Page 113 of Heathens

“We’re going to have words, you and I.”

“Hey, I’m just playing the game, boss. You taught me everything I could possibly want to know about a well-timed coup.” He chuckles. “Well, how not to do one at least.”

“How long have you been working for him?”

He takes another long drag, absolutely fearless in the face of all my fury.

“Not too long after you blew up that lab,” Theo replies. “I was trying to do things your way, I really was! I went out to find you someone to make that formula and, lo and behold, who do I run into but the man himself? Honestly, not the best meeting I’ve ever had. Took some convincing to stop him from torturing me until I begged for death, but we get along just fine now.”

“Why all this bullshit? Why not just bring him the formula?”

“Unfortunately, that’s the one thing I wasn’t lying about. Remember that night in the lab way back? You killed the only person who was even close to making that shit a reality. Rene was furious at first. I was so sure I was done for, but…” He laughs, shrugging a little. “Well, you know I’m a real fast talker when I need to be. I slipped him a real fuckin’ good idea, cracked him right up.‘What if we let Dominic do all the hard work? Find someone to do the heavy lifting, and then make him bring it right to you?’”

“He’s gonna turn on you, Theo,” I rasp.

“Not this time. He’s already given me territory, and a nice little spot right next to this. Real generous of him, you know? That’s the difference between you two. You both make promises, but he’s the one that delivered. Everything would have been fine if you just cooperated with him and didn’t fight it–”

“Fuck you!” I growl. “You know what he did to Selene!”

“Oh my God,” Theo sighs, rolling his eyes. “Get over it, will ya?! It was four fuckin’ years ago now! Besides, how many families do you think you’ve destroyed since then?”

He walked me right into this, every step of the way. Any time I stumbled, he pointed me back on track; all to finding someone to finish what we burned to the ground.

“Haven’t you noticed how easy everything has been? How no one’s come after you? How you’ve been free to traipse around and play house with your new little toy?”

“Rene threatened her! He was going to torture her, kill her.”

“And you fell for that? What about when I showed up and spoon fed that shit about the drug to you? You didn’t even wonder for half a second how I knew all that? He’s played you like a fiddle, Dom. And you know what? He didn’t even need you to do it. We could have found someone on our own, stolen the formula back from you, and rebuilt things from scratch. This whole thing is about humiliating you, making you do the grunt work and then laying it at his feet. You’re so fucking drunk on the veryideaof power that you didn’t even see it!”

“Why?”

Theo scoffs.

“Jesus Christ, haven’t you been listening at all?”

“No, him I understand. He’s a power-hungry freak with a god complex. It’s you I don’t get. Why do this to me? We could have run this city together.”

He blinks, his face contorting as if I’ve just asked him the stupidest question in the world.

“Because after these years, Dom, you still don’t know your own weaknesses. You’re arrogant, selfish, and you never deliver. You’re so afraid of ever ending up as someone’s lackey again that you never let anyone up to your level. No matter what you promised, ever since we came up together, it’s always been all about you.”

I shake my head. I’ve always seen Theo as an equal, as someone I can depend on, even in my darkest moments. He was there when Rene killed Selene, consoling me and vowing revenge in turn.

He used to be my brother.

Now he’s in my way.

“Theo, I’m giving you one chance. Walk away.”

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about! You undermine every single goddamn thing I say, and you’re so fuckingstupid!You went chasing after this cunt like a dog in heat when we were supposed to be stealing an empire from a tyrant! What do you even want? Power or pussy?!“ He roars. “What was it you said? ‘Give me five years, Theo. Five years, and I’ll give you everything you could possibly want.‘“ He raises a brow. “Do you even remember?”

Sofie’s eyes are on me, and her breathing quickens. Maybe I do make more promises than I can keep.

“So I did what I had to do,” Theo continues. “Deschamps gets to keep running the city, you’ll be in the fucking ground, and I’ll be beside him the whole way. The devil’s right-hand man.”

“Where is he?” I growl.

“On his way. He said he wanted to face you alone. He’s taking his time, building up all of that anticipation, you know? But hey, I figure if you somehow didn’t make it, what’s the harm?”

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