Page 6 of Dark OZ

“We tried to kill you, too.” She yanked the whip free, letting my body slump back down. “Unfortunately, you weren’t in the car the day I ran it into the lake.”

My heart was beating out of control. If it weren’t for the reminder of the fresh pain at my back, I would probably be falling into a full blown panic attack. If I was supposed to die with them, then why bother keeping me alive all these years?

Eastin picked up a snow globe from the corner of her desk. She turned it upside down. Flakes of glitter swirled around a tiny replica of an office building with a peaked roof, the iconic terrace at the top making it clear it was this building. Eastin sat on the edge of the desk before me, placing the snow globe beside her.

“Your knack