The axe forgets but the tree remembers - AFRICAN PROVERB

She couldn't go through with this. She just couldn't.

Darkness.

Pain.

A laughing boy with bright green eyes.

I am not going to die in here. I won't.

She was tired, her arms ached and her body was on fire. The high-tensile rope dug into her wrists as she tried to relieve the pain by standing on her toes. But she was too weak and the effort left her feeling more drained. After days of being deprived of sleep, food, and water, she felt more than a little crazed and on the verge of death.

Only the thought of somehow escaping from this hell hole and killing Cam kept her from giving up completely.

"Welcome to hell, Ms. Cat Rhodes. Oops, it's Ms. Catrina Banning, isn't it?" Cam murmured in her ear threateningly. "Good that you're finally awake. Now we may continue."

Cam. The whoreson who'd ruined her life and killed her family. The only people she had loved and cared for.

Gone forever.

Because of him.

Evil wore a snazzy, grey three-piece suit with shiny, black Brogue Oxfords. The blonde, blue-eyed devil laughed in her face.

Twenty-eight years old, conventionally handsome and known as the Merchant of Destruction and Death, even hardened criminals didn't dare cross him. For the outside world, he was a cunning investment banker and a ruthless businessman. With his fondness for three-piece Savile Row suits, legendary charm, and powerful influence, he forced people to do dark and unspeakable crimes. Dealing in everything from information to weapons and drugs and even child trafficking he was the facilitator for criminals across the East Coast. Ruthless and intelligent, he ran his operation independent of the Mafia and other Most Wanted international criminals.

The last thing she remembered before being knocked out by one of Cam's men was being in his study. She'd been trying to plant a newly developed low-frequency emitting listening device.

"What did you think was going to happen? You came here and proved yourself to be an accomplished hacker, earned my trust, and made it to my inner circle by proving my right-hand man Ben was a traitor. Was he really, Ms. Banning?" Cam pulled on her hair roughly making her sit upright.

"Answer me," He roared.

She continued looking up at him defiantly.

"It's going to be fun breaking that strong spirit, Ms. Banning."

"Try your best, asshole."

She had infiltrated the inner ranks of Cam's operation and been so close to uncovering proof about his reality as a terrorist and criminal. To the rest of the world, he may be a highly successful investment banker moving in elite circles. But she knew the truth.

He was a monster.

Cam had somehow found out about her true identity at the last minute. She'd figured out that it had been bad timing on her part. Cam was so paranoid and suspicious that he swept his own offices for bugs before meetings. Some were held in parks and public places while others at out-of-the-way isolated locations. It had been tough to gain his trust and play the part of a soulless, mercenary, amoral hacker but she had done it.

After months of hard work and numerous targets she didn't want to think about Cat had finally been allowed into the inner sanctum. As she had sneaked inside his office to plant the device that wouldn't show up on his bug checks Cam had returned unexpectedly when he was supposed to have been on a plane to London. Despite having been so careful, the devil had his own luck.

If only, she could have planted that bug a little earlier when an arms deal had gone down between a corrupt Chinese official and Cam, she would have gotten him.  Now that she had been captured she had to find a way to send out an SOS to Max.

Or escape on my own. Live to fight another day.

But the weakness in her limbs combined with the utter hopelessness and fatigue she felt in her body made her think that she would never be able to extract her pound of flesh from the devil standing before her.

"You can do anything you want to me, Cam. But you'll be blown to bits and pieces before you get anything out of me."

"Your attitude is to be commended, Ms. Banning. I didn't realize the government had started to pay so well for loyalty."

"Fuck you, Cam. You know as well as I do that it's never been about any ICE agenda."

"Yes, yes it's all about revenge and destruction with you. How positively tiresome and archaic." He laughed maniacally as he pulled on the ropes that tied her hands and her eft joint popped out of the socket. She didn't even have the energy left to scream as her vision grew hazy with tears and numbing pain.

Don't fight it. Just lean into the pain. It'll all be over. Soon.

"But just imagine Ms. Banning, the profit we could reap if you just agreed to work your magic and get me those security plans for the Financial Summit."

"Yes, yes it's all about mayhem and chaos with you. How utterly predictable, Cam. C'mon get on with it," She smirked as blood dripped down from her arms to splash on the floor.

"You'll pay for that mocking tone, Ms. Banning. Oh, you most definitely will."

The ropes binding her were suddenly cut and she let out a startled yelp as she fell to her knees. Cat's numb arms started coming back to life with the downward flow of her life's force. But she hadn't even come to terms with the biting sensation when suddenly her head was yanked back by her hair.

"Now, Ms. Banning if you want to stay trussed up like a pig before the butcher, I have time. Let's see what happens in a few more hours, shall we?"

"Fuck off, asshole."

"You know I remember Cynthia being just like you. Spirited and unbreakable," He swiped a finger across her lips when she bit him.

"Bitch," He slapped her across the cheek and her head pounded with the force of the blow as she tasted liquid iron.

She spat out the blood pooled in her mouth, "You should just get this over with, you bastard. Because I promise you, if you leave me alive I will kill you." She burned with hatred as nausea churned inside her stomach and her heart galloped with hearing him call her mother's name.

"As you wish. But remember, Ms. Banning I gave you the option to be co-operative," He looked up to a man standing in the corner of the decrepit warehouse and motioned for him to come closer.

"See that you take good care of her, Mike like you did Cynthia. Ah, she was a fine one." He chuckled under his breath as Cat was pulled up and swayed on the verge of consciousness. "But her hands are especially...precious. Do not mistake me, Ms. Banning. You will pay for your betrayal and stupidity."

"So should I start with the left or right?" Mike traced his knife's edge along her eyelids down to her arms.

"Cat, have any opinions, where Mike should start carving out the proof of your betrayal?" Cam drawled as she continued to stare defiantly up at him.

"Oh, my dear, it's going to be a pleasure to break you."