SWNOVELS The Sacrifice: Chapter 52
My wife has been missing for two days, and I’m losing my goddamn mind. Literally. I haven’t slept, haven’t eaten. I’m to the point where I’m seeing shit. It’s fucking with me. But every time I close my eyes, all I see is her begging me to find her. To help her. So I stay awake. Fueled by anger and desperation.
A desperate man is a dangerous one. I never understood why a man with nothing to lose is to be feared. Have you ever met a man with everything to lose? They are the ones to fear. They will do whatever it takes to make sure they keep what is theirs.
I haven’t received one text or call about a ransom. Not like I expected to get one. They don’t plan on giving her back to me. They want to make me suffer. See how far they can push me until I hit my breaking point. I’m going to burn the fucking city down. That’s how far I’m willing to go.
Ryat brings his car to a stop, and I get out, shutting my door. I don’t even bother trying to be quiet. I kick in the front door and enter the apartment; Ryat enters behind me with his gun drawn.
“What the …?” The guy jumps up from the couch, dropping his beer.
I rush him, taking him down to the floor as the girl who was sucking his dick screams at the top of her lungs.
I punch Beau in the face, knocking him out, and go for the girl. Grabbing her hair, I pull her over to the kitchen area and shove her into a chair. He’s a senior at Barrington this year, so he can get his dick wet. But I know she’s not his chosen.
“Please,” she sobs, “don’t do this.”
Ryat pockets his gun and removes the backpack off his shoulders and pulls out the duct tape. He helps me hold her down while I secure her wrists to the arms of the chair and then her ankles to the legs. I finish her off with tape around her mouth while her muffled cries fill the room.
Once I feel she’s secure, I pull the chair into the living room and turn her to face the couch. Then I pick up an unconscious Beau and tie him up as well. Sitting him up on the couch, we wait.
He opens his eyes; they look around unfocused for a few seconds before he realizes that he’s tied up. His eyes meet the girl’s that is duct taped in the chair and he jumps to his feet. I ram my elbow into his face, and he falls to the couch, groaning into the cushion.
I grip his hair and yank him to sit as I lower myself to the glass coffee table and rip the tape from his mouth. He sucks in a deep breath. “What the fuck, Ty?”
“Where is she?” I demand.
“I don’t know.”
I punch him in the nose, feeling a crack on the bone.
“Je-sus,” he cries out, leaning forward, blood now dripping from his face onto my shoes.
I go over to the table and grab the duct tape. I then walk back to the couch and wrap it around his head just like I did hers, silencing him.
Tossing it to the floor, it rolls under the coffee table. I make my way over to the girl, and she drops her head, sobbing behind the tape on her face.
I gently push the blond hair off her shoulder and then pull her head back, forcing her to look up at Beau. “It’s okay,” I tell her, and she breathes heavily through her nose. Tears run down her face, and she squeezes her eyes closed. “I’ll make it quick,” I say before grabbing either side of her face. Her eyes pop open, and I twist, breaking her neck.
I let her go. Her head falls forward, and Beau starts screaming through his tape.
“That was the only kindness I’m going to show tonight,” I say, sitting down on the coffee table to face him. I know she was part of it. The camera didn’t lie. I was able to access the cameras inside of the club from my home computer. I saw everything right up until the fire started. She lured my wife to the bathroom where Bethany was. The how and why doesn’t matter. It happened, and now we’re moving on. Now all I care about is finding Lake. Every second she’s missing is a second that I could lose her forever.
“Where the fuck is my wife?” I ask him, reaching up and yanking the tape off his lips.
“Please…” He looks at the dead blonde behind me. “I didn’t do anything,” he cries.
“What did you do?” I ask, knowing he had a part in it.
“Bethany came to me. Said I needed to get out of the club. That something was going to happen. I didn’t know.” He sobs, rocking back and forth, his arms tied behind his back.
“Who was she?” I ask, referring to the dead girl behind me.
“She came with Bethany. That’s all I know.” He hangs his head. “I swear I didn’t know anything would happen to Laikyn.”
I punch him in the face just for mentioning her name, pushing him down onto his side in the cushions. “In the parking lot, you told me that you saw Lake in the cage. Why didn’t you help her out of the club if you knew something was going to happen?”
“Because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he growls through bloody teeth. “I already told you that.”
Standing, I go over to his kitchen and start opening cabinets. I find what I want and go back to the couch. He gets up to run, but Ryat grabs his arm and forces him to his knees in the middle of the living room.
“No!” he shouts before I begin to wrap the cling wrap around his face, making sure to cover it all from his forehead to his chin. Ryat releases him and pushes him to the floor, and we both watch him flop around like a fish out of water, trying to breathe with his hands duct-taped behind his back along with his ankles.
The clear plastic wrap sticks to his tear-streaked and bloody face. His chest heaves and he bucks wildly. When his movements start to slow, I kneel next to him and push my fingers into it, breaking a small piece around his lips so he can suck in a breath.
“Who and where did they take my wife?” I ask calmly, but inside I’m on fire. A burning sensation that I can’t put out. I hate feeling helpless, and I hate it even more that I have no clue what is happening to my little darling. Is she being tortured? Raped? Is she dead? She’s innocent. So whatever is happening to her is because of me. They are making her pay because I love her.
Until she’s back in my arms, I’m going to burn every person that helped take her from me.
“I … don’t know.” He sobs, rolling onto his stomach. The cling wrap so tight on his face it’s got his eyes closed, and cheeks squished, smearing the blood on his skin.
Standing, I pull out the flask and pour it over his legs.
He kicks around his taped legs. “What are you doing?” he rushes out, unable to see.
I take the lighter out of my pocket and bend down, lighting the gasoline I just sprinkled on his legs, setting him on fire.
His screams fill the room and I stand back, watching him try and roll around as the flames lick up over his skin. I didn’t drown him in it. The plan is to make it hurt, fucking painful. Fire is unpredictable, but one thing about it is that it can be quick. And that would be too easy for him. He deserves to suffer like I know Lake is right now.
The smell of his burning flesh fills the room, and I smile as I watch him try to put it out but it’s not going to happen.
Ever so slowly, the fire crawls up his legs and catches his T-shirt. I walk over to the girl and light her on fire as well. I’m not going to go through the trouble of removing them from her apartment and burying them behind the Cathedral. I’m going to leave a trail that says I’m looking for my wife, and anyone who stands in my way will burn.
This is my statement to anyone who had a hand in taking my wife. I’m coming for you.
We fall into Ryat’s car, and we watch people start to run out of the apartment complex as flames start to crawl over the building. I’m not sorry for what I’m about to do. For all the bodies I’m going to leave in my wake.
Why? Because the villain doesn’t give two shits about the world. All he cares about is the one thing that calms his demons, and that person for me is Lake. If I don’t have her, they take control, and all they know is to destroy.
Ryat holds up a cell phone and I take it from him. It belonged to Beau. I pull up his messages and start to read over them. It doesn’t take me long to find what I need.