Page 60 of Dead By Dusk

“How could some insolent little slut know anything about me and what I’m capable of? How is it that you think my wife died, huh?” he asks, his grip becoming much harsher and his eyes more crazed than I’ve ever seen them. Red circles his murky brown and green eyes and veins protrude from his neck, but my smile pushes back his punishing grip as much as possible. As he loosens his hold, I spit the blood that filled my mouth into his face.

“Insolent or not, at least I’m not dead,” I retort, hoping to slightly throw him off, but it almost intensifies the madness that hides within him.

“Oh, but you will be,” he laughs, as he pushes my face and stands, wiping away the bloody spit as he walks away.

“Will I?”I question, and when a small click sounds out behind him after those two small words, he stops. Slowly, he turns back to me, watching as I push to stand, dangling his keys in my fingers. It’s an unnecessary taunt, but the look of shock and panic on his face is worth it.

I begin walking towards him as he steps back and bangs on the door. Theonlyway out of here.

“What’s wrong, Robert? Can’t get out without these?” Each step toward him has him increasing the distance between us however he can. “Not so tough when I’m not chained down now, are you?” I look down at him from where he stands, studying the man before me.

“I have a question before I kill you,” I state plainly, watching him. He doesn’t show fear, but the caution displayed in his every movement is obvious. “What compelled you to do all of this? Everyone we captured for you, how did they deserve to be hunted like prey? How did anyone we killed for you deserve to die? We looked into it all. Every single person. And no matter how many answers I found, there were always more questions.”

“They were threats to me,” he defends himself, but I just laugh at the blatant lie, already knowing the truth of it all. “You would never understand. When you get ahead, enemies are inevitable.”

“But they weren’t enemies, were they?”

“They were,” he exclaims confidently. His posture is wide and proud, and he appears so sure of what he’s saying. It’s almost convincing, but when you already know the truth, you begin to see through the lies a bit easier.

“We did so much research. Do you know what we found?” He huffs out a deep breath, clearly annoyed by anything I have to offer to this conversation, but waves his hand in a gesture to carry on.

“Tell me what you think you found.”

“We found that they were innocent.”

“No.” A simple smile graces his lips, one of denial, and he clasps his hands together in a show of ending this conversation, but I’m just getting started.

“We found that they were just random people you passed on the street or in the store. One wrong look from them was all it took to solidify their fates. Did you even know their names before you sent the kill orders? Before you sold their organs and body parts off to the highest bidder?” I demand, bringing myself closer to him with each accusatory word.

“You’re wrong,” he says, shaking his head, continuing to back away from me. With each step backwards, his hands pull at each other, and his lips twist with disgust and disbelief.

“No. You’re paranoid and sick in the fucking head!” I declare while storming forward. I jab my finger against his chest, but when he roughly grabs my hand, I let him force me away.

“Your storytelling abilities are lacking just about as much as your intelligence.” He says dismissively.

The door behind us clangs open, and I sharply turn to keep an eye on everyone in the room. Three men enter, eyeing me like I’m a new threat, giving me far more credit than they did the last time we saw each other. For a beat, we all look to and from one another, waiting for someone to make a move, and when someone does, all hell breaks loose. Mr. Delgado slides against the back wall, watching the four of us fight. But as each man falls, another enters the room, and I can’t keep up with who’s alive or dead and how many people there are.

Arms grab me from behind and lock my arms at my sides, I have no other way to fight. And when I feel a sharp pain in the back of my neck accompanied by a tingling sensation, I know that something is very wrong.

“Calm, now. When you wake, you won’t remember a thing. After that, you’ll find yourself a lot more willing to accept this one simple fact,” he says, a sinister smile pulling up his lips. His tongue darts out to lick the area as if he’s savoring the way these words taste.

“You will die.”

“I will not.” I fight back, even as drowsiness threatens me, stealing every last bit of strength I have left.

“Yes, my dear, you will. And, well, it will be quite delightful, really. I must tell you, seeing as you can do nothing about it now. It’s genius, if I do say so myself,” he says, and I fight to keep my eyes open. Blinking rapidly, I meet his gaze as best as I can and throw him a glare that promises death. He only laughs.

“As I’m sure you know, Ronan did not tell me anything, much to my dismay.” He clicks his tongue, disappointment obvious, but there’s something else there that screams satisfaction.“But his brother, well, he was very easy to persuade,” he finishes, looking at me from across the room where I’m still being held back by his men.

“Brother?” I question, my brain fogging, and I wonder if I heard him correctly.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you? How very amusing. Well, his brother works here too, buthedecided to take me up on my offer to stay here rather than pay for something he was hardly included in. He never could stay away from my daughter which made bargaining very easy,” he says dismissively, somewhat disgusted by the mere thought.

“It was so easy to get him to admit to everything he knew, and find out what he didn’t. He was all too willing when I promised he would survive this all. That the two of them could survive, and that he would get my blessing.” He looks far off as if the memory is fond, and he wants to recall it correctly. “I’m sure he will be slightly confused when he wakes without memories in the same situation as the rest of you,” he finishes, ready to leave the room before holding up a finger and turning back around.

“I almost forgot about the best part. Oh, this is so good, how could it slip my mind?” he chuckles, walking back over to me and grabbing a strand of my hair and tugging on it.

“He thought he got Adonis to help. I was almost impressed by the young lad, but Adonis…well, he duped us, to put it simply.” I expected some sort of animosity to follow his words, but I’m wrong. He almost seems gleeful at the idea of another betrayal, and despite the darkness creeping into my vision and my legs wanting to give out from underneath me, I force myself to stay conscious through the punishing grips of the hands on my arms and wrists. “For his act of a secondary betrayal, he gets a punishment far worse.”

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