On the picture was Neon, gagged, naked, and hanging upside down from the motherfucking roof, blood dripping down her arms.
I stumbled back, the phone shaking in my hand. “I swear to fucking God, I will cut your dick off and shove it down your throat, you motherfucker!”
Slither laughed, full-on hysterical laughter that was meant to mock me, then turned the camera back on himself. “Now, now. No need for such violence. You knew when you started this shit it would become messy.”
“Let her go.”
“No.”
“Slither—”
“You think those two prospects you killed the other night were the only two pairs of eyes I had on you?”
Anger surged, and I grabbed the first thing I could find—a wrench—and threw it across the room, the clanging sound as it hit the wall resonating through the garage. “Don’t fuck with me, Slither. You let her fucking go, right now!”
He brought the camera closer to his face, eyes narrowed. “You chose to fuck with me the day you mind-fucked my newest prospects into thinking kidnapping the PC’s daughter was actually a good idea. Well done, by the way, getting my guys to do your fucking dirty work.”
I bit my tongue. Did he really think I was that stupid? The call was most likely being recorded, so there was not a chance in hell I’d fall in that trap by confessing.
“I told you, we don’t have the girl.” Clenching my jaw, I tried my fucking best to sound confident in my own lie, but the image of Neon hurt was fucking with my head.
“You see, Granite, I call bullshit. One of my scouts saw your blue-haired pixie shopping for clothes that would…well, fit a ballerina. Do you have a ballerina in your midst?”
This guy knew exactly which fucking buttons to push. “Motherfucker, how many times do I have to tell you we don’t have the fucking girl?”
“I don’t believe you. Now, the deal is simple. Let the girl go home. That’s it. I don’t want her. Just let her go home to her loving family, confess this kidnapping sham was all the Kings’ doing, and I’d let your little blue-haired pixie go.”
“There’s just one problem with that, you sick fuck. We don’t have the girl!” I shouted into the receiver while kicking my boot against the fucking wall. “And if you’re so fucking convinced we have her, why not go to the PC yourself?”
Slither snorted. “I’m not stupid. You and I both know I can’t do that without evidence.”
“Exactly what I thought. You got nothing.”
“But you got something, don’t you Granite? A pretty ballerina.”
“I. Don’t. Have. Her.” I gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Liar. Let’s see if this will get the truth out of you.”
A scream ripped through the receiver. “Neon! Jesus Christ.”
Ink cursed, pulling his hands through his hair while we listened to her scream. The sound was scraping against my bones, penetrating every goddamn vein in my body. The intense pain and horror coming from her screeching cries was agonizing, and if I was a man with a heart, I’d probably feel the burn of tears. “Stop, Slither. Stop, motherfucker! What are you doing to her?”
“Oh,” he faked a look of surprise, “here, let me show you.” The camera moved before it zoomed in on a finger laying in a pool of blood on the ground. A sudden coldness hit at my core, a flush of adrenaline burning a hole in my stomach. I was too fucking shocked to say anything.
“Now,” the camera moved back to his ugly motherfucking face, “that’s the first digit she lost. She has nine more. Catch my drift?”
Wiping my sweaty palm down my face, all I tasted was horrid, sour bile.
“By the way, Granite. Have you fucked the blue-haired pixie before? If you did, you’d know how fucking soft her skin is.” I heard him inhale deep. “Oh, and she smells like jasmine—all fresh and fuckable. Do you think she likes it up the ass?”
“You sick motherfucker, if you don’t let her go right now—”
“What then, huh? What the fuck are you going to do about it? You have an hour to get the girl home, otherwise your pixie girl will have a very unfortunate encounter with a snake.”
I bared my teeth, flexing my arm and finger muscles, ready to gut this motherfucker from nose to navel when we were face to face again. “You listen to me, Slither. And you listen good. If you hurt another hair on her head, I will hunt you down, and I will skin you alive, cut you up, and feed you to the fucking fish.”
Another scream ripped through the phone speaker, and it ate through my skin, slicing its way to my heart.