Page 38 of The Queen
“It was an opportunity, and I didn’t have time to sit around waiting for all of you to get your asses in gear. It was a judgment call, and I’ve been doing this for a while. I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“No? You look like one from where I’m standing.”
“Then move over there,” he growls, done fucking about.
I hiss at him and leave the living room, beyond pissed off. Lila is going down with no mercy now.
The walls feel too close, suffocating, almost like they’re soaked in shadows and whispers of danger. I’ve been cooped up here too long, itching for action, when the buzzer for the outside intercom interrupts my raging.
“What?” I snap into it after I’ve pressed the button.
“Eliza,” Felix’s voice cuts through the tension. “I’ve got information.”
“You’d better not be a double-crossing asshole because right now, I’m in the mood for murder.”
“Hold on to that because I know where she is.”
That gives me pause.
Pressing the button that opens the gates, I watch him step through on the tiny cam before I close them again, keeping my eye out for anyone trying to slip in behind him.
Swinging the door open, I watch him walk up the drive and then step back as his frame fills the doorway, eyes steady on mine. He’s all business.
“Where is she?” My question is sharp, like a blade.
He strides in, closing the door with a soft click that somehow echoes louder than it should in the stillness.
I cross my arms but can’t keep my hands steady; they tremble with the urge to make her pay.
“A safe house a few towns over. She’s there right now, Eliza. This is our shot.” Felix doesn’t flinch as I move closer, invading his space.
“How do you know?”
He holds up his phone, and I see Lila sitting there drinking a glass of red wine as she stares at the papers strewn over her desk.
“Good.” My voice is cold and detached, everything inside me boiling down to a single purpose. “Are you sure about this? She is your mum, after all.”
“I dragged myself up while she was plotting her revenge and mooning over your dad, and when she did remember me, a beating here or there wasn’t off the cards. Trust me. I was born ready.” His tone is like ice, and that kind of hatred is hard to fake. He didn’t have that tone when he was taunting me.
The air between us is heavy, charged with unspoken understanding. We both know what this means. Payback. It’s what I breathe for right now, every ounce of me needing to settlethe score for Raph, for Mum, for the havoc wreaked upon our lives by this vicious woman.
“Give me five.” I spin on my heel, heading to my room, where my weapons are stashed. There’s no hesitation as I open the drawer, and the familiar cool metal of my gun greets me. It’s an extension of myself, one I rarely get to use, but today fucking calls for it. I’m about to use it to carve justice from this fucked-up situation.
Twisting the silencer on, I tuck the gun away, concealed but within easy reach, and slip my knife into my boot. Sharp and deadly, much like the rage that’s boiled over.
When I head back down the stairs, I see Oliver standing next to Felix, giving him the stink-eye. “Where are you going?” he asks, looking at me.
“Family bonding time,” I reply.
“Meaning?”
“I’m going to kill Lila.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. Let’s go,” I say, walking past Felix, who nods, his own face a mask of readiness. “This is something I’m doing on my own.”
“Eliza, wait, we need a plan.”
