Page 109 of Moros

“No.” Khadri leaned his back to the wall closest to me, while Pasha ate away at a small bag of peanuts she’d gotten from his glovebox. “This is an old warehouse. It was built to keep the machine sounds in.”

“Good.”

I shot Paul in the left knee.

He screamed and tried reaching for his injured leg, but Pasha had tied him to the chair—securely.

“Fuck!” Khadri jerked forward. “Shorty!”

“My parents.” I repeated. “Did you have anything to do with their deaths—and before you think of lying to me, I don’t know how much you know about guns. I didn’t know anything before this whole thing started. Apparently, this, is a Glock 19 and it holds fifteen rounds.”

“Ryanne—” Pasha started.

I held up a hand to silence her.

“You, Paul, need to ask yourself, how much pain you can endure.” I continued. “How many holes I can pump into you before I hit a vital organ, or you bleed to death? Now, before you answer those questions, remember, I’m not a doctor and I barely passed biology. I barely know much about sex so the human anatomy?—”

I shrugged while waving the weapon around.

“No damn clue. Which means, the holes are going into your body in places I think won’t lead to a vital organ, but I can’t be sure. Do I have to repeat myself?”

All he did was struggled against his restraints.

Angry, I lifted the gun and fired into the top of the same leg.

“Bitch!” Paul screamed. “I’m not telling you nothing! I want you to suffer!”

I took out his other knee.

“I may be suffering later,” I said. “I’m having a blast.”

“Baby.” Khadri cooed.

“No.” I shook my head. “No—he’s had his fun. It’s my turn.”

“You don’t have it in you!” Paul spat. “You’re weak. Just like your mother.”

I smiled.

“Sure.” I shrugged. “I’ll take that. But guess what? I have that man over there to fuck the sad weakness right out of me. You, on the other hand, will be here, tied to that chair, bleeding to death. And in the morning, we’re going to find a hole where not even the pigeons can shit on you. We’re going to toss you in and cover it up. And the only reason why I’m showing you that mercy, is because even though I didn’t know her, I know my mother wouldn’t have wanted me to leave you out for the vultures can get you.”

“Shorty.” Khadri rested a hand on my shoulder.

When I lifted the gun again, I aimed for Paul’s dick.

“Fine!” He tried hiding his cock with his thighs. “Okay! I had something to do with their crash!”

I exhaled loudly—my breath leaving my body in short bursts—gasps at that admission.

“I tampered with the brakes on your father’s car.” Paul swallowed convulsively. “I knew your mother would be driving your father’s car. He hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before—he was up making sure the baby’s room was up to speck. Your mother wouldn’t have allowed him to drive.”

Silence.

“Go on.” Pasha whacked him against the back of the head.

“Anne wasn’t supposed to die.” P She wasn’t supposed to have been in that car—she should have been at the hospital, with her baby. I spent my entire life in love with Anne. And she never once saw me as anything but a friend. A fucking friend and the second Morrisey shows up, she was head over heels. Asked me if I could put in a good word for her with him because she could see no one else but him. For a while, I thought I could get over it. But the more I saw them getting closer, the angrier I got because why not me? Why wasn’t I good enough? I knew if Morrisey wasn’t in the way, she would have loved me—she would have been with me. Then one day they were just gone—the big house they bought, they abandoned and without a trace. It took me a while, but I found them but by this time she was pregnant. That was when I found out they’d secretly gotten married. But I was willing to take you and pretend you were mine…I told her that when I confessed to her. That man had to die.

“It’s the same thing I think about you.”