Captive Souls

My job is to break Piper Matthews.

But to leave her breathing afterward.

An important distinction, since I don't walk away from a job without blood on my hands.

That's how I like it. How it needs to be.

I'm comfortable with death. Pain. Cruelty.

No conscience troubled me when I took Piper Matthews deep into the Appalachian woods, intending on fracturing her mind, destroying her.

I never imagined she would destroy me instead.

With her smile. Her laughter. Her forgiving heart that isn't mine to take...