Page 218 of I Will Mend You

Father crumples to the floor and sobs, his shoulders heaving with each wretched sound. I turn to Amethyst, our gazes meeting in a moment of shared triumph. Satisfaction glitters within their green depths. I take her hand and bring it to my lips.

“Is it time?” I ask.

She gives me an eager nod.

“Inform all the operatives. Tell the maintenance team to bring the chair.”

As she leaves the chamber, I approach Father’s trembling form. Sobs wrack his broken body, echoing across the stone walls. I pick up his chain and drag him toward the projection screen, which rises to reveal a second chamber.

Taking pride of place in its center is an electric chair.

Father recoils with a scream. “Don’t do this, Xero. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Ignoring him, I hurl his carcass onto the wooden seat and secure the straps around his wrists. He kicks and thrashes, his screams echoing across the walls.

The maintenance team enters, pushing along a cart carrying a high voltage generator. It hums to life with an ominous drone that makes my spine tingle with anticipation. As I secure the electrode cap on Father’s head, the chamber fills with operatives, who form a semi-circle around the chair.

Father jerks backward in his seat, his eyes widening. “I can’t die yet. We have unfinished business.”

“We’ve stripped your bank accounts, killed your investors and accomplices, exposed your members, destroyed your former partners, liquidated your businesses, and divided your personal assets among your illegitimate children.”

“No…” he moans.

“We took your teeth, nipples, and genitals.”

A few people in the crowd of operatives chuckle, but it’s drowned out by Father’s screams. “But I didn’t tell you about the organ business.”

“Charlotte already bartered that intel in exchange for a quick death,” I say, my lip curling.

Father convulses, his eyes darting with disbelief. “She lied.”

The information she gave us was incomplete, but we tracked down the ringleaders of Father’s organ trafficking ring to a warehouse in New Jersey, where we found cells containing eighteen former child assassins. They, along with the others, are now in our safe houses, receiving therapy.

I place my hands on his bony shoulders and gaze into his tear-filled eyes. “Any final words before we dispatch you to hell?”

“Sorry,” he cries, his features twisting with anguish. “Please, just give me another chance.”

Amethyst pushes her way through the crowd and stops at my side. Camila joins us with Isabel, Jynxson, and a few other boys who were at the underground facility when I was young.

Father’s gaze snaps to Isabel. “You can’t condone this. I never hurt you. You’re a medic.”

Isabel spits in his face and walks away.

Camila approaches Father and punches him in the jaw. His head snaps backward, his metal cap hitting the back of his chair with a clang.

I turn to the operatives. “Each of you has a chance to say goodbye to Delta. No more head injuries.”

Stepping back, I wrap an arm around Amethyst’s shoulder. She leans into my side and sighs.

“Are you ready for him to die?” she asks.

“His ending is the second thing I want most in the world.”

She directs her pretty green eyes to me, making my breath hitch. “What’s the first?”

I drop my gaze to her soft, pink lips, hungering for another taste. “You. It’s always been you.”

A radiant smile spreads across her delicate features that makes my heart soar. Holding onto my shoulder, she rises up to her tiptoes for a kiss. The warmth of her touch and the gentle press of her lips against mine drowns out the chaos of the operatives taking turns with Father.

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