Chapter 929
Chapter 929
At a moment like this, Sharon still wanted to keep her promise.
Jamie, for those he cared about, kept promises like oaths bound in gold. For his enemies, however, a promise was merely another way to toy with them.
He raised an eyebrow, visibly surprised by Sharon’s willingness to act. After a few seconds of theatrical thought, he said, “But if you don’t do it yourself, won’t it look like we’re bullying a frail woman? If you later cry foul, it could complicate things for us.”
Though his words pretended concern, his face betrayed no fear. Sharon understood: forcing her to act was never his only option.
Her lips, pale and bloodless, moved faintly. “Then what do you suggest?”
His smile was casual and cruel. “Since you claim your movements are limited, I won’t trouble you further. New rule: when I break a finger, if you make a sound, I’ll arrange a man for one of your friends. One cry, one man. How does that sound?”
Lex’s brow tightened. Pain makes people cry instinctively. A cry could ease suffering. It was a reflex that let the nerves share the
burden.
Jamie’s proposal-to silence her while he inflicted pain-was the difference between torture and murder. Tenfold pain in ten connected fingertips was far worse than ordinary pain.
Lex worried Jamie might have gone too far. He stepped forward. “Jamie, this is enough. We’ve taught her a lesson. With her hand ruined, she likely won’t play the violin again. She’s been missing for hours-search parties are frantic outside. We should leave before it becomes dangerous.”
Jamie glanced at him coolly. “Afraid of what? As long as Sharon is in our hands, Julliard and his men won’t dare act rashly. If you don’t want to take part, you can stand there and watch.”
Lex’s ideas for torment now seemed petty beside Jamie’s methods. Jamie’s cruelty was of a higher order.
Lex admitted, privately and reluctantly, that even he wouldn’t have conceived such a scheme. If he had acted, the worst he could have thought of was to ruin her hand. Jamie not only ruined the hand-he made her do it. Destroying her hand, her mother’s cherished violin, and her future all at once was merciless; adding further degradation was cruelty beyond his personal code.
His thoughts were broken by Wendy’s sudden, ferocious cry, “Jamie, you shameless, vile coward! You call yourself a man, to torture a woman like this?!” 15
Jamie gave her a sidelong look and then, without hesitation, planted his boot onto Sharon’s hand. The force felt like a thousand-
pound stone.
“Sharon!” Wendy’s eyes flooded red.
Breaking your own fingers was a torment Sharon could steel herself to meet-she could prepare, count the cost, decide the sacrifice. But this stomp-this brutal weight-cracked bone in a way that felt barbaric and uncalculated.
Sharon heard the sickening snap of her palm’s bones. Pain shot through her so sharply she almost screamed-but at the last instant, she clenched her teeth and held the sound down.
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