She nodded. “Chloe?”
“What do you remember?” Tom asked, standing on the other side of her bed.
“We heard something … went inside … Chloe cried out … fell … pain in my hip …” She haltingly related the story.
As she mentioned her hip, her eyes cleared.
Fin knew she was going to ask about it even before she opened her mouth.
“How bad is it?”
“Don’t worry about that now,” Tom soothed, trying to distract her.
Apparently, she was with it enough not to be fooled. Her blue eyes were watery, and she was trembling. “That bad.”
“When you're strong enough, you’ll do physical therapy. It’ll get better. Really, you shouldn’t be worrying about that now. Right now, you just rest and to get your strength back,” he tried to reassure her. There would be time for her to worry about whether or not she’d walk again when she wasn't so emotional and vulnerable.
“Savannah,” Tom drew her attention back to him. “The man who attacked you, did you get a look at him?”
She shook her head. They were going to lose her at any minute, whatever reserves of strength she had built up while she’d been sleeping were now used up.
Tom looked disappointed but patted her hand. “Sleep now, and we’ll talk to you again later.”
Savannah’s eyes closed, and Fin thought she had passed out again. But then she spoke, “He said something to me. He said I was broken and he didn't like broken things. His voice. I recognized it. I know who he is. He was my physical therapist for a while. His name is Pete Larkin.”
DECEMBER 24th
12:13 A.M.
Three women at once. Was he crazy?
He had to be, Pete thought to himself.
What had he been thinking? He should have just left the FBI agent behind with her partner. She had bruises, after all, so she wasn't completely perfect.
Bruises, but no broken bones.
That was the important thing. He had checked after she passed out, probed the areas around the bruising to make sure she was still in good condition. It was too bad about the other FBI agent. She was beautiful, but he knew her, she was already broken, and it was so much more fun to break perfect things.
The agent—according to her badge, her name was Chloe Luckman—was pretty, too, although a little older than he typically liked. Still, it would certainly be fun to spend some time with her. She had to be tough and strong—if there was anyone whose body could survive what he was trying to accomplish, then it was certainly hers.
Pete was so excited. He had been on a high ever since he saw Taylor Sallow’s parents drive away without her. He’d been worried the cops might keep someone on her, but because he had already taken Avery Ormont, they must have thought that he wasn't going to go back for her.
Well, they were wrong.
He always finished what he started.
And now, not only did he get to finish what he started with Taylor, but he had two other women to play with. That meant he could try out different methods with each of them to see what worked best. While he was hopeful that one of the threewould be the one, he couldn’t count on it, and every piece of information he learned would help him get closer to achieving his goals.
He was thinking he might stick with the original plan with Taylor, waiting until each bone was mostly healed before breaking another. Then with the FBI agent, he thought he would break one a day and see if breaking the bones quicker and closer together was a better idea. Then with Avery, he might give her just a few days in between breaks—maybe a week, but no more—and see if some sort of middle ground was, in fact, the best method.
He was too excited.
He couldn’t wait.
Although it was the middle of the night, he wasn't sleeping, and he didn't think the girls would be either. It had been a big day for them, and for him, and he wanted to finish it off with some fun.
Sleep was overrated. Who cares if he was a wreck at work tomorrow—it wasn't like anyone was going to guess he had stayed up all night playing with his girls. Well,workingwith them. This wasn't really a game; it was the culmination of his life’s work. It was his dream.