going to regret this more than anything in my life. I was certain it would hurt me more than her, but I needed leverage. Turning around fast, I reached out, gripping her by the arm. She tripped coming out of her trance as I pulled her body in front of mine. I placed the barrel of the gun at her temple and waited for him to say something.
I could practically hear Bree’s heart beating out of her chest. Was she afraid? Did she think I would actually be able to do this? Did I?
Looking past her shoulder, I caught site of John with a huge smile on his face.
“You actually expect me to think you would kill her? I know how you treated her while she was staying with you. You barely laid a hand on her. Now you’re threatening me with this?”
Fuck. Sweat formed on my brow. I was about to be fucking out of something to use if I didn’t do something fast.
“I do,” I said as an idea hit me. Pulling the gun away from Bree’s head, I slipped it into the back of my pants, and I swear I could hear her sigh with relief. Little did she know things were about to get ten times crazier. I just hoped she would be able to hang on a little longer.
“Zerro, we don’t have to,” she whimpered. She was scared and she had reason to be. If her father didn’t cooperate with me, I would have to hurt her.
Getting a good grip on the knife, I watched John’s eyes grow bigger than ever as I turned Bree around in my hold, gripped her by the throat, and slammed her back into the wall. My knife at the side of her neck meant business.
“Now tell me what it is I want to hear,” I growled, ignoring the terror in Bree’s eyes. I had to do this. I had to.
“You won’t…” John joked with a laugh stuck in his throat.
“I will,” I retorted as I gripped the knife and pushed it softly into Bree’s crème white skin. I could feel her pulse jumping underneath my fingers. I could smell her fear, and I had no way of telling her it would be okay.
“Kill her then.”
“Okay,” I responded, shrugging my shoulders. Gazing up into her terror-filled eyes, I pushed the knife into her skin harder—praying to fucking God he was goading me. Her small hand reached up to push my hand away, but instead of stopping, I pressed the knife further into her skin. A small trickle of blood escaped and slid down her neck. I sent her a warning glare, reminding her of all I was capable of doing.
“Stop!” she cried out. I was waiting for the tears I saw in her eyes to fall, but they never did. Her breaths were now pants, and I watched as she tried to swallow past the fear lodged in her throat. Everything was in slow motion, and for one fucking second in my life, I didn’t want to kill someone. I didn’t want to shut out the light in someone else’s life.
“Okay… Okay…” I heard John’s pleas, and immediately, pulled the blade away, my eyes skimming over the cut before turning back to John.
“Are we on the same page now, or do I need to do something else? When I said I took her as a form of payment, I meant I was taking her pussy to fuck it until it was useless. I didn’t say I was going to grow attached to it. I definitely didn’t say I would keep her the fuck alive.” The words coming from my mouth made me cringe so I couldn’t imagine what was going through Bree’s mind.
“Killing her won’t get you the answers you want.” I had underestimated John. I had figured he didn’t care about Bree, and I was wrong. Whatever he was doing with her was out of protection.
“Killing her will make you see what it’s like to lose your last living relative. It will make you relate.” I didn’t even recognize my own voice, and I felt the person I had newly become slipping away. I couldn’t bear to look Bree in the eyes... not yet. Releasing my hold on her throat, I watched as she sank to the floor with exhaustion and shock evident in her features. Come the fuck on. Stay with me, Bree…