"Wake up, brat. We aren't done with you yet."
SPLASH.
The shock of ice-cold water hits me like a physical blow. I gasp, my lungs burning as I try to suck in air.
I'm lying on damp earth, the smell of pine and rot filling my nose. I try to move my hands, but they are bound tightly behind my back. My head feels like it's been cracked open with a wedge.
I blink the water from my eyes.
I'm in a forest.
The trees are tall and ancient, their branches weaving together to blot out the sky.
Standing around me are four men. Two I recognize from the bus stop. The other two are just as large, just as grim.
SPLASH.
Another bucket of water hits me.
"Ugghh! Stop it, you idiot!" I bark, the adrenaline finally overcoming the pain. "Can't you see I'm awake?"
I glare at the man with the bucket. He has a crooked nose and a vacant, cruel expression.
"Hahaha! Soris, look at that. The little rabbit has some teeth," the first man says. He's leaning against a tree, cleaning his fingernails with a pocketknife.
"Why have you kidnapped me?" I demand, my voice trembling despite my anger. "If you want money, you've got the wrong house. My family has nothing."
"Brat, you think this is about money?" Soris sneers, dropping the bucket. "This is personal. This is about respect."
Before I can scream for help, a rough hand grabs my jaw, and a thick, oily rag is shoved into my mouth. I struggle, kicking my legs, but one of the other men simply pins my knees down with his boot. It feels like a mountain is crushing my bones.
"Be quiet," Boris says, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You'll understand everything in a few minutes. We're just waiting for our brother to arrive."
I lie there in the dirt, my heart racing.
I stare at their faces, trying to remember where I've seen them before. Something about them feels familiar.
Names echo in my mind.
Boris.
Soris.
Where have I heard them?
Then it clicks.
Loris. Loris Jones.
Understanding crashes down on me like a hammer.
The Jones brothers. Loris, Boris, Joris, Soris, and Noris. Infamous in Ashmere for illegal dealings, intimidation, and violence.
Loris is my neighbour and…Rose's husband.
The brush clears, and a fifth man walks into the clearing. He's older than the others, with eyes as cold as a winter grave. His body same as his brothers'.
Loris Jones. He looks at me not as a person, but as a piece of filth he found on the bottom of his shoe.
"You should have stayed away from my wife, Vedman," Loris says. His voice is calm, which makes it ten times more terrifying.
I try to speak, but the gag only allows a muffled grunt. Loris nods to Soris, who reaches down and yanks the cloth from my mouth.
"Plead," Loris says. "Maybe if you beg well enough, I'll make it quick."
I look up at him. I see the gym-toned muscles, the expensive watch, and the sheer, unearned arrogance of a man who thinks he owns people.
I think of Rose, how she flinches when a car door slams too loud, how she hides bruises under long sleeves even in the summer.
I don't plead. I gather every bit of moisture in my throat and spit a glob of blood and saliva directly onto his polished boots.
"Fucker," I rasp, my voice sounding like broken glass. "You don't deserve a woman like her. You don't deserve anything."
I never touched her. I never even thought about it, since she got married.
I just talked to her because she looked like she was drowning and needed a hand to hold.
But to a man like Loris, a woman is property, and any hand reached out to her is a hand trying to steal.
Loris doesn't yell. He doesn't even flinch. He just stares at the spot on his boot for a long, silent second. Then, he looks at his brothers.
"What are you waiting for?" he asks softly. "Beat him until he's half-dead."
The world turns into a blur of pain. A heavy boot catches me in the ribs, and I hear the sickening snap of bone. I curl into a ball, but they just use that as an excuse to kick my spine.
A fist crashes into my cheek, shattering my vision into a thousand white sparks. They aren't just hitting me; they are dismantling me.
Every time I try to gasp for air, another blow finds its mark. My stomach, my legs, my face. I feel my nose break. I feel my teeth loosen.
I lose track of time. I lose track of who I am. I am just a sack of meat being tenderized by four monsters.
After what feels like an eternity, the blows stop. I'm lying in a pool of my own blood, the iron scent overwhelming the smell of the pines.
I can't open my left eye. My right eye sees only a dark silhouette of Loris standing over me.
"Soris," Loris says, his voice coming from a great distance. "Push him off the cliff."
"Loris, come on," Soris mutters, his voice sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. "Look at him. He's done. Just leave him here. The wolves or the coyotes will have him by morning. Why take the extra walk?"
Loris turns his head slowly toward his brother. He doesn't say a word, but the silence is heavy with a threat. Soris sighs, the sound of a man annoyed by a chore.
"Fine. Whatever."
Soris grabs me by the collar of my torn shirt. I'm too weak to even groan. He drags me through the dirt, my heels furrowing the ground. The trees begin to thin, and the sound of rushing wind grows louder.
We reach the edge. Below us is a jagged drop, a plummet into the dark throat of the ravine. Soris doesn't look at me. He doesn't offer a final word or a moment of reflection. To him, I am a piece of trash to be discarded before his dinner is cold.
He gives me a sharp, efficient shove.
For a heartbeat, I am weightless. The cold air rushes past my ears, and the sky above seems to mock me with its stillness.
As I fall into the abyss, my last thought isn't of Rose, or the Jones brothers, or the life I'm losing.
It's of Olivia and Chloe.
Then, the darkness takes me completely.