Chapter 4Waiting for the Devil to Grow Up

Lily had been thrown to her death.

Every single bone in her torso and limbs was shattered. Only her head remained intact. The investigators theorized she had been dropped from a terrifying height dozens of times. Every time she was thrown, the killer had deliberately held her by the head so only her fragile body struck the ground.

She was conscious. She felt every single second of that unimaginable agony.

The killer was an eight year old boy. And the law could not touch him.

"Jared took a payout from the boy's family. They bought his silence, and the case was closed," Sarah sobbed, her fingers digging into my coat. "But I can't let it go, Elena. She was just a baby. There has to be some kind of justice in this world."

I stood frozen in that filthy alley. It felt like invisible ropes were binding my arms while arrows pierced my chest. I could see the arrows flying toward me, but I could not dodge, could not run, could only stand there and bleed.

Every bone in her body.

How much did that hurt? I could not even fathom it. I remembered fracturing a single finger once and crying for hours from the throbbing pain. How did my sweet, helpless Lily endure that?