Page 117 of Tyrant

Danielle… who apparently is Tyrant’s wife…

My head is now throbbing.

“Pick her up,” my stepmother says. “Take the tape off her too. She’s not going anywhere. This is a soundproof bomb shelter.”

That’s why the room gave me a sense of déjà vu. My father had this room built in case of an emergency. He brought me down here one time, just to show me. When I was much younger.

“I’ll keep this simple, Serafina,” my stepmother says. “There’s a saying that goes something about a person being worth more dead than alive… that was your father. And that’s you.”

She smiles at me. She’s been evil since the moment I met her.

I just really never thought for a second she would actually try to kill me.

“Oh, you poor thing,”my stepmother says to me as she touches a towel to my head, collecting blood.

My legs have been freed but my hands haven’t been yet. I want to hit her so bad yet I want to know everything. Then again, what does it even matter?

Danielle stabbed Tyrant right in the back. I saw him, face down, the knife in his back. And he was gone. Right now my life truly has no purpose.

“What’s the point of this?” I whisper. “Money? My father’s money? You received how much when he died?”

“Money only goes so far in life, Serafina,” my stepmother says. “There’s a bigger purpose. A bigger picture. Come here. Let me get this tape off your wrists.”

My stepmother looks back at Danielle.

“What?” Danielle snaps.

“You couldn’t let this play out, could you? You had to fuck things up. I knew you were going to fuck things up.”

“I listened to him fucking her ass!” Danielle cries out. “Then he confessed his love to her and said he wants her forever!”

My cheeks are now red-hot. My stepmother looks at me. Judging me.

“Really, Serafina? You let some man do that to you?”

“How do you two know each other?” I whisper. “Tell me everything. Why…”

My chin quivers. My stepmother hugs me. She pulls me in and for a second I catch myself almost resting my head on her shoulder. I quickly back away and spit in my stepmother’s face.

“You little bitch,” she says.

“See what I mean?” Danielle asks. “She’s insane. She’s not like you said!”

“Apparently Tyrant didn’t break you but built you up,” my stepmother says. “You know, for a second or two here, I’m feeling a little bit of pride in you, Serafina. Where was this your entire life? We could have been having so much fun together!”

“Did you kill my father?” I ask.

Oh, I’ve wanted to ask that question for a long time. My stepmother looks me in the eyes but does not answer the question.

“Hey, what are we doing here?” Danielle asks. “We still have a plan in place. Right?”

“You think this will work the way you wanted it to now?” My stepmother winks at me and looks back at Danielle. “You really pushed things forward too hard and too fast. You left Tyrant for dead. Have you communicated with Des yet?”

“Been dealing with your daughter.”

“I don’t have a daughter,” my stepmother says.

“And my mother died a long time ago,” I say. “And my grieving father brought some uselesscuntinto the family.”

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