My attention goes back to the screen, watching as Rush skips ahead, pausing at intervals to see if the music is still playing.
“I’ll have someone comb the footage from start to finish to see if we can overhear any conversations going on in between times,” he says without looking back at me. “Right now, I just want to—”
His words halt when he pauses it and the basement is quiet. Eve’s head is hanging, and she appears to be asleep. I thought they deprived her of sleep for the full four days. I’m not sure what day it is at this point, since there are no time reference points, and I can’t see from here how many hours into the footage we are.
I’m scared to get too close, because I might break the computer if I get my hands on it.
White hot fury pumps through my veins when Ben comes into focus, walking beside Mikey and Larry—the dead fucking dragon.
“What the fuck are they putting in her arm?” I growl as Ben hooks an IV to her and holds the back above his head.
“I found fluid bags in the house. It looks like they kept her just hydrated enough to keep the body from shutting down, but they didn’t let her drink anything because the thirst is part of the torture,” Rush says absently.
My fists clench, and we watch it, all of us listening silently. Mikey finally says something to Ben, and I crack my neck to the side.
“You sure she’s fucking worth this? All because you want to keep the big piece of the pie to yourself?”
“Eve shouldn’t have ever fucking been with him. She loved me once. If she wants a fucking monster, then I’ll give her one,” Ben bites out through clenched teeth.
They don’t say anything else, and Mikey ends up leaving as Larry moves closer to Eve. I start toward the computer, reducing some of the distance when that fucker touches her cheek.
“Unless you want your hand chopped off, stop fucking touching her,” Ben growls at Larry.
I wish Rush hadn’t killed him. I’d have loved to cut Larry’s fucking dick off and shoved it down his throat until he choked to death on it. Death by his own cock would have been a much better way for him to go.
Larry narrows his eyes at Ben, but removes his hand from my girl while walking back toward the stairs. Ben… Never would I have ever thought anyone could be intimidated by him. But Larry seemed to know his place with Ben.
We watch as Ben withdraws the IV tube from the needle that is taped to her hand, ending the hydrating session. My jaw grinds, as he leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek. Fucking psycho. I can’t wait to get my hands on him.
As he walks away, retreating back up the steps, the music blares back to life. Eve startles, and she barely lifts her head, but it falls back down, even though I can tell her eyes are open now. She was oblivious to even being touched.
Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I watch as she weakly struggles, trying to escape her bindings. Rush starts to skip forward, but halts when the door opens and the music ceases again.
“Eve, Eve, Eve,” Ben chants in a light, scolding tone meant for a fucking child. “Are you willing to tell me what you know about Drex’s organization? Or do you need a few more days?”
Eve peers up from under her hair, and her eyes narrow. The gag in her mouth prevents her from speaking though, so he quickly removes it.
She tries to jerk away from him, but she cries out in pain from the movement. All I can do is watch, wishing I had been there for her. Wishing I had just been selfish and kept her with me.
I won’t be fucking letting her go ever again. Not after this. Fuck her perfect chance at a nice future. It’s safer with me than on her own.
“I know Drex has a big dick,” she clips out, smiling like a beautiful smartass. “Is that what you’re asking about, Ben? What made Drex so much better in bed than you?”
Two things happen with that question. One, I’m really fucking proud of her. Two, I get really fucking pissed at the reminder he ever even touched her.
Rush snorts derisively. “Girl is obsessed with telling people about your dick. First the feds, now him?”
Dash and Snake chuckle, but everyone grows serious again when Ben tuts and shakes his head.
“Don’t try to piss me off, Eve,” he cautions. “Turn off all your defense mechanisms. Your body is in survival mode. You better let your mind catch up and tell me what I’m asking, or it’s going to get a lot worse.”
My jaw is tense once more, and I crack my neck to the side.
“Fuck off, Ben. Fuck you. Fuck all of you. Fu—”
He’s cutting her off by tying the gag around her mouth once again, sighing as though he truly does hate to have to do it.
