The Almighty Dominance (by Sunshine) novel Chapter 706

The Commander walked Rael Rydell out of the Knight Office himself. Dawn light cut across the steps. Six knights formed a corridor of white tabards. Rael’s legs were still splinted. He moved like a man who had already won.

“We will see you home,” the Commander said.

Rael smiled with blood still dried in the corner of his mouth. “You should. And Febyella will be returned tomorrow morning. Clean. Unharmed. As agreed.”

The Commander did not answer. He only nodded to the waiting flyer. When the vehicle lifted and cleared the courtyard wall, the Commander turned, tile already at his ear.

“I have sent him home. Exactly as instructed.”

Beatrix’s voice came back flat. “Thank you. We take it from here.”

Rael laughed the entire flight. The sound bounced off the flyer’s glass. Fifty million. That was the number. She would hand it over, or the girl stayed buried.

He had the city by the throat again. The knights had folded. The chairman’s people had folded. Everyone folded eventually.

The flyer set down on the front drive of Rydell House. Rael stepped out into the dark. No lights burned in the windows. He limped up the steps, still smiling.

“Mother. Leon. Daughter. Why is no one welcoming me?”

Two shapes peeled from the shadows on either side of the door. Hard hands locked around his upper arms. The grip was professional—no wasted force, no room to twist.

A low voice spoke near his left ear. “Tell us where you put Febyella Steinmeyer. Talk now and you walk away with only bruises.”

Rael’s smile died. “Who are you? You think this works? Touch me and she dies. My men have orders. One wrong move and the girl stops breathing. You understand that?”

The bigger of the two men answered without heat. “Fine. Silence works too. Talking would only make the next part easier for you.”

“I will never—”

A third man stepped in from the dark and pressed a strip of heavy tape across Rael’s mouth in one clean motion. The adhesive burned. Rael tried to shout. Only a muffled animal sound came out.

They dragged him through the front hall and into the living room.

The lights were already on.

Marta Rydell sat in a high-backed wooden chair. Leon sat in the one beside her. A young woman—Rael’s daughter—occupied the third. Thick tape bound their wrists to the armrests, their ankles to the legs, their chests to the backs. Their eyes were wide and wet. None of them spoke when Rael was forced to his knees in the center of the carpet.

The big man stood in front of the three chairs and addressed the room as if delivering a formal report.

“This man kidnapped Febyella Steinmeyer. He refuses to say where she is. He thinks that makes him clever.”

He snapped his fingers once.

Three more men stepped out from behind the chairs. Each carried a heavy iron nail and a short-handled hammer. They worked without conversation.

One nail was set against the soft underside of Marta’s right forearm, just above the wrist where the tape left a thin strip of skin. The hammer rose and fell.

The sound was wet and final.

Marta’s scream tore through the tape on her own mouth. Leon’s body jerked hard enough to rock the chair. The daughter’s eyes rolled white.

“Father—please—just tell them!” Leon’s voice cracked on the second word. “Tell them where she is!”

Rael stared. The tape over his mouth turned every protest into a strangled grunt. He lunged against the hands holding him. They did not move.

Rael’s muffled scream was different from the others. Higher. Rawer.

The second nail followed. Then the pliers came for his own fingernails. One. Two. Three. The pain arrived in clean, separate waves. Each one larger than the last. Blood ran down his wrists and soaked the sleeves of the dressing gown he had worn out of the Knight Office only an hour earlier.

When the last fingernail tore free, Rael’s eyes were streaming. He stared at the big man and made the only sound the tape allowed—a broken, continuous moan that shaped itself into words only he could hear.

I will tell you. I will tell you where she is. Just stop.

The big man crouched so their faces were level. He peeled the tape from Rael’s mouth in one slow pull. Skin came with it.

Rael’s voice was wrecked. “I will tell you. The house—east of the marsh line—the old mill road—third turning—I will give you the exact—”

The big man put a finger to Rael’s lips.

“We don’t care where Febyella is.”

Rael blinked. Blood ran into his eye.

“We were never here for the location,” the man continued. “We are here to take you apart. All of you. Until there is nothing left that remembers how to scream.”

He stood and nodded to the man with the pliers.

“Teeth next. One by one. Until the set is empty.”

The first molar came free with a sound like wet wood splitting. Rael’s body arched. The scream that left him had no words left in it at all.

In the high chairs, three people watched and could not look away.