Page 79 of Emperor of Lust

Prescott answers instantly. “Because if the guy was going to drive drunk off a cliff, there’d have been atleastone other drunk kid in the car with him.”

Shit.

I guess Takeshi didn’t think about that.

“Anyway,” Prescott swallows. “Senator Donahue and his wife came to me and Ed. Like, they had questions, same as us.”

“And?”

He looks away. “We…told them about that night.”

My teeth grind.

“Who filmed the video.”

Prescott gives me a weak look. “Please,” he whispers. “I mean, we were all kids?—”

“Who.”

His face turns the sort of shade that tells me the answer before he grows the balls to spit it out.

“I did,” he whispers.

I nod slowly, turning to grab the spare pillow from the chair behind me. Prescott’s eyes go wide.

“Woah, hang on!” he cries anxiously. “You said?—”

“I said I was going to ask you some questions, and you were going to answer them. Thanks for that, incidentally,” I growl. I cock my head at him. “Prescott, do you have any children?”

His brow furrows. “W-what?”

“Kids. Children. Offspring.Heirs,” I hiss. “Do you have any.”

It’s the one thing that might spare him tonight. What can I say, I hate turning kids into orphans.

Prescott shivers as he shakes his head side to side. “N-no?”

“That’s too bad.”

He does scream, briefly. But the pillow swallows it as I press it down over his face. He fights me as best he can for a minute, batting weakly at my arms as his legs kick and squirm.

I don’t do anything but watch. I evenlaughat one point, just to make it that much more poetic. Eventually, he stops struggling and goes still.

Guess he and Sarah won’t be having that awkward conversation after all.

When I stepout of the hospital, the city around me feels sharper, clearer. I pull out my phone and dial Freya. She picks up on the second ring, her voice a mix of surprise and weariness.

“Hello, favorite cousin,” I say, my tone almost pleasant.

She sighs. “Only cousin. The word you’re looking for isonly.”

I grin. “Who says it can’t be both?”

She chuckles quietly, and I can hear the click-clacking of her laptop keyboard in the background, which means she’s probably working. “What do you want, D?”

“Can you trace a number for me?”

Freya laughs wryly. “I’m a superhero, Damian. I can do anything.”

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