Page 585 of Lodestar

"Why would I deny myself the pleasure of ending your sorry life?”

His blurry eyes flared wide at that, jerking from left to right, and his hands clutched at the sheets, but there was no moving when the breathing tube that was keeping his airways open pinned him in place.

That was the only flaw in my plan.

To keep him alive, he needed the breathing tube.

And, that tube stopped him from talking when what I wanted more than his death were his final words.

“Are you looking for your guards, Anton?” I chuckled. “The Five Points took care of them for me.”

“The least we could do to help such a…worthy cause,” Conor quipped.

“I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here.” My lips tightened. “I don’t think I’ll ever know what you did to my mother. There’s so much bullshit surrounding her life and death that I can’t see the forest for the trees.

“Maybe you don’t even remember anymore. Maybe she mattered so little to you that you filed it as ‘unimportant’ in your head, but I set myself on this journey for her.

“Along the way, my resolve and belief in her faltered. However, that doesn’t change my origin story, as it were.

“Back then, I was young and foolish. I thought that following in her footsteps would give me answers, but I should have realized how idiotic that was.” Though I chuckled, it was sad. “There’s an irony to the fact that the one man who could give me those answers is the one I’m killing, but you see, my need for resolution can’t supersede the need this world has for you to die.”

Though his head flopped from side to side, I could see the awareness in his eyes—this was it.

The end.

Just… not yet.

Perching beside him, I reached down and stroked a finger over the many, many scars on his chest. “I don’t suppose you’d have long left anyway. Not just because you’re almost ninety, but organ donations are never quite as good as the real thing.

“Not that these organsweredonated, were they? Not freely.” I trailed a hand over his arm. “What even is there to transplant here? A new carpal tunnel?” I hummed when I saw the question in his eyes. “Yeah, I figured out what the Brotherhood is. The other side of the same coin.

“The Brotherhood and the SparrowsareJanus, aren’t they? The god with two faces. The god of beginnings and endings.” I smiled at him and it was genuine and wide and loaded with my happiness as I stated, “I can’t wait to disband the Brotherhood, Anton. I can’t wait to tear down the thing you’ve spent your lifetime cultivating. I can’t wait for the Kuznetsov legacy to die out.”

His fingers twitched and I translated that faint movement with ease.

“I’m not a Kuznetsov,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m a Sullivan. I’m a Daniels. I’m anoxxiousbrat because they’re my family.Youare not.You,in fact, are nothing. The moment I cremate your body is the moment I’ll eradicate you and everything you stand for.” I patted his cheek. “Brick by brick, I’ll demolish the Brotherhood, just like we did the Sparrows, but I won’t let them know your name. You won’t even have infamy. You’ll just be a shadow, much as you’ve always been.

“Still, maybe there’s one consolation, Anton,” I reasoned as I stood. “Maybe I have the heart of a Kuznetsov. You made me into this, after all. You fabricated the person standing here.

"I quite enjoy the symmetry of you beginning my journey and me ending yours. And why would I just switch off your breathing tube when this is so much more befitting a man of your history?”With that, I slipped my hands around his throat and whispered, “Do you see your death in my eyes? Eyes that I inherited from you?” My grip tightened. “You won’t hurt another soul, Anton. That’ll be my legacy.

“Yours is one of blood and pain and misery and horror. You’re a warmonger. You made me into that too but I’m choosing peace.” My hands squeezed harder.Harder. “Funny how peace comes with the price of murder.”

As I choked the life out of him, as I watched it drain from his bulging eyes, as his skin turned purple and blood vessels burst, as the machine started to beep, as the alarms sounded, no one came running.

Why would they?

He’d only survived so I could kill him with my bare hands.

These last, final moments were unnecessary. A waste of medication. A waste of an emergency team’s time. But they weren’t a waste to me.

This, after all, was the only closure I'deverget.

As he took his final breath, I sucked down the deepest inhalation I’d experienced in over a decade.

Abruptly, the alarms disengaged and the machines stopped their functions.

Conor moved behind me, his hands settling on my wrists as he carefully pried mine away from my grandfather’s throat, informing me, “Everything’s ready for the next phase.”

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