Page 5 of Degrading Her

“Where were you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “You were supposed to be done with Rice last night.”

I closed my eyes, then opened them slowly. “He’s dead.”

“That face,” my father said, studying me. He rubbed his chin. “I know that face.”

I wanted to throw him out of the room. This wasn’t his domain anymore. I had taken over most of our familybusiness’s proceedings; he was only here because I had gotten back late.

“I’ve got a call to make,” I said, ushering for him to leave. But he didn’t move; he was waiting for me to explain myself.

“When do I meet her?” he asked.

“Who isshe?”

“I’m not stupid, son,” he laughed. “I know when there’s someone on your mind.”

I had learned not to care about anyone like that when I was a child. My father had made that clear.

“No one is on my mind,” I said.

“Then where were you?”

I breathed through my nose, leveling with him. I hated him more than I could stand, but all it took was the right moment. My brother on my side. Our father isolated between us. And then, I would kill my father. Our business would be far better off without him.

“I was runningyourbusiness,” I said. “Now get out.”

I picked up my phone, dialing one of our burner numbers, just to get him to leave. He stood in the doorway.

“You know what must be done,” he said. Then he left.

The Feldman Offering was a family tradition where we killed our wives. They were good for breeding, but other than that, they were a distraction. And when you ran a business like ours, you couldn’t afford that. The Feldman Offering was how we proved we wanted the business more than we wanted anything else.

And no matter what it took, I was going to rule the Feldman Farm one day.

So why was I protecting Fiona from my father? She was no one. A woman who would become a doctor and help people, who would turn her back on someone like me.

And yet,thatwas it. She was too good. Rejecting my game. Playing by her own rules. And that made me want to destroy her. To show her she didn’t want her dream as much as she thought she did.

She wanted to die for her library? Then she would die.

The next day, I took one of the hunts. One of the livestock orders—our targets—had a girlfriend. And though she wasn’t there when I killed him, I waited until she returned.

Dark hair. A slim fit. Blue eyes, not brown like Fiona’s. But she would work.

I shot her in the head, a quick, merciful kill, then moved the bodies into my SUV, taking them back to the farm. The livestock order went straight to the incinerator, but I took the woman in a black garbage bag to the pond. The sunset reflected on the water as I drenched her body with gasoline. I threw a match, and she burst into flames, her body crackling in the night.

In the morning, I carried the charred corpse, some of the brittle remnants breaking off in my hands. As I drew closer to the main house, I let my shoulders sink under the weight, letting that pressure build, as if the corpse were actually Fiona’s.

My father sat at a large dining table, eating breakfast. I dropped the blackened structure onto the wooden surface. It broke into pieces with a soft crack.

“You were supposed to have a son togetherbeforeyou killed her,” my father said. “That’s how we cultivate the family business.”

I tightened my fists. “Guess I’ll have to find another.”

“How long had you known her?” An old clock ticked in the next room, eerily loud as he waited for my answer. But I said nothing, keeping my eye contact even. “I’d say that Iwas proud, but I’m not,” he said. He stood up, drawing closer to me. “Now, where is the real woman?”

I grabbed him by the shoulders, shoving him into the wall. The pressure built in my eyes as they bulged from my skull. I was supposed to give a performance. This was supposed to break me. I didn’t blink until tears burned my eyes, a few drops falling, then I shoved my father away before it took control of me.

“Say it again,” I growled. “Say it again.Questionmy loyalty, and I’ll show you how dedicated I am.”

---