Page 94 of Below The Surface
“Not so different,” Charles says. “You always were like your useless mother.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“I had to kill her. She was talking about exposing everything. She had to go.”
Kendra squeezes my arm. We knew this was a possibility, but it’s still hard to hear.
There’s that fucking grin on Charles’s face again. “In the beginning, she was so pliant. Perfect. Jumped through every hoop just to be loved. Runaways usually do that. Then she had you. I guess she realized what she’d stumbled in on. Realized I used her. She was so young and naïve. So pretty.”
My legs turn to jelly. I’d told myself I didn’t care about my mother because she’d abandoned me.Thatwas the lie I believed. If I’d just paid attention, I would have realized it was a lie. She could have saved us all, but Charles stopped her. My poor mother.
“What was her name?” Kendra asks.
A smirk plays on Charles’s lips. “I forget. Why would I give you anything?” He tips his head to me. “Orion here never follows through with anything and fucks up every instruction. I don’t know how he roped you into whatever this is, little girl, but you should probably run so I can’t find you. Because when I do?—”
Kendra spits in his face and stomps on his balls, making Charles finallyfinallycry out in real pain.
“You’re not leaving this place alive, you piece of shit,” Kendra says. “In fact, you’re going to die in pain. You see, we have this fun little show we run. Our viewers tell us how to torture our victims and you’re on the menu tonight.”
Charles scoffs. “Sure. That’s just rumors. There have never been torture shows.”
“Where do you think we got the idea?” I say. “This is going to be our greatest show yet.”
“I don’t believe you.”
We haul him and the chair back to rights. I grab his hair and maneuver his head how I want it. “See these cameras?” I wave my hand and move him so he sees each one.
Four instead of six. I really miss having six and we haven’t even started. “We do this for them. Foreveryonewith a story of abuse. Of rape. Of pedophilia. We do it for people that don’t have the heart or stomach to take justice into their own hands when the law fucks them over.We arejustice. And for everyone you’ve used, we’re doing this for them.”
There’s something in his eyes like fear, but I’m not sure he really knows what fear is. That changes tonight.
He smirks again. “I’ll just tell your audience who you are. Merrick, The Merman.”
“It’s funny you think you’ll be able to speak,” Kendra says. “And it’s funny you know him, but not me. My picture isright next to himin all our promo. I was one of your experiments right next to him.”
“Ah, the little boy that wanted to be a girl. I remember now.”
Kendra stomps on his balls again. “Iama girl. Bitch.”
He howls, and it’s music to my ears. His breaths come sharp. “You think you’ll get away with this? As soon as you let me go, I’m going to the authorities.”
I snort. “Oh, I’mso scared. As if we don’t have an FBI agent on our side.”
Kendra lifts her brow, but goes along with the lie. “He helps us clean up.”
“I don’t believe you,” Charles laughs.
“Do you really have to?” I ask, tipping my head. “You’re not going to be alive by the time festivities start at Influencer Con.”
“Everyone will be looking for me. You’re making a big mistake.”
I tip my head from side to side. “Not really. You see, once you’re dead, we’re sending all the evidence of your transgressions to Influencer Con and the FBI to investigate you and all your little experiments.” I lean towards him. “What are they going to find, Charles?”
The laugh is manic, and he starts to struggle in his seat again. Fuck this chair, but it’ll have to do.
My phone buzzes. I hold up a finger and Charles just rolls his eyes.
Dallas: We’re parked and heading towards you. We got the goods.
