Page 119 of Queen Of Dark Money

Hewas currently sitting in the holding cell at theKhulaCityJail.

Iwas going to make good on the promise to mail him, piece by piece, to his boss.

Asthe other cars flashed by, going a quarter of the speedIhad pushed the sports car to,Iimagined all the waysIcould make him pay.

Itwould be justice of a sort to slice him up like he had her.Tolet him bleed out on the same floor he let her die on.

Icould put pins in different parts of his body, like a sick and twisted version of acupuncture.

Icould hit him with my car, repeatedly, until he stopped making noise.

Icould beat his face in, the feeling of his cartilage and bone turning to mush beneath my fists almost cathartic.

Wepulled up to the jail, which was attached to the courthouse, and waltzed right in—one of the perks of being a well-known and respected lawyer in this city.Theydidn’t question us when we walked through the check-in area.Theydidn’t stop us as we headed to holding.Andone glare from me silenced the protests the desk workers in intake were about to make whenIsnatched a set of cell keys off the counter and marched down the row of holding cells untilIfound the one with that fuckstickTheoin it.

Hedidn’t look excited to see me.Howsad.Iwas excited to seehim.

“Heythere, buddy.Missme?”

Wepostedhim up in the warehouse where he’d killed the love of my life–Iwas past admitting it to myself.Imight never say it out loud, might never give voice to the realization where others could hear it.Butthere it was.

Iloved her.Ihad always loved her.AndIfucked it all up by listening to the lies others laid at my feet.Ilet them get to me, believed their stupid bullshit.

Andhere we were now, so much lost timeIcould never make up for, never get back.

Fuckme, man.

“So,Theo,”Idrawled, spinning the blade in my hand menacingly in his direction. “Ibet you’re wondering why we took you from that cramped, stoic jail cell and brought you here, aren’t you?”Itossed a look over my shoulder, waggling a brow at my partner in crime, however unwilling. “Jasper, would you like to elaborate?”

“Youfucked up,Theo,” he said plainly, his voice deadpan and void of emotion. “Andnow,Rafeis going to kill you.”

“Notjust kill you,”Ispat, hating that he’d boiled it down to the least intimidating version of a threat that he could. “I’mgoing to bleed you like you did her, drop by drop, removing as many body parts asIcan from you without killing you until there’s nothing left but chunks.Bloodystumps and a gory mess on my floor.Andwhen you’re begging for mercy,Theo,Iwant you to remember her face.Iwant you to recall that even in the end, she refused to give you what you wanted.”Ijammed the knife into his thigh, just inches away from the artery that would kill him ifIhit it. “JustlikeI’mabout to.”

Hisscreams permeated the air asIjerked the knife from his fleshy as fuck leg and pushed it slowly, agonizingly, into the fatty part of his arm.Idug it in an inch or so, twisting it for maximum damage, and then yanked it out with a scream of rage, our noises mingling in the aftermath.Iwanted him to know whatI’dfelt, wanted him to live her horrifying end, but in a much more sadistic way.

Wewent at it like this for hours, and at one point,Icrushed my phone beneath the heel of my boot, refusing to answer the calls of my fellow criminal partners, because why wouldIbother?Theywould just try to talk me off this ledge, andIcouldn’t have that.

Iwould not be stopped.Wouldnot be dissuaded.Icouldn’t.Thiswas the only wayIcould close up this chapter of my life without losing my sanity.

Iwas broken, and it would take an act of horrifying inhumanity to bring me back from the edge.

“Please,” he sobbed, snot trailing down his face, clinging to the front of his shirt, mingling with his blood. “Please, just kill me.”

“Ithought you werebetterthan her,Theo,”Isnarled, rage fueling me now when the adrenaline failed. “Idon’t recall her begging forherlife, did she?”

“Fuckyou, you worthless piece of shit,” he screamed, the deranged laughter mocking me, matching my own state of mind. “Youwere always trash, and so was she.Idid the world a favor, killing that kid of yours.Wouldagrown up to be criminal trash, just like you.”

Theysay you see red when your rage overcomes you, butIdon’t recall the colors changing around me.Sure,Isaw red, but it was the red of his blood, combined with the whites of his eyes and the stench of piss asIslammed my fist into the side of his jaw that clung to the recesses of my mind.Itwas the pale yellow of the coffee-stained teeth he spit out onto the floor between us asIcackled at him, shoving him sideways to lay in his own urine.

Fuckerwasn’t worth the dirt he lay in.Howhe ever thought he was worthy of a girl likeherwas beyond me.

Ibrought out the saw next and set to work, tired of playing games with a pansy who was so deluded, he thought death meant he had won.

Slicingthrough bone is a time-consuming task when one doesn’t think ahead.AndI, unfortunately, hadn’t been able to locateDom’ssawzall batteries.SoI’dhad to opt for a plain old pair of bolt cutters, which took most of the fun out of it because it was so quiet.Youdidn’t get to see the terror in their eyes as they listened to the machine that would sever their body into pieces and leave them missing limbs.

Imade the noises for him, though.Jasperstood in the corner, his phone in hand, lazily scrolling social media or thenews articles, no doubt.Iwasn’t sure what he was up to, but as long as he didn’t interfere,Iwouldn’t make him leave.

Anaudience was good for encouragement, after all.

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