“That is exactly why you are here,” the man scolded. “You’re a sinner whose mind is overwrought with filth, infesting others with your vile urges. You have no shame, brazenly flaunting your abnormality and enticing others to sin. You don’t care that your sick perversion is damning not only your own soul, but all those who come in contact with you.”

Frankly, that was some of the most victim-blaming, gaslighting bullshit Micah had ever heard a single person spew in so short of time. Also: “What the fuck are you talking about?”

A muscle in Ren’s cheek ticked as he clenched his jaw. “Fornicating with other men,” he said very slowly, like he was talking to someone particularly slow – which, rude, “is a sin. Especially when you go out of your way to lure innocents into taking part in your depravity.”

It figured the man saw himself as innocent in this situation when Micah was the one tied up in nothing but his underwear in some skeevy basement, and it hurt his heart in a way that was all too familiar that Ren was apparently doing this simply because Micah was gay.

Perhaps Micah shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was – he still saw the results of the occasional hate crime working for the NYPD, after all – but that didn’t change how aggrieved it made him feel.

Part of what he was feeling must have been playing out across his face because Ren suddenly released his hair, trailing the back of his fingers down Micah’s cheek in a sick parody of a lover’s touch. “Don’t worry. I’m going to make you better. That’s why I took you, to show you the error of your ways and help you repent. When I’m satisfied you’ve renounced your ways, I’ll set you free.”

“What? So I apologize for being gay, and you’ll let me go? Just like that?” The thought of being forced to apologize for something out of his control, something that comprised so much of his identity, made Micah feel physically sick. But if it made the asshole let him go…

“Even better. I’ll send you home into God’s arms, never to be tempted by sin again.”

Micah froze.

Ren was going to kill him, is what he meant. And Micah didn’t know why it took so long to put the pieces together, but when he did, it was like they all clicked into place at once.

Micah had been dosed with chloroform and kidnapped.

His wrists and ankles were tied tightly together with rope.

He’d been taken because he was openly gay. Sure, Micah wasn’t a prostitute or involved in the sex industry like any of the man’s other victims, but…

“You’re the Hooker Hunter.”