Page 63 of Heart of a Killer

I stride over to the pile of shit squirming in his seat and rip off the tape covering his mouth. Strands of his facial hair come off, and pricks of blood bloom in their wake.

“Well, Daddy dearest here has a secret of his own to share.”

“You don’t know shit, you bastard. You’re no son of mine,” Steven seethes from his seat.

He can’t fathom that anyone would know his deepest, darkest secret—or that one day the only person he had left behind would find out. He doesn’t say more, so I continue to lay out the pieces for Skylar.

“Steven got an email about your mom’s cancer,” I confess. “He knew and didn’t want to share.”

26

Skylar

The pit in my stomach drops below the floor. I’m weightless as I register what Alex is saying over the howls of our father. I don’t doubt anything he says. I’ve always known he knew more than he let on. I guess he was right about that Viceroy family trait. We dig for information, but what we do with that information matters most of all. My eyes burn and rim with tears, bringing me back to this moment.

“You knew?” I croak with a shaky voice. “You knew, and you didn’t even tell her?”

“It wasn’t me.” His eyes are wide, lips turned down in a frown. “I can’t help that she wasn’t on top of her health. She should have checked her emails.”

“No, go ahead. Tell her about how you thought her mom was cheating on you. How you didn’t trust her, so you checked her emails and left the one about her cancer on ‘read.’ Go on, tell her,” Alex sneers, getting in Steven’s face.

His teeth are bared, and the cords in his neck protrude. He could let go and kill him if he really wanted to. I’ve seen him kill with his bare hands. I look down at the heavy weight of the knife in my hand.

“Why, Steven? Why?” I whisper.

“Really?” Steven growls. “You’re calling me by my name while this insane psycho tells these lies about me?”

Alex continues on without stopping a beat, no falter in his stance. “He couldn’t tell her that he was snooping through her emails and read the one about her cancer. Not without giving away the fact thathewas the unfaithful one. He left it on ‘read,’ so she never opened it, causing a delay in her treatment and allowing her cancer to advance to an incurable stage.”

My jaw tenses, grinding my teeth together. The fire in my veins spreads, and my hand grips the knife’s hilt.

“Are you serious? My mother died because you were a fucking cheating, lying asshole?”

“You believe this crackhead piece of trash?”

“He’s been more accepting, understanding, and kindhearted to me than you ever were,” I bite back.

“I knew you were just as twisted as him when you came to me talking about being a homo,” Steven seethes. “Neither of you are my children.”

My sight rims red, and my jaw aches from my clenched teeth. My body flies across the living room. Before I know it, I’m straddling my dad and plunging the blade into his chest over and over. Crunches and squelches fill the air with each thrust of the knife, and I can’t stop. My muscles burn, my heart races. A euphoric sensation pours over my head—

A hand grips my wrist. Brie’s brown eyes sear into my soul, and I think she will judge me, but instead her smile is devilish.

“You good, Sky?”

My chest heaves from my rapid breathing, and a numb, tingling sensation courses through me. “Hit me.”

“What?”

“Hit me! Fucking hit me,” I scream.

A sharpcrackrings in my ears.

I’m doubled over, hands in a hollow cavity of gore that used to be my father, and the vibrations continue to wash over me. Hysterical laughter bubbles from my throat, and I glance up at Brie in her oversized shirt. Brie and Alex. Their faces mirror wide grins and glinting eyes.

“I-I-I can’t feel a thing,” I gush.

My gaze runs over Alex, whose dick is a hard outline in his ripped jeans. Brie sees the same thing I do and pulls me up to a standing position. I stagger from the head rush. Brie wastes no time pushing Alex until he collapses on the couch and rips his jeans down to his ankles, letting his cock spring free. My eyes widen at the sight of him. His size continues to amaze me. Before I have time to think any further, Brie lifts my blood-soaked shirt over my head.

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