Page 58 of Tainted Reasoning

“There will be time for questions later, Earl Lullington. Our business here is concluded, now,” the man speaks and steps forward with a note for my brother. He also hands my brother back his gun. “I suspect you have reinforcements on the way. I’ll allow them to do the clean-up operation.” The man whistles, and everyone leaves the room. Lord West suddenly realizes he’s free and scrambles to get to his feet. Nicholas is quicker, though, and points the gun at him.

“Back down.”

Lord West’s eyes are filled with menace, and my brother’s are laced with confusion but also determination. Lord West understands this and gets back down onto his knees in the center of the room.

“I think I want to see what’s going on here.”

My brother keeps his eyes and gun trained on West but comes over to me. He drops the note into my hands.

“If you would, Brother.”

I open it and read it aloud.

“I’m afraid I couldn’t wait for you to play heroes this time. There will be other opportunities, though. This isn’t over yet. Take care of my daughters, both of them. They are not Lord West’s to destroy. Viscount Hamilton.”

“Viscount Hamilton,” Nicholas repeats. “They were his men?”

Lord West snorts.

“Seems the old man got one up on you.”

Nicholas strides forward and uses the barrel of the gun to smack him over the head. I turn my attention back to Tamara.

“What did he do to you? Apart from this.” I stroke her tufted hair.

She lowers the sheet a little to bare her breast. It’s inflamed and blackened. The skin burned on the tip.

“Lower?”

“Yes,” she whimpers. I shut my eyes, trying to keep hold of my control. “Let the monster out,” she pleads with me. My eyes flash open, and she turns her head toward the corner of the room. In the shadows under a table, I can just about make out a figure.

“He had her here. One of the missing girls.”

“Joanna?” Nicholas asks.

“No,” Tamara replies. “The one you believed your father killed, Daphne Knight.”

“Shit!” Nicholas exclaims. “You’re a sick fuck.” He whacks West again, and the man slumps to the floor. Nicholas stomps over toward the girl and whimpered pleas can be heard coming from the shadows. They turn into song, and it sends shivers down my spine. Nicholas grabs a lamp from a nearby table and points it down, so he can see the girl. What we find there is not the Daphne Knight I saw sold that day at the auction. She’s lost an eye, and the socket is infected and inflamed. Her hair is shaved short. She has scars, cuts, and bruises all over her body, and several of her fingers are missing. Her leg is at an odd angle, obviously, having been broken at some point and not allowed to heal properly.

“No, no, no, no,” she sings. It’s obvious that the young girl she once was has completely gone. I know in my heart there’s no hope for her.

“Daphne.” Nicholas motions for her to come to him. She shakes her head.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“It hurts already.”

“I know it does.” He keeps his voice even and low. I pull Tamara close to my chest. She doesn’t need to see this.

“He said it would stop one day, and the angels would come and take me to heaven. Just like the baby he beat from me. Just like the parts of my body he took already. He won’t kill me, though. He said that would be too easy. I’m one of the special girls. I can withstand anything for the society, but I don’t want to anymore. I want to sleep, but I’ve forgotten how.”

I can see how visibly shaken my brother is. He’s always blamed himself for these girls. They were given to him, and Daphne was one of the one’s he didn’t choose.

“Come to me, Daphne. The angels are here. I can see them. Tamara starts to squirm in my arms. She realizes what Nicholas is about to do.

“He can’t,” she whimpers into my chest.

“It’s the only way. That’s not a human anymore. It’s no life. Trust me, I know.”

I don’t look as the gun goes off behind us, but I know Daphne has finally found her peace. Tamara lets out a cry of loss.

“Do you want this, Brother?” Nicholas asks, indicating toward Lord West who remains semi-conscious on the floor.

“No. Just end him. I want to take Tamara home.”

Nicholas strides purposefully over to West and kicks him until he starts to stir. He doesn’t give him any last words, or prayers for redemption in heaven or hell. No, he fires the gun twice. The first shot destroys that piece of his anatomy he was so proud of. The second is straight between his eyes and ends his pitiful existence.

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