Fucking bastard.
“Didn’t think it’d be that easy. But you will talk,” he tells her, acting as though he wasn’t in the room pushing fluids into her without her knowledge just a few minutes ago. “Your loyalty to him will fade with every day you’re reminded that he isn’t coming for you. It’s Drex Caine, Eve. The only person he gives a fuck about besides himself is his father. Remember that.”
Rush slowly turns to face me as Ben walks back out. My knuckles are white from the fists I’ve formed, and my jaw is so tight that a dull ache forms. Even though she should be terrified, Eve just looks pissed.
She struggles harder to get free for a moment, then the music blares and she jerks like she’s startled. After a few more minutes of uselessly wasting her precious energy, she stops struggling and I watch as her breaths move faster.
This… This is fucking killing me.
“You should go, D. We can watch this and fill you in. It won’t be as bad as having to see it for yourself,” Snake tells me.
“Would you bitch out and not watch what she went through if it was Sarah? Would you honestly be able to walk out of here right now?” I ask him, turning my cool gaze to meet his eyes.
His lips tense. “I don’t know.”
My attention turns back to the computer. We watch as Ben sneaks back down to put fluids inside her, while her exhausted body sleeps through it, keeping her oblivious. I once again have to watch as he fucking kisses her cheek. All the ways I’m going to mutilate him flow through my mind.
Rush plays the video again when we see Ben walking down the stairs with Mikey. He quickly removes the gag, but she doesn’t even act like she feels it.
“I’ll give you an hour of sleep, Eve. Just for an answer. Just one answer. Tell me how Drex is getting the vehicles out of the warehouse. Or is he keeping them somewhere else? All I need is one or two to inspect. I can figure it out from there. It’d save me the trouble of having to split the profits with someone who will have to get me the information after the feds close in on them. They will, Eve. It’s just a matter of time. Tell me where he keeps them.”
“Pause it,” Snake says, stepping closer. Then he looks over at me as soon as the footage is paused. “Who the fuck would Ben have in the feds if Benny didn’t even know he had an undercover in his unit?”
I shake my head, slowly trying to think it over, but my head is too fucked up and focused on Eve to process anything else.
“Play it,” Dash says. “Maybe the answer is in the video.”
Rush resumes the feed, and we watch and listen.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” Ben says to Eve, pushing her hair away from her face. That’s one more offense that will cost him. He shouldn’t touch her at all.
Rush turns up the volume, and we hear her muttering something, but it’s hard to make out.
“Eve, you’re not making sense. What are you mumbling?” Ben continues.
Rush rewinds it, and he does something to the clarity, trying to make it easier to hear. While he fucks with the computer, Dash turns to me.
“She doesn’t know any of that shit. Imagine what he’d do with that info if he had it.”
“Doesn’t look like she’d have told him even if she did know,” Snake says idly.
“If he had the info, he would be coming right to us,” I point out icily. “I wish she had told him.”
“She knows?” Rush asks, halting what he’s doing as his eyes cut to me.
“She knows what we do, and she knows the cars are in the warehouse, but she doesn’t know where. She knows enough about what we’re fucking doing to have been able to buy herself some food, sleep, or peace. Possibly even freedom.”
Silence descends around the room.
“You barely fucking know her,” Rush finally grinds out. “And you told her something not even most of the guys know?”
“Most of the guys wouldn’t have covered my body with theirs if it was raining bullets,” I point out. “She’s tied to a chair, being starved, being dehydrated, and being deprived of sleep, but she’s not fucking saying a thing. She should have. I wish she fucking had.”
It feels like the anger inside me is trying to manifest into a physical form and emerge as a true monster. Guilt wars with fury, and everything collides.
“She’s saying something,” Rush mumbles, going back to his task.
We all move closer as he plays it back, isolating just her voice, and we finally hear what she’s saying.
“He’s going to kill you,” she whispers in a crackled, eerie voice. “He’s going to kill you,” she says again.