Page 49 of Unholy

I want to smile, but I can’t. I hurt too badly to do that. Tristan finds me a shirt and helps me pull it on while the guys round up Ben and my dad. Tristan helps me up the stairs as best he can when he sees his mom.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way,” he tells her.

“No. Don’t be sorry, Tristan. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. She deserves better than this,” she says, nodding toward Ted, where he has a gag in his mouth.

“I’ll let you know.” She nods her head and looks over at me giving me a sad smile as if she’s sorry she couldn’t have stopped this. My dad was too strong. There was no way she could have stood up against him.

I give her a sad smile in return as Tristan leads me out of the house and toward a van out front. We both climb in while the others load them into the back after tying them up, then they, too, climb in, and we take off.

“Are you okay?” I ask him. He shakes his head, and I understand what he means. Not physically but mentally. He’s falling apart, and I get that.

We ride until we make it to the warehouse, and I shake my head.

“We live here,” I remind him.

“Oh, Little Nun. We’re still going to live here with the ghosts of these bastards haunting us at night,” he explains before climbing out. I don’t know how I feel about all of this. He’s going to kill them, that much I am sure of, and that’s my dad and my ex.

I follow Tristan inside and watch as the guys drag the others inside and tie them to chairs. The same chairs we’ve sat in to have dinner are now holding the two men I hate the most in the world.

“Why here?” I ask. Tristan comes toward me, wrapping his hand around my throat and tugging me toward him.

“This is it, Little Nun. This is the end of the line here. I thought about killing them somewhere else, but what better reminder of what I’ve done than doing it in my own space?” he asks me.

“Tristan.”

“You don’t have to see, baby. I won’t make you watch.”

“But I’ll know!”

“And does that change how you feel about me? Hmm? Do you not love me anymore after what I plan to do because I fucking love you, Ash.”

“You what?”

“You heard me, baby. I love you. I didn’t think I could. I didn’t think that’s what this was but it is because I’d rather live my life clawing at the gates of hell to get back to you than to be without you.” My heart bursts inside of me at his words. He loves me. I wasn’t sure if Tristan could love, but he loves me. I nod my head as tears spring to my eyes, and I press my lips to his.

“You taste so good,” he says against my mouth before kissing me harder. When he pulls away, I walk over and sit on the couch so I’m out of the way. Tristan glances over and smirks at me before pulling his knife from the sheath and pointing it at Ben.

“You were the last person I thought would do this to her, but here we are,” he states, using his other hand to hold the cane as he walks around him.

“You don’t know a thing! She needed this,” he roars as Tristan laughs.

“Needed it? The only thing she needs is me,” he tells him.

“You are the devil incarnate!”

“And she loves every deep, dark thing I do to her. I could draw this out, but frankly, I’d rather have her riding my cock than dealing with this shit,” he tells them as my cheeks heat.

“Both of you are going to rot in hell!” my dad yells this time.

“Then I’ll meet you there, Ted,” Tristan says before slitting Ben’s throat and moving to my dad next. I can’t look, so I don’t. I look down at my hands, but I can hear him gagging. My insides lurch, and I start moving toward the bathroom in a hurry. Once I’m in there, I throw up. I lose everything I have in me which isn’t much.

I hug the toilet when I hear Tristan walk in.

“Weak stomach?” he asks playfully.

“Are they …. is he ….”

“They’re dead. Both of them. The guys will get it cleaned up before you have to go back out there.”

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