“Now, Low, you know it’s your brother’s initiation night. JJ must be the one to do it. And since he’s already witnessed too much, you know the rule if he doesn’t,” Fisher reminds him, sending JJ a look that promises retribution if he doesn’t do what’s demanded of him.
My head whirls to the boy, who takes a step back, his eyes bulging with fear.
“He’s just a boy,” I argue, curling my lip in disgust.
“And tonight, he will become a man,” Fisher explains.
My mind instantly goes to all the burglaries that had resulted in rape, and my stomach sinks.
I close my eyes, summoning a deep breath. I will die before I let that happen to me. My mum told me about Aunt Kayla and the trauma she lived through when I was a teenager. I had wondered why she was wary around men other than my dad and uncles. She lived through hell and it has stayed with her.
I can’t do that.
If he’s going to destroy a piece of my soul, there is no way I’m not going down fighting.
“He’s just a boy, you sick bastard,” I yell, kicking back at Low.
Fisher’s lip curls. “You should have listened to Rob when he told you not to poke your nose in.”
“They’ll know it was you. Nothing you can do to me will make me keep quiet,” I warn him, making sure I take in every detail of Kyle and JJ.
Fisher strides forward, grabbing my chin between his thumb and index finger in a bruising grip. “They’ll never know I was here. I made sure of it. They’ll be too busy trying to detain the group I sent as a distraction so I could slip away and slip back in easily.”
I’m unsure whether he knows about our plan.
“Beau will know.”
He forces a laugh, his eyes hardening. “You think I didn’t know you two put on a show last Monday? The minute you said witness I knew you suspected a dirty cop. I made sure to get rid of any witnesses,” he barks.
“The old lady.”
He grins. “To be honest, none of us touched her. After I threatened her, I made sure the boys let her see they were watching her. It was luck that she had a heart attack.”
“That’s why you came to my work,” I guess.
“Yes. I’ll give it to you, you put on a good show. But I’m better. Let me guess, Beau is waiting at the other location for someone to show up?”
“Yes, so he’ll know it’s you when you leave here. Someone will have noticed by now that you aren’t there.”
“Ah, but you see, I made sure to reveal Rob’s location at the cattle market to my friends. He will also struggle to explain his whereabouts.”
“You arsehole,” I scream, dread filling my stomach. “Beau will still know it’s you. He isn’t stupid. He’ll figure it out.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Accidents happen all the time in our line of work,” he suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.
“And me?” I ask with a sharp bite.
His eyebrows bunch together. “You’ll be dead. You’ll be no concern after tonight,” he tells me, his voice void of any kind of emotion. He turns to Kyle, nodding. “We need to burn the car.”
Kyle nods, striding over to the back of the car. He pulls out a canister of petrol and douses the car.
“And me?” Low asks, gripping me tighter. I wince.
Stepping back, Fisher pulls a knife out of his belt, an evil glint in his eye. JJ’s hands begin to shake as he slowly raises them, taking the knife from Fisher.
Ruffling the boy’s hair, Fisher bends down to meet his gaze. “Are you going to make me and your brother proud tonight?”
“Yes, sir,” JJ whispers.
“Good,” Fisher grits out, standing up. “Make her suffer.”
“You really are going to regret this,” I warn, gritting my teeth.
“What, no, ‘you can’t do this’, ‘please help me’?” Fisher mocks.
My eyes narrow into slits, staring at him dead on. “No. I don’t need to, because you’ll be screaming those later. If I don’t kill you, my dad or brothers will.”
He chuckles, dismissing me, and turns to Kyle. “Get the other tank. We’ve got a job to do.”
“C’mon, bro, let’s get this done,” Low barks, dragging me deeper into the forest, away from the petrol fumes.
“And don’t think you won’t regret this either,” I yell, before screaming out when my hair is pulled back.
The trees blanket us in darkness, and it takes me a moment to get used to it.
JJ pulls a torch out of his pocket, shining it in front of us as the smell of smoke fills the night air.
Low throws me to the floor and I skid along the ground, grazing my knees and my palms. I dig my fingers into the ground, gripping dirt and stones in my hands before kneeling, ready to make a run for it.
My eyes roll to the back of my head when Low lands a solid kick to my stomach. “I don’t think so,” he warns me, rolling me onto my back, his blue eyes narrowed down on me.
“Low,” JJ whispers, shining the light over me.
“Do it,” Low snaps at his brother, crushing my hand into the ground.
I cry out, blinking past the pain as I throw the dirt in my hand up at him. He kicks me again, knocking my teeth together.
“I’m scared,” JJ rasps.
“You don’t have to do this, JJ,” I declare, panting.
“He does,” Low barks. “Do it, JJ. You know what will happen to you if you don’t.”
JJ falls to his knees beside me, his lips trembling as tears fall down his cheeks.
Each time I move, Low presses his booted foot down harder, causing the pain to intensify.
“I have a family,” I rush out, staring at JJ. “I’m a triplet, the only girl.”
“Shut up,” he cries out.
“My mum, she… she loves me. She always wanted a daughter after being with my dad for so long. She was surprised when she also had two boys in there as well.”
“Do it,” Low yells, slapping his brother across the head.
A sob tears from his throat as he stares down at me, and I try one last time, forcing tears to my eyes. “I’m nine weeks pregnant. Please don’t kill my baby too,” I lie, having no shame.
“Low,” he whispers, staring up at his brother helplessly.
Low kicks me once again. “She’s fucking lying, brother. Don’t be a fucking wimp and embarrass me now.”
He drops the flashlight to the ground, bringing his palm to his eye socket and rubbing in circles.
“They’ll kill me if I don’t do this. They’ve done it before. I don’t want to die,” he whispers brokenly.
My heart clenches at his declaration, and the fear in his voice.
“Do it,” I order, my voice firm. “Do it.”
His hand trembles as he raises the knife, hovering it above my stomach. “I’m so sorry,” he sobs out.
“So am I,” I whisper, before moving quickly. I snatch the knife out of his hand with my free one.
I turn, driving the knife into Low’s leg, my hand warming as blood spurts through my fingers. His expression is drawn in agony, his mouth open in shock as I pull the knife out. I bring my knees to my chest and kick out. JJ, who is sitting on the balls of his feet in shock, gets my boot to the face.