Page 44 of Paper Coffins

“I guess I can’t use him to break your heart now.”

A bitter laugh escapes her this time. “Oh, honey. You can’t break a broken heart.”

“You sure about that, Talia?”

I use my gun to push some of her hair out of her face.

“Kill him.” Her eyes don’t even flicker, and I almost believe her. “He’s nothing to me.”

Her dare is tantalising, and I know she’s testing me, but I’m not here to be tricked, so I listen to her.

It’s time she learns what I’m all about.

I pull my gun away from her, aim, and fire.

There was never going to be a moment for her to plead, for her to fight against this.

This had to be done.

Andreas was collateral damage.

Where he was, she followed, and while he breathed, she had a conscience.

Her disbelief is deafening but does very little to warp my attitude over this. Even as Andreas’s body hits the floor, I place my full unremorseful attention back to her. Her grief is nothing. If anything, she proved me right when I told Sebastian Andreas was more good dead than alive.

While he breathed, she had reason. Now I’ve put a bullet in him and pulled the ripcord on her tether, she’s about to unravel.

“Andreas!”

She pulls away from me, trying in vain to escape, but I shove her back against the wall, harshly slamming her back against the brick and mortar. Her head slams back too, temporarily winding her. Pressing the smoking barrel of my gun to her jaw, there’s a glimmer of fear in her eyes before she catches it and masks it with contempt, even going as far as to lean on the mouth of the gun.

“You told me to kill him,” I tell her. “Was I not actually meant to?”

I laugh at her, but she doesn’t back down. Instead, her pink lips pull into a thin line, and her eyes darken.

“He meant nothing to you.”

She’s trying hard to not let her grief show, but it’s too late. I know it’s there.

“Maybe not, but he meant something to you. Regardless of what you say, you loved him.”

“I loved you once too.”

“And look where that got us. But I guess it got me exactly where I wanted to be. King of the castle, and soon you’ll go and join your father.”

“Do it, then.”

“That’s not how we’re playing. I’m the one with the loaded gun. You’re the defenceless little slut.”

She revolts at that insult, kicking against me, and I just press myself back into her body, enjoying this too much.

“You are mine, Natalia.” My anger bleeds into me as I grab her jaw once more. “And by the end of the week, you’ll be no one’s.”

“Why are you prolonging this?”

“Because you’ve made a mockery of The Company, and it’s time I made one of you.”

I’m not going to prolong her agony, but I do want to set an example. If it means her head on a pike outside of the palace, then so be it, but she is my biggest threat right now. If I end her, people will know there are no limits to what I’ll do for the company.

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