And so I will take it all from him.
As he says something about having caught Myer’s in her room once, I start to pace in agitation, a plan forming in my head about what I’m going to do to him. I promised Sau his head...but that is too merciful a cut.
“I thought he was just checking in on her, but now…” He trails off, a pitiful expression on his face,and mine twists in displeasure and pain as I pretend to buy into hislies about him having caught my brother fixing his pants in Sau’s room. “How do you want to handle this?” David asks.
“You’ll have to kill him,” I say, finally stopping in front of him. “If I do it, the Family will turn against me.”
He nods, a flash of triumph in his eyes, quickly gone. “Of course I will. The Family comes first,” he says.
“And Leon,” I say, watching him carefully to see if he truly wishes for my son’s death or not, if Myer’s idea of him wanting Leon on the throne is true.
His jaw doesn’t tighten in the slightest. His eyes don’t darken with grief. He actually fucking smiles – just thebarest beneath his mask but enough for me to see given how closely I’m watching him, how much I already know of his sins.
“And I’ll try to find,” I start to say tightly, my power building beneath the tips of my fingers, “Katie.”
I lash out in that moment his eyes go glazed, lifting my hands to grab the atoms in his and ripping them apart at the wrist. He screams as he staggers forward, both of his hands left behind as they hit the carpet, dropping down two waterfalls of red.
I don’t stop the blood like I did for Bert; Sau isn’t here to see it.
I don’tdismiss him, turning my attention elsewhere for there is nowhere else for it to go. No panicking bride who needs to be soothed. No son who needs orders. Just him and me and the memory of my wife’s words.
“I want them to suffer.”
Stepping into the last of the space between us, I swing a fist into his jaw. My knuckles crack with the force of my blow. His jaw breaks. Blood whips out, splattering across my shirt as he staggers forward. His arms whirl in wild abandon, and I let him hit me, then sneer as he screams as he realizes that hurts him more than me.
As he falls to his knees, cradling his bleeding arms, Ipick up one of his hands with my telekinesis.His eyes lift to me as I place his own damn fingers around his neck and squeeze.
I lift him into the airwith calm, controlled movements of my hand. Hislegskick. His eyes bulge.
He stares at me in disbelief, and I relish in his panic. His fear. His realization that this is the end.
But oh how wrong he is.
For the end brings mercy.
And he will have none of it.
“You took what was mine,” I hiss as I squeeze his throattighter with his own fingers. “You violated the agreement between our Families concerning Sau’s innocence. You violatedherfor your own twisted pleasure.”
“That’s...what this…” he wheezes as sweat beads down his paling complexion. “...all about?”
I have half a mind to crush his vocal chords or perhaps rip them out entirely, but there are still truths I wish to know.Needto know so his punishment can fit his crimes.
As soon as I relax the grip on his neck, he coughs and then wheezes out a laugh. “You’re risking the Family for somewhore?”
I bare my teeth. “I would riskeverythingfor her. As you should have. She is your fucking niece.”
Blood dribbling down his lips, he sneers. “Yeah. She was a fuck all ri–”
I cut off his words with a flick of my hand, controlling his severed one to choke the words out of him. “You sold her. Yourapedher.You fed Leon liesto kill Chris–”
“Fed...him?”
My blood runs cold at the laughter behind his barely heard words. Soft rasps that are only expelled from his lips by pure force of will.A chill running down my spine, I relax his fingers, needing to hear what he has to say.
His eyes light up with cruel delight. “The boy,”he spits, “isdesperate to get rid of you. He’s been in on this since day one.”
“You’re lying.”