bChapter /bb394 /b

    Destination marked: Shanghai.

    She screamed something behind the blindfold. Something about their daughter… But it was inaudible at some point.

    His entire body jerked against the chains, and his eyes widened just slightly.

    A snarl tried to w its way out of his throat, but the gag turned it into a wet, guttural sound.

    I shrugged and kept talking, “We found her. That little ind paradise you tucked her into? You thought no one could reach it. Well, Saint did. And he sent her where you always sent the others. Asia. You remember Asia, right?”

    I didn’t let the moment linger. I tapped the keyboard again. “Now this one… this one is special.”

    The seal of Child Protective Services hovered in the corner of the second clip as a waiting room came into view.

    There was a small girl, no more than four. Pale, tearyb–/beyed, with a mop of curly ck hair. She sat on a hard bench, hugging a stuffed bear to her chestb, /bher legs swinging just slightly above the floor as two officers coaxed her forward. She looked scared.

    A gentle voice said her name, and she turned toward the camera, searching for the voice

    “Daddy?” she whimpered, almost hopeful. Her voice cracked on the second syble.

    “Daddy!” the girl called again. Her arms reached for someone offscreen..

    Then the screen went nk.

    Nagel stopped breathing.

    His whole body froze, as though time itself paused in his veins. His jaw ckened against the gag. And I watched the exact moment it shattered him.

    I turned the tablet off and handed it back to one of my men. Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small device.

    “This was pulled up from an old home video,” I murmured, almost conversationally, as bI /bpressed a button.

    The light, innocent giggle of a four–year–old girl – his girl – filled the room.

    “Nice, isn’t it?” I asked as the recording came to an end.

    For the bfirst /btime since I walked in here, Nagel Vale cried.

    Fuck. That was epic.

    “I’ll have that y every hour, until the day you breathe yourst in this cage. Alone and abandoned.” I whispered into his ear, “Just to remind you what you lost. And what I can still take.”

    There was silence. And I let it sit for a little while, just so he’d absorb and digest all he’d just seen. And he was taking it all in, jus

    Ty I bliked /bit.

    “Hungry?” I asked with mock sweetness, tilting my head slightly. But he looked away.

    “Don’t worryb. /bYour meals are timed. bTwice /bba /bday. Dog food and bread soaked in blood. Some mold, some shit, but all authentic. bThe /bvery bbest/bb, /bbSourced /bbfrom /bthe bsame /bslums where you bfished /byour girls.”

    bHe /bbretched/b.

    b“/bI know, I know,” I mocked. “You’re bused /bto filet mignon and underage flesh. But bwe’re /brunning ba /bdifferent menu bdown /bhereb./bb” /b

    I bstepped /bback and gestured grandly.

    “This is it, Nagel. Your world now. You’ve got no walls to scream against and no fresh bodies to sell. No hope bat /bball /b

    “You’re not dying today. No… that would be mercy. You’ll sit in your filth, starving on scraps, pissing where your sleep with just enough breath left in remember every girl your destroyed.” I grinned.

    “You used my girl’s mouth like a tool. Shoved your cursed cock down her throat and made her take it. You treated her like a product. Then what you call them, right?”

    I nodded toward the cage, “Now, you’ll learn what shelf life feels like.i” /i

    1 snapped my fingers, and my men grabbed him.

    They shoved him into the cage and mmed the door shut.

    I crouched to meet his eye through the bars.

    “You thought you were God.” I paused. “Turns out, God didn’t show up.

    …I did.”