Page 24 of Sinner's Malice

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I think you prefer the name Malice because your father called you Gideon.”

I said nothing.

I wouldn’t give him any more ammunition.

He was too close.

Sighing, Torment firmly said, “I am very good at what I do, Malice. I can read the signs just as well as you. Maybe even more, and what I am seeing is very telling. Would you like me to tell you what I see?”

“No.”

“Then answer my question. Why did you ask me to call you Gideon?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Taking a deep breath, Torment lightly shook his head. “I treat all kinds of patients. Some are eager to talk, while others, I have to pull it out of them. Then there are those like you. You want to tell your truth, need to tell your truth, but for some reason, your fears prohibit you from talking. Do you know how I treat those patients, Malice?”

I nodded. “I did the same with volatile teens.”

“Then you know what I’m about to do next, don’t you?”

I nodded, balling my fist tightly.

“Your father beat you.”

I stood there, trying to breathe in and out.

One breath at a time.

That’s what Father Dominic told me to do when all I wanted to do was kill.

“He tortured you.”

Another breath.

In and out.

“He raped you.”

In and out.

Just one more breath.

“A few years ago, the club found you near death.”

“Stop.”

“You went to Florida. Didn’t you?”

“Enough.”

“But that wasn’t the only time you went, was it?”

“I said stop.”

“He found you in the system, didn’t he? He visited you regularly. Trained you from a young age. He said so himself in California, when we rescued your sister. He was happy to see you. He asked if you wanted a turn. That your sister was perfectly trained, like you.”