Page 83 of Counting Quarters

Chapter Thirty Five

Kyle

RayneralreadyhadMillie and Ma tied up and gagged on the edge of mine and Blaire’s spring by the time I caught up to them. The men who carried them here were gone. The kids were nowhere to be found, thankfully. Though, I couldn't be sure if that was a good thing.

“You came,” his low voice purred from behind me.

I swung around and found him leaning against the willow tree.

He looked different. Even from last year, his face had changed. Any shred of the innocent teenager who was just trying to avenge his father’s death was long gone, and in its place was a complete and utter lunatic.

The power had gone to his head. It had already gone to his head on the night he killed Bonnie and walked away as a free man. Back then, I'd wanted to kill him for tearing my family apart. Now, I wanted to do much worse. I wanted him to watch as I destroyed everything he worked toward all these years. I wanted him to pay for threatening the life I built in the wreckage he created.

There was so much history between us, it was hard to nail down the true reason I wanted to tear him apart where he stood. I just knew that I wanted to.

“You didn’t leave me much of a choice,” I said, extending my hand toward my sister and mom, who had begun thrashing around on the ground at the sound of my voice.

“Ah, yes. I figured I should end this the way it began: with your family. Although, these days, that looks a little different, doesn’t it?” He pushed off the tree and strolled toward me. “You truly can’t stand the people you were born from, can you? Poor little Kyle, always searching for some way out of the slums.”

A malicious laugh erupted from those thin, pale lips, and it floated over toward me, dancing around tauntingly.

“Just let them go, Ray.”

“I'm not done with them. Not yet.”

“This makes you no better than those Quarter assholes who killed your dad and kidnapped your brother.”

Rayner spent most of his life thinking they killed his brother, too. We discovered last year, after Rhyse took over for his father, that Rayner's brother had been Silas Forbes’ Counter. He was chained up underground in the Forbes mansion to feed Silas’ powers. That was how Rayner got Silas to work with him—he was too afraid to lose his Counter and his gifts.

Even when he was set free, Rayner’s brother refused to find him, too disgusted with what he had done in the time he was gone. What he became.

“Yeah, but you have to admit, it works. Look how distracted you are with them flailing around over there.”

A wicked laugh, and then he moved his hand to call someone forward. There was a rustling in the foliage off to the left before Doris stepped into the clearing.

I watched in complete horror as she walked over to my family—people who trusted her completely—and shoved her foot into Ma's back.

Ma cried out and Millie threw her body around, trying like hell to slam into Doris and knock her off her feet to release the pressure.

Rayner watched me closely for a reaction that I refused to give. Instead, I remained still on my feet, mentally cataloging every ounce of torture I was going to inflict on these two sadistic assholes when this was all over. I just needed to bide my time until the Quarters came.

“Remember Doris? She worked hard to be the perfect candidate for Mommy's little boy to hire and delegate his moral responsibility onto. You were so desperate not to be around her, you practically begged Doris to help.”

Doris lifted her chin and smiled proudly, as if she were accepting an award for her performance. A pet basking in the praise of her owner.

“Oh, cheer up, Kyle. It's all in good fun.”

He cocked his head at Doris, silently commanding her to step away. When she did, Millie wormed her way beside our laboring Ma.

“What is your plan, then? Let the whole town kill each other? How do you benefit from that?”

“They won’t all kill each other. I just need the Quarters out of my way. Then, when they’re all gone and there’s no one left to save the pathetic people of Beacon Grove, I’ll swoop in and offer them refuge.”

He looked at his nails distractedly, as if we were having a simple conversation about the weather instead of debating the lives of hundreds of people who were currently fighting against one another. My gaze swung to Ma and Millie, who had temporarily quieted down now that they were left alone.

“Although,” Rayner started, stealing my attention back. He truly loved to hear himself talk. “Blaire Granger as a Quarter sure took me as a surprise. She’s proven to be quite the girl, eh?”

A devilish smirk appeared. “I suppose what they say about redheads is true, then?”

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