Page 71 of Tyrant

Ty…

I curl my lip and don’t speak. In all fairness, I haven’t been asked to speak.

Luc’s eyes meet mine. He wants me to let the Des situation go. There’s no proof that he drugged Serafina. On top of that, nothing bad happened to her. In fact, you could make the case that her being drugged just proved my commitment to being herace. Ensuring her safety. And I’m sure that’s exactly how Des would throw it out there if he were charged with drugging her.

Here in thePergwe abide by an entirely different set of laws than common society.

“Orders have been given to the rest,” Luc announces. “Leave. Now.”

Des hesitates for a second but Luc waves him off. Des places his mask back on and leaves thePerg. I realize that Peri hasn’t left either.

Fuck.

The room falls silent. It’s far too big of a room for just the three of us to be there.

“Peri,” Luc says.

Peri takes his mask off. There’s silence again. After a few seconds, members of thelegionenter thePerg. I wonder which one is mine and Luc’s father. Better yet, fuck that. Fuck him.

One of thelegionsteps up next to Luc and he removes his mask. It’s not mine and Luc’s father. It’s someone else. Who is it?

Could be a world leader. Could be the most powerful attorney in the world. Could be the richest man in the world. Thelegionruns deeper than anyone can possibly realize.

“Mr. Seven,” Luc says with a nod to the man.

Thelegionare given numbers when they reach their advancement. The numbers are never retired either. If and when someone in thelegiondies, they are replaced by someone else,using that number. Needless to say, this man in front of me is not the firstMr. Sevento exist.

“We have a problem that needs to be addressed,” Mr. Seven says as he steps toward Peri and me.

“Permission to speak,” I announce.

God, I fucking hate asking for permission for anything.

“Tyrant,” Luc growls.

“It’s fine,” Mr. Seven says. “Speak. Go on.”

“I’m assuming this is about the issues with thetarget. Peri and I were sent there. There was misinformation to begin with and it was me who insisted that we complete the mission. And it was me who decided to kill the—”

A hand smacks my face so hard, I stumble to my left, bump into Peri, and then end up on the ground. On my hands and knees like a dog getting shamed for pissing on a couch cushion. I’ve never felt a smack that hard to my face. My right eye doesn’t want to open for a few seconds.

“I said speak, not tell a fucking story,” Mr. Seven says.

I swallow hard.

“Stand the fuck up, Tyrant,” Luc orders.

I get back to my feet and stand back in place. The right side of my face throbs.

“You think I’m not aware of what happened?” Mr. Seven asks.

“My apologies,Sir,” I say.

“You’re aware of the issue at hand,” Mr. Seven says. “Thetargethas been eliminated but the extra body is the problem now. The prostitute was an informant. That part of it has been handled. The reason why I’m standing here is that there is a secondarytargetwith this issue. Or perhaps you can call it the thirdtarget.”

Mr. Seven gives Luc a nod.

“The prostitute had a lover who caught feelings,” Luc says. “Causing issues. Too many issues. Asking questions. Wanting to go rogue. The good news is that the lover has a weakness. A family.”

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