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"I thought you ad

"I do," he says as he slips a finger behind the neck of his shirt and pulls it away from his skin, "but I never claimed to be able to stomach what he does I ad Because everyone I know is afraid of him"

Nora’s screams make it to my ears out in the hall since the surveillance rooainst the sides of

Niklas appears in the doorway and starts to close it after seeing howme, but I shake my head and stop him

"No," I say, "leave it open I want hear if she says anything"

"Are you sure, Iz?"

"Yeah," I nod in a rapid, uneasy h as if he doesn’t really believe oes back inside to watch with Victor

Thirtyon the floor in the hallith my back pressed to the wall and le question

I’ to fear for her I may want her to die, but I wouldn’t want to die like that and I just wish she’d talk Say so?" I hear Niklas say with curiosity

Hesitantly, I get up froo into the room to look at the screen

Fredrik has cut her out of her bonds and unlocked the cuffs fro," Nora says in a pain-filled, raspy voice as he forces her to stand on her feet

She doesn’t struggle or even try to get away, but I think the pain she’s coping with has a lot to do with it

"Faust tells hter of the SC-4," Fredrik says, as calmly as ever He strips off her black silk shirt and walks her over to the wall She doesn’t struggle when he presses her against it "Raise your arms," he says, and she does

Her hands are stained with blood, the tips of her fingers swollen and red Her body shakes pressed against the wall from the front But still, she doesn’t relent She’s in undeniable pain and I know she wants to end it, but she doesn’t break

My god…her back…what did they do to her?

Nora’s back is covered in deep scars, crisscrossing in a horrific pattern from one shoulder to the other and from the top of her spine to the top of her hips Old scars Made by a whip of sorts, or maybe even a blade--from the looks of them, probably both

Fredrik slips a knife underneath her bra straps and cuts the her exposed

"It was a question," Fredrik says fro answer him! I scream inside my head Please, Nora!

I don’t knohy I care, but I do

Answer him!

"Yes," Nora says "My father was Solis"

"And where is Solis now?"

"I killed him"

So that’s who she killed for her freedom That’s who she wouldn’t tell Victor about