“Think twice about giving me a fake letter,” Eric says. “Because you will regret it.”

He’s quiet until she’s finished writing. Then he rips the page from her hands and scans it, frowning. Miraculously, he says nothing. Instead, he turns and leaves the room, taking all but two guards with him. This time, the guards stay inside the room, watching her closely.

Lynell’s hands shake. She drops her face in them, pushing out a breath in the hopes of ridding her body of guilt.

It doesn’t work.

It’s been a few hours, and Lynell has seen no one but two sets of guards. Until Eric storms in, his face bright red and the letter crumpled in his fist. Lynell jumps, scrambling up from the floor as fear thunders under her skin.

“It’s fake!” he yells.

She shakes her head. “No, it’s—” Her words are cut off when he hits her. She manages to catch herself on the wall to keep from falling this time. Blood covers her tongue.

“What’s the code? Tell me the code!”

She would if she could. But they never figured it out.

He grabs her hair and rips her head back, causing her to scream. His lips are so close that she can feel the breath of his next words against her ear.

“You’ll regret this.” Then he abruptly lets go and storms out of the room.

She’s not left alone for long. Reggie saunters in, wearing tight latex gloves and carrying a black bag. No Arnold, Lynell notices with a ghost of relief.

“Did you miss me?” Reggie asks. He drops the bag to the floor and zips it open. “How should we play today?”

Icy, numbing fear flushes through her system.

Reggie hums thoughtfully. Lynell hears him drop something back into the bag. “I say we start small.”

Against her better judgment, she looks his way. He’s grinning, holding a pair of pliers. “You’re right-handed, correct?”

She tries to scramble away, and he easily hauls her onto the wire bed and begins strapping her down. Her left hand stays free, and the broken fingers throb in anticipation when Reggie grabs her forearm and positions the pliers in front of her fingers. “Anything you want to say? Anything about a letter or a code?”

Fear propels the words from her mouth. “It was real.” She shakes when Reggie clamps the pliers down on her thumbnail. “I swear, I already told you, I—” Her stammering morphs into a scream when Reggie pulls.

After Reggie grows bored with the pliers, he brings out a device that sends waves of shocks through Lynell’s body. It doesn’t take long for her to pass out. Her dreams carry her into the past and deposit her in a small room with her mother. She watches the memory play out like a movie.