Page 63 of Twisted Empire

I forced my hands and arms to twitch and tremble as if I were truly coming down from a six-month-long drug binge. “I wasn’t going to come back. I figured you’d all want me dead. But then I killed her.” I shook my head and scrubbed a hand across my face. “I know I betrayed you and the rest of the society, but I can’t go to fucking prison. I just can’t. Please help me one more time. Please.”

He ignored my pathetic begging. “Where is she?”

I nodded to the van, and he barked orders at the guards to check her.

One of them slid the door open. The other climbed inside and crouched over Tatum. His nose wrinkled in disgust at the stench of old blood. “Christ,” he muttered, putting one hand over his nose and mouth.

The thick jacket Tatum was wearing was enough to stop him from seeing her chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths. At least I hoped it was. The whole time he was near her, I felt like I was about to have a fucking heart attack.

He pressed two fingers to her neck. From the corner of my eye, I could see my father’s gaze darting from me to the supposed corpse and back again. I stared stonily ahead, not allowing my nervousness to show.

The guard jumped out of the van and shook his head. “She’s cold, and I can’t feel a pulse. Might just be weak, though.”

“Why do you say that?” my father asked sharply.

He shrugged. “I thought I felt something for a split-second, but then it went away. I probably imagined it, but I dunno.”

“Do a sternum rub,” the other guard said, making a fist and moving it up and down in the air to demonstrate. “My brother’s a paramedic. He said they do that sometimes to make sure people aren’t faking shit.”

The guard got back in and leaned over Tatum. He clenched his right hand and rubbed his knuckles over her chest in several hard and fast motions. She didn’t move. The powerful sedative coursing through her veins ensured it.

“Yeah, I think she’s dead,” he said, putting his hand back over his mouth again. “Jesus, that fucking blood…”

The other guard looked at my father. “Sir? What do you want us to do with her?”

He held up a hand. “Give me a minute,” he said coldly. He turned to me. “Do you have any idea how badly you fucked up when you took her and left?” he said, lowering his voice so that only I could hear.

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed. “If you were any other member, you’d have a bullet in your head right now.”

“So you aren’t going to kill me?”

He rubbed his chin and fell silent for a moment. “No,” he finally said. “We can spin this. It was just a sick joke. A large-scale prank against the rest of the society. We’ll say you wanted your own hunt, all to yourself. So we set the whole thing up. Towne’s stabbing was part of it. A trick, like the fake stabbing we do at the final trial. I’ll pay him to go along with it and admit his part in the scheme.”

My brows rose. “Wait, he survived?”

My father’s upper lip curled. “Yes, luckily for you. We wouldn’t be able to pay him off to pretend it was all part of the plan if he was actually dead, would we?”

“Guess not. Thanks for helping me, Dad,” I said, dipping my head in faux appreciation. “I know I don’t deserve it.”

“No, you don’t. And if you think things are going to go back to normal after this, you’re sorely mistaken. I don’t even know what the hell will make me trust you again at this point.” He shook his head and sighed, like I was simply a naughty child who’d been caught with one hand in the cookie jar.

“I understand.”

He looked back at me, and his eyes narrowed again. “Then obviously you’ll also understand that you can never be on any Crown and Dagger properties alone again, including this one. I’ll always be around to monitor you.”

“I know. I get it. You can’t trust me around the girls anymore.”

“That’s right.” He leaned in closer. “I never thought I’d have to say this to you, but here it is: one more fuck-up and I’ll put the bullet in your head myself. I really, really don’t want to do it, given that you’re my only son, so don’t fucking push me. Don’t squander this last chance I’ve given you.”

Cold seeped into my blood at his words. His true colors were showing again. “I won’t.”

He smiled, as if threatening his beloved son with death was perfectly normal. “I’m going to send you to a rehabilitation facility as soon as possible. I’ve heard good things about one in Boston.”

“I don’t need rehab,” I said. “I’ll just stop taking all the shit. Now that she’s gone, I don’t even crave it.” I jerked my thumb toward Tatum as I spoke.

He pressed his lips together. “I’ll be the judge of whether you need rehab or not. You know this little stunt you pulled got Henry Davenport killed, don’t you?” he said, tilting his head to the side.

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