Vinnie rolled his eyes. “You are such a fuckin suck-up, ya know that?”

Brady turned around slowly and glared at Vinnie. “Listen, you-”

“Now boys, let’s not forget the task at hand here.” Agnes reminded them, her voice stern.

Vinnie rubbed his hands together. “Don’t worry Ag, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

Terri made a face and turned her head away, growing more and more angrier by the second. How could her brother have wanted anything to do with that little bitch? It was like a slap in the face, a betrayal. And now Vinnie was using vengeance as an excuse to have her. She had half a mind to grab her mother’s gun and shoot the bitch.

“Just let us know when you are done, huh Vincent?” Agnes pointed her bony finger at him. “And don’t forget what I said about Carter.”

Brady shut the door behind the two women and turned around to smile maliciously at us. Vinnie was still standing in front of me, gun pointed to my face. All through their little exchange, my attention shifted from them, to Nick and finally to Brian. Watching Brady beat him was one of the most horrific things I had ever witnessed. I was overwhelmed by that same helpless feeling I had when I had to watch Kurt and Marcus whip Nick.

Brian didn’t even have the strength to keep himself on his hands and knees and had sort of slumped down so he was curled up, as if that would ease the pain he must be going through. He still wasn’t completely recovered from the last abuse afflicted on him those months ago. How much could his body take?

“Alright Carter, you heard the boss. We can’t have you trying to pull any heroisms here.” Brady’s threat broke me out of my thoughts.

“Just make sure you don’t make his dumb ass go unconscious or anything. I want him to be able to watch everything I am going to do to his little bitch.” Vinnie reminded, taking a step closer to me.

I recoiled away. This wasn’t happening, it had to be another nightmare.

“Please don’t touch her! You’ve already hurt Brian and AJ. You have me. Please don’t do this to her!” Nick begged.

Vinnie tilted his head back and laughed uproariously. “Keep talking Carter, that is exactly the kind of shit I want to hear. Makes this even better!”

I was still sitting by Nick and I had a death grip on his arm. Brady walked over and stood directly in front of Nick. With perfect control and ease, he leveled his gun at Nick’s forehead. Nick stiffened and I gasped in horror.

“Come on, bitch. I know you want this as bad as I do. Hell, as bad as Marcus did. You know, he wanted your ass bad.” Vinnie grabbed me by the shoulder of my shirt and started to pull me away from Nick. “I don’t know though, I’ve seen you look better. I may be a kinky bastard, but I don’t go for all this blood. I guess it’s my own damn fault for knockin the shit out of ya earlier huh? Alright, let‘s go, sweetness.”

The harder he tugged at me, the harder I gripped Nick. The pulling was making my forearm throb, but the only thought going through my mind was to stay with Nick. They couldn’t separate us.

“Let go of her.” Brady snarled, cocking the trigger of the gun against Nick’s forehead.

My eyes locked with Nick’s as his grip tightened. Part of me wanted to scream to let me go, but the other part of me was too scared. Our joined hands were my lifeline and I was afraid I was going to lose all my strength if they broke us apart.

“Okay, we’ll do this the hard way!” Brady shouted, lifted Nick to his feet by his shirt. He pulled his fist back and drove into Nick’s mid-section with all his might.

I screamed and fought against Vinnie’s grip, but in my weakened state, his strength was no match for me. Brady kept hitting Nick, much like he had done Brian.

“You bastards! Stop!” I screamed, awkwardly thrashing and swinging my fists at Vinnie. The handcuffs were cutting into my skin and I knew I was bleeding, but I didn’t care. He refused to let go, but one of my swings connected to the side of his neck. He gasped and released his grip on me for a split second. I used the opportunity to get to Nick, but Vinnie recovered before I had a chance to get too far. He grabbed me fiercely and shoved me up against the wall, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Then he swung his hand back and slapped me hard across the cheek. My head cracked into the wall behind me and darkness edged around my vision.

“Enough!” He barked at Brady. Brady let one more punch fall before releasing his grip on Nick. Nick, slumped down to the floor, gasping and bleeding. Brian had somewhat come to his senses, but was too injured to pick himself up. “Time for the show to begin.”

My eyes met with Nick’s, only this time, one was nearly swollen shut. His lip was bleeding and bruises were already starting to form. Brady hadn’t worked him over as bad as he had Brian, but it was bad enough.

“Don’t look at him, bitch!” Vinnie snarled, shaking me like a rag doll. “Right now, I am all that there is. Not that I need to tell you that, you’ll know in a few minutes.” He grinned, pushing me harder into the wall. With one fluid motion, he grabbed the shoulder of my shirt and tore it off.

“Stop! Please, god. Don’t do this!” Nick cried.

Vinnie grinned, pressing himself up against me. “I’m really going to enjoy this, baby.”

I shut my eyes, trying to block everything out. Pretend I wasn’t here and this wasn’t happening to me. But when I closed my eyes, it was worse. I felt every inch of his body up against mine. I felt his hot breath against my neck. The lack of blood was making me lightheaded and I didn’t even have the strength to fight him.

I felt his hand work its way around the back of my bra and I struggled against him. His hands were all over me, doing things they shouldn’t, hurting me.

“Please, please...” I was crying uncontrollably. I barely heard Nick and Brian begging for them to stop. “Please, just kill me.” I sobbed, overcome by the humiliation, the pain, the hopelessness. I was filled with disgust and hate towards myself. Disgust that I couldn’t be brave like Brian. They beat him within an inch of his life and the whole time, he barely made a sound.

Vinnie moaned in pleasure. “Ready for more, sweet thing?” I felt one of his hands start messing with the zipper of my jeans.

“No...” I whimpered. “Nick!” I cried, hating myself even more. It was getting harder and harder to even keep my eyes open. The room was starting to move around me. Suddenly, the pressure of his body lifted from mine and my eyes snapped open. Without the support of his grip, my knees buckled and I fell.

A loud bang filled my ears and I jerked my head up. My vision blurred as I watched Vinnie crumple to the ground right in front of me. Kevin stood in the doorway, gun pointed. Brady lunged at Kevin they both fell to the ground, fighting for possession of the glock. More people rushed into the room, but I was completely disoriented and my eyes started to fall shut again. I knew I was losing my grip. When I opened my eyes again, Nick was making his way over to me. He pulled me carefully into his arms, a shattered expression on his face. If I had been more with it, I probably would have fought him. But I could tell I was running out of time and I had to make sure he knew something.

“Nick,” I gasped, surprised at how hard it was to even talk.

“No, Lizz, don’t do this.” Nick pleaded, his voice breaking.

“I...need you...to know...” I broke off, my body suddenly wracked with a coughing fit.

“Lizz...” He whispered, his eyes welling with tears.

I reached a hand up and wiped one of them away.

“I love you.”