Page 26 of Tyrant

I keep my mouth shut. At the end of the day here, my father is part of thelegion. I have to mind my respect and listen to my orders. This is part of thePerg. You are broken down and left with no emotion. It’s the only way the rich and powerful can survive. You have to learn how to hurt people and not think twice. That includes women.

“Let Peri go,” I say. “I took the shot without him knowing or even seeing. I was walking away from the whore and pulled the trigger.”

“This was after you stomped on her head, gagging her with thetarget’sdick?”

“You really think thattargethad much of a cock to offer?”

My smug comment gets a low chuckle from the others in the room.

“Perilous, confirm or deny,” my father says loudly.

“Confirm,Sir,” Peri says. “I was there. Part of it. Do not let me off the hook easily,Sir.”

Fucking idiot, I think to myself.

“You don’t want to roll over onTyrant? Leave him to suffer alone?”

“No,Sir,” Peri says. “A brood works together. Rise and fall. Always.”

My father’s jaw flexes and he nods. The other men release Peri and then quickly pick him up. His gold coin is taken away and he’s removed from thePerg.

“Lift your head and look me in the eyes,” I’m ordered by my father.

I lift my head. Our eyes meet. I hate the fucking idea that this man created me. That this man had a torrid affair with some poor, innocent woman, wanting to ruin her fucking life, but accidentally left behind a load of cum near her uterus that turned into me. But here we are.

I move my eyes and look at Luc.

“What’s wrong,Brother?” I ask. “Can’t handle this yourself? You need to call in yourdaddy?”

Luc jumps to his feet. My father punches me in the stomach so hard, I lose my breath and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Des comes toward me, eager to add to the punishment, but my father puts his left arm out, stopping anything else.

“The prostitute you killed without approval was an informant,” my father says.

“So I did you a favor. Are you here to thank me?”

“A fucking informant,” my father growls. “Alive, we could have controlled her and the situation. But dead? Now it’s deep.Our contacts believe they think someone knew about her status. They’re sniffing around,Tyrant. Sniffing everywhere.”

I don’t speak.

“The entire thing was fucked from the moment it began. It should have been called off.”

My father turns his head.

Ah, right. This one is on the guy sitting on the throne.

“But you know better,” my father says, looking at me again. “An extra body is never acceptable. It’s a fucking mess.”

“I already said what I had to say. Multiple times. Cut out my tongue? Cut off my hand? I’m standing here to accept punishment.”

“You’re standing here because you were told to do so.” My father reaches forward and grabs my mouth. “Although it would be a nice souvenir to have the tongue of one of my son’s in my pocket. But… no…”

My father releases his hold and slaps my face.

“You’ve been assigned to the new arrival, correct?”

“Yes,” I say.

“You’re going to break her in the way a new arrival is meant to be broken in,” my father says. “Then you’re going to hand her over to Des.”

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