Page 182 of Shâhzâdeh

“Please! Zhat is my son! Bâbâ, stop zhis. Babak, fight for your brozer!” Ibriham was firing out orders like they could actually get their brother out of his well-deserved comeuppance.

“He is zhe reason we are here! Lined up to die like cattle!” Babak stood up for his father far too late but at least I gained a tinch of respect for him. Wouldn’t keep him alive though.

My uncle struggled again, but abruptly cried out as Kamran dropped to the floor unmoving. Sampson and Nate both stood over him waiting for him to move.

Nate playfully hit Sampson on his chest with the back of his hand. “We should’ve let sis come so she could send him to hell without his dick like the last one.”

“Damn, she doing it like that?” Yacouba was nodding his head in approval and I knew he was thinking about Jasmine making a new friend in Yzabel.

“Yeah, she don’t play.” Sampson’s chest was puffed out so proudly I felt like he just might hop in his truck and go get his wife so she could come put a bullet in Kamran’s head.

Liam was grinning as he playfully hit Bhaltair on the shoulder. “She’d fit right in.” Bhal grinned and nodded eagerly because his wife was just as wild.

“Nah. We going back to being regular people after this shit. I just wasn’t going to leave this business unfinished.” Sampson turned and looked down at Kamran before he raised his massive foot and brought it down on his head. That was a talent that few possessed. You could break your leg or a bone in your foot if you didn’t stomp on someone’s head in just the right spot. But judging by the way the bones in his face collapsed and the smile on Sampson’s face widened, he was fine.

“You good?” I moved closer to where they were and put my hand on his shoulder. His body was far more relaxed than I expected it to be after killing a man.

“I am. Thank you for being a man of your word.” He stuck his hand out and I shook it happily.

“Anyzing less and I couldn’t call myself a man.”

“Xerxes, this is nae fair. I didnae get to use mysgian dubhyet. Yoo are lettin’ yoor new friends ‘ave all the fun. We’ve ‘ated ‘ese fookers fo’ years wit’ yoo.”

I cut my eyes at Liam’s spoiled ass and he was grinning along with his brown skinned, green-eyed cousin. I had expected for Ori and Yacouba to act up, but leave it to the Scots to want to cause mayhem.

“I don’t remember being able to jump in when you were swinging your broadsword.”

“‘at was different. Remember when ‘ose two fools ‘arassed our women? I distinctly remember yoo bein’ able to swing ‘at bejeweledscimitararound.”

He had a point because he gave me the opportunity to avenge Vanya against the man who dared touch her. It had been a fun time so I couldn’t deny my friend the chance to do the same.

“Fair enough. Pick one and do your wors—” I barely heard the knife blade cutting through the air before it was lodged in Babak’s neck. Babak’s hands went to pull out the knife, but only made the wound worse by removing it. The arc of blood that pulsed out of his neck hit his brother and the back of our grandfather’s head as he fell to his knees.

“Is ‘at good?” Liam was grinning as he walked to retrieve his knife unbothered by the amount of blood he had to walk through.

Midas hit me playfully in the chest before pointing to Babak’s twitching body on the floor. “Come on, Xerx. Not you out here playin’ favorites.”

“He asked first, Mi, did you want me to give you a relative to kill? Why don’t you and Dom take turns putting bullets in him for all I care? You just helped me blow up a church, how are you not satisfied?”

“Been domesticated for too long I guess.” Midas sighed as he pulled out his gun and checked the clip. Before he could take aim at someone, Ibriham started shaking and screaming near us.

“Fight me like a man, Xerxes! Veak over a voman just like your father!”

“You being real mouthy for a muthafucka that’s about to die.” Yacouba was chuckling but he took a step back with everyone else because he knew what was about to happen.

“Amu, I am no less a man because I do not use my fists to brutalize you. Zhat is only one method of domination zhat I could employ. You are not worz working up zhe sweat to dispose of.” I hit another button and the mechanical whirling could be heard echoing in the room. Ibriham looked around trying to figure out where the sound was coming from when his eyes saw it.

“What is that?”

“Remember when you said Xerxes was none for being a loser? A man who traversed into battle and lost?” I set it in motion and the fear increased.

“Xšayarša—”

I grinned joyfully and shook my head because no amount of cajoling was going to save him. “No,amu, it is time for you to face your punishment. You spoke so boldly, face your fate with the same vigor.” I started the conveyor that moved him along the production line toward the sound.

“Xerxes, please!”

I walked beside him, ensuring he had no way to escape his fate. His screams only increased as we grew closer to his death. “Now, now, Ibriham. We would not want to be unmanly about zhis.”

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