Page 4 of Body Tox

I forced a yawn and continued filing down my fucked up nail. The fat fuck from last night chipped my gel nail polish. It was getting more and more tedious to recover from the mistakes before my father saw the imperfections.

“Perhaps you should hire better employees, father? Ones who won’t run off.”

Of course, the sniveling men were gone after being sliced into beautiful ribbons with my blade. I looked over lovingly at myjewelry box, where my gold knife lay in the secret compartment. My fingers itched to play with my blood-thirsty toy.

Last night, the man wasn’t enough to scratch the itch that my gold blade needed. It was a few hours before he started to fade. I needed a challenge, a true competition.

Why wouldn’t anyone worthy play with me?

“You are doing something that has them fearful of returning,” my father accused.

“I have not spoken a single word to them, father.” That wasn’t a lie.

I didn’t waste time speaking to these meat bags. I only did one thing. Played with my little toys and carved new material for my mask.

The skin of the man was drying out nicely. I would be able to sew his patch of flesh onto my disguise soon enough.

Blood for blood...

“You are a tiresome child. I cannot do my job if you won’t let me ensure your safety.”

I smirked in the mirror as I began twisting my white hair into an intricate knot on the top of my head.

“Have you ever considered that I can take care of myself?”

“No. Because I will not leave it to chance!” Dear old Daddy sighed dramatically, scrubbing his liver-spotted hand down his face. “You know that my career has cost your mother her life, and I will see to it that it doesn’t cost your life as well.”

What life?

I was locked up here like a pretty ornament to stare at my fucking balcony. I was never let out of this hell hole unless escorted by the mindless meatheads my father hired to protect me. Even then, I was never allowed to go anywhere. The idiots couldn’t follow most of my movements even with the help of their shared CCTV footage.

I paused my makeup routine, the blood-red lipstick hovering in my hand.

The rouge color pulled me back to the moment when I saw the red blood from my mother on that damn black-tiled floor on the grounds of our estate. Red was everywhere, smeared, dripping, and puddled like someone had gone crazy with paint—but it was also the year my father turned into an unhinged protector. He would not cease to keep me caged in my damn room because he couldn’t admit he was the reason she was dead.

What my father hadn’t known was that he lost me that night, too. My soul left me in that darkness, leaving in its place a hollow shell.

I’d watched my mother die.

I’d watched as her innocence was taken from her, and I couldn’t forget the sounds of her screams as they echoed through our home. When the window exploded, I had been hiding in my pantry, sneaking some late-night snacks. I heard glass shattering, and it sounded a lot like the window.

I couldn’t move or breathe when the men desecrated the woman who raised me.

After that night, I’d spent years looking for those men. There were three. Three men who took my mother and tortured her. Three men who would become part of my mask, forever silencing them like they silenced her.

Blood for blood. Stitch by stitch, I will find them.

“Please, Echo,” my father said, jarring me from my thoughts of the past. “I cannot lose you too.”

I finished smearing the blood-red color onto my lips and stood.

“Very well, Daddy. I will behave.”

The old man seemed to relax. His shoulders visibly lowered, and his hunched back appeared to straighten.

“You will meet your new guard at Palazzo at noon. He will have a black iris on the table and will be wearing a white tie. I fear I have a conference to attend so I will not be there, but this man has the very best references. Amazing reviews…please don’t screw this up.”

I refrained from snorting at my father’s wording. Somehow hearing your dad say screwed was disgusting at any age. Daddy’s idea of references was made-up shit, like helping at food pantries and wrapping gifts for needy homeless people. This man, no doubt, was just as stupid and useless as the others. No matter. I had to keep this one alive for a while to keep the old fuck off my trail.

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