Page 94 of Triple the Secrets
He watched the men hanging before him with a cool expression. Until he let them see the darkness swirling inside him, and Club was the first to break. The first to look away. Gotcha, Rogue thought triumphantly. He stepped forward and nodded at Club. “Start with him.”
Savage nodded, unquestioning. “Start talking,” he barked at the man. Club didn’t react. Instead he swallowed hard, and stared straight ahead. “He thinks he can outlast us,” Savage sneered. “Ice, I think we’ll let you get this party started.”
Rogue stepped back and watched dispassionately as Ice grabbed the garden shears. He didn’t so much as flinch when he set to work on cutting off the man’s toes, one by one as he refused to answer their questions. Rogue watched Club while he screamed in agony as blood pooled on the floor. He was sobbing by the time Ice finished with the first foot, and the smell of piss filled the air. Rogue didn’t care. He wanted answers.
“Who was buying the girls?” Ice asked him again as he set the shears down on the table again, still dripping with blood.
Club’s chest heaved with each sobbing breath. “The Governor,” he finally wheezed out. Rogue didn’t move, just waited.
“Which one?” Ice demanded.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Slicer snarled, rattling his chains. “You keep your fucking mouth shut.”
Club acted like he didn’t even hear him. “Jenkins,” he sobbed out. “He’s one of the biggest buyers in the state. Uses them in a private club for all his buddies.”
“You fucker,” Slicer screamed.
“Gag him,” Savage ordered Steel. Steel nodded and quickly made sure the man couldn’t talk. He screamed and shook in his chains, but Rogue ignored him. Club was telling them what they needed to know, all about how Governor Wilson Jenkins, the representative of their own home state, was buying these girls, where the private clubs were that he knew of, and who was involved.
Rogue looked over at Tanya and saw her watching Club dispassionately. She didn’t take her eyes off the man, and he waited. Something was off, because she wasn’t screaming at him to be quiet. No, she looked almost smug as she watched. Moving silently, he came up behind her, grabbed her by the head and yanked it back so hard she screamed.
He didn’t typically hurt women, but he would gladly kill this one and not lose a wink of sleep over it. “He’s lying,” Rogue snarled, bringing everyone’s attention to them all. “Whatever lie they fed to him, she’s the one who knows the truth.” He yanked her head back even farther, so she was staring into his eyes. She stared at him, defiant, triumphant. He wanted to wring her neck, but held himself back. “Tell us who it is,” he ordered.
“Fuck. You,” she whispered, smiling at him. Drawing out each word like they would save her. Buy her time.
He gave her a cold, cruel smile. The darkness inside him purred in anticipation. It wanted her to defy him. It would make her death that much sweeter. He saw her smile drop as she stared at him. There was no fear, but he could smell it brewing. Just underneath the surface. It would be all he needed to make her talk. “You’ll talk,” he vowed. “You’ll be begging for mercy by the time I’m done with you.”
“What are you going to do?” she taunted. “Rape me?”
“There are worse things a man can do to a woman,” Rogue returned calmly. “I’m no rapist, and even though you deserve so much more than what I’m going to do to you, well, I won’t rape you. Not that you gave my girls the same concession. I bet it was you who picked them. You who found a buyer for them. This Governor, if that’s even who bought them.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She smirked. “You might kill me, but do you think that I’m the only one around here? Not to mention, if you kill me, you’re going to have the wrath of a thousand men come down on you.”
“You think I care?” he growled at her. He let go of her hair, but then wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing tight. There was nothing sexual in this. This was pure hatred, the need to see her dead. To feel her life stop beneath his hands. She gasped in shock and instinctively writhed, trying to get away. He tightened his grip. “I will enjoy killing you. I will make it hurt so much more than you can imagine. I will fight to the ends of the earth for my woman and my girls. No one you could send, no one you could conjure up, would be able to stop me. I will burn the world to the ground before I let you, or anyone else, harm one more hair on their heads. And I will enjoy doing it.”
He dropped his hand from her neck, and then stepped back, because he knew if he continued, he would kill her. The darkness demanded it. Screamed for it.
He looked over at Savage and nodded at him to continue. Savage nodded back and returned to questioning Club, who had no more information. Finally, Savage turned to Rogue and said, “He’s done. You do with him what you want.”
Rogue smiled slowly. The smile that everyone always said creeped them the hell out. The one that promised all kinds of pain and punishment. Club’s eyes widened, then his entire body began to shake with fear. “No, please, no,” he sobbed. “Please, just kill me. I’m dead anyway.”
“You are dead,” Rogue agreed. “But I’ll decide how you die. What you’re going to do is tell me how many times you touched my family. How many times you used your club on them. And don’t bother lying to me, because I’ll know, and your death will be slow and painful. I might make it last for days. Because I can. So, Club, did you hurt my girls?”
“Yes,” he whispered, eyes downcast.
Rogue let the darkness rise. “How many times?”
“As many times as I wanted.”
“Did you hurt Scarlett?”
“Yes. But only a few times. She wasn’t there for very long when I finally saw her.”
Rogue let the rage overtake him. He roared his fury, and he let the darkness loose. He didn’t know how many blows he struck, how many bones he broke, how many screams he ignored. The only thing he knew was that he was going to make him pay. To make him hurt worse than his girls ever had. Finally,finally, he forced himself to stop and look at the broken man, barely clinging to life in front him. His face was completely smashed in, his eyes so swollen he doubted he could see. “Burn in hell,” Rogue hissed as he reached out, grabbed the man’s head in his hands and wrenched, breaking his neck.
Rogue turned back and looked at his brothers. None of them said a word, just watched him, approval on their faces. Rogue moved to wash his hands as Savage stepped forward and stepped in front of Slicer.
Rogue knew the moment the gag was ripped away, because he immediately started cursing and threatening. Rogue turned just as Fury stepped up and punched Slicer in the stomach, making his tirade stop, and then smashed his fist across the man’s face. Slicer moaned as his head fell forward.
