Page 174 of Shâhzâdeh

“I’m disappointed,Shâhzâdeh, I don’t see your famous scimitar hanging from your waist.” Midas was egging him on and I knew it was a way for him to stay focused and not mess up whatever his plan was.

“I had to hear my wife talk about zhe way he scared her and zhen zhe way zhis piece of shit would allow zheir father to watch him sleep with his own wife. Did it not strike you as odd when your adoptive father wanted to watch you with your wife like you were some type of live action porn? Did it not spark even zhe smallest bit of protection wizin you to ensure zhat she was not made to feel so small?” Xerxes tone was still low but I could hear the malice that dripped from each word as he questioned Johnathan.

“The fuck?”

Ahmad was pissed and I squeezed his hand because it was all I could do. He looked down at me with a small smile but I could see the anger blazing in his eyes. When he walked closer to Xerxes I didn’t think twice about it until he used the swiftness I was sure made him famous to get to the hospital bed. Worse yet, no one stopped him as he had one hand around Jonathan’s neck and his free hand twisting his wrist in an unnatural angle. The snap of bones made my stomach turn but I clenched my teeth and my abs to stop from throwing up.

“Do not worry. I asked her if she was alright wiz you all hearing and she was. Because my Vanya is strong. Zhe flames of zhe hell you all tried to use to kill her spirit dance around her head like a fiery crown. Zhe weight of your disgusting behavior should’ve never been on her shoulders. But now she is more zhan able to hold her head up proudly, like a queen.”

He completely ignored a screaming Johnathan and I knew why so much of their anger was focused on him. We were supposed to be bonded together. We had been mutually tormented in that house. We’d both been abused. But out of everyone, he should’ve tried to help me. But he was happy to feed me to the beast in order to buy himself more time. But like all good tokens, they always get spent.

“Doesn’t hurt that you got her a multi-million dollar tiara to wear round this bitch either.”

“A million dollars? You all spent a million dollars on Vanya!?” Mrs. Kennedy was looking angrier than before and now I wish I’d have worn the tiara he’d given me just to rub it in her face.

Xerxes was back focused on her as my brother continued to twist Johnathan’s now broken wrist around compounding the fractures. “You really are jealous of her aren’t you? Something about the way you speak about there rubs me the wrong way. You sound as though you hate the child you willfully took in. Like you view her as competition, which is disgusting.”

“I didn’t want her. Red hair is a bad omen. A sign of wickedness. And I was right. She brought wickedness into my home.” Mrs. Kennedy was shaking her head like this was all my fault. As though her actions hadn’t been what brought her to this moment.

“So why adopt her? Why keep her? Plenty of people turn children back in.” Another pull of his blunt as he waited for the answer to his question.

“Because they are good people.” Even in pain, he was defending these people and it was clear he was in a cult brainwashed. Even if he wasn’t about to die, there would’ve been no way to save him.

“He is not worth saving.” Maman whispered that softly mirroring my thoughts.

Xerxes turned back to Johnathan with a snarl on his face. “You think zhat? Why would she force you to marry a woman zhat she says is so terrible then? No, zhat is not love. Zhat is control. Zhey wanted to show everyone how perfect they could make the children of people they thought were less than them. And they failed spectacularly. At least with you. My Vanya is the perfection but that credit is due only to herself. You all have nothing to do with that.”

“Vanya, please—” His words were stopped short as Xerxes’ ashed his blunt in his eye.

“You are never to speak her name. You are never to look in her direction again. If you think to I will scoop your eyeballs out with a melon baller and pour salt into your sockets.” Maman spoke that promise boldly and Mr. Kennedy’s screams tapered off into a whimper as he clamped his mouth shut.

“I am ready to get zhis done wiz. Shoaib, Quentin, can you bring what we need, please?” Xerxes almost looked bored with being in the same room as everyone. I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d been smoking or that he was trying to be calm for me.

Shoaiband Quentin came back in theroom with platters of food some of which smelled noxious. I gagged slightly and maman glanced at me with a giggle. They sat the platters down, one in front of each Kennedy before they moved back toward where Xerxes was standing.

“What is this?” Mrs. Kennedy was the only one of them still lucid enough to speak. She was looking at the food as though it were poisoned and I couldn’t blame her — I was suspicious too.

Xerxes took a heavy breath and I knew it irritated his soul to speak to this woman at all. “Your last supper. At least zhe first of your last suppers.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Xerxes strolled casually toward Mrs. Kennedy, and she tried to shrink back into the hospital bed. “It means that you all are connected to each other. In a disgusting but far more humane version of the human centipede.”

“Oh, this is the madness coming out to play.” I could hear the joy in Yacouba’s voice and I could only feel privileged at being able to see the way his mind worked play out.

“You will remain chained, as you are, and given food and drink. Zhis is the start of your food. We don’t eat it but I’m sure you recognize chitlins. Zhe rest of the food is what zhey serve in prisons,” Xerxes waved his arm around the room. “Zhis is your prison where you will serve out your life sentence. Given zhe crimes you’ve committed, I zhink I’ve been nice to give you a bed to rest in.”

“And if we don’t eat it? Then what? You just leave us here? To just waste away? Like prisoners?” Mr. Kennedy tried to sound outraged, but the pain in his voice made it impossible. I could only smile seeing his face tight with pain and the burn marks over his eye.

“Zhat would be too good for you. I’m sure you told Vanya Zhat her only way to salvation was suffering. By living a life of piety and going wizout. I’m so glad that as soon as she was free of all of you that she realized how wrong that was. Starving would be too civilized a punishment for you all. Too gentle a death. Zhe woman zhat you zhink so little of means everyzing in this world to me. No one can hurt her and get away with it. These tubes have a purpose. The ones in your arms are to ensure you stay hydrated. Zhey are taped down too zhoroughly for you to remove. Zhe metal cuffs have been fashioned so zhat you can’t access zhem. You will be placed in a crouching position until you clean your plates whenever zhey are brought to you. If you don’t eat, you will be force fed. Zhe tubes in your asses aren’t for your enjoyment. You will be administered a colonic weekly and zhe waste collected from zhose and your cazeters, consolidated with liquid and added into your IVs.”

“Hell yeah!” Ori’s started to clap in approval nodding his head like Xerxes had made a good play on the field and even Ahmad was smiling at his creativity. Xerxes had a wicked smile on his face as he calmly detailed the demise of the people who’d stolen me.

“That’s some sick shit. I wish I would’ve thought of it.” Jahmir was rubbing his face thoughtfully as though he truly regretted not having thought of it.

“Priest, I’m sure you would have. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty and I’m sure zhe madness languishing in your church basement has brought you months of joy. I do not have zhe patience of you to craft my implements of revenge while teaching my wife to woodwork. Zheir demise needs to be slow and painful. I want you all to starve and try to stay strong before you give in and eat. Zhen worry daily about controlling your bowels. Trying to keep zhem in line enough so that you don’t release but it’s inevitable when we flood your colon wiz water. Zhe same fear that you inflicted upon my wife will be visited upon all of you. Zhe bacteria will slowly begin to destroy your body, causing even more gastric issues but you won’t be able to stop the primal urge you have for sustenance. It’ll be a beautiful feedback loop of torture until each of you finally takes your last breath. You were parasites in her life codependent on your mutual desire to keep her under your zhumbs. Zhat codependency and zhat desire will now be zhe death of you.”

“We have a congregation that will look for us. We run a real estate business that has employees that are counting on us.”

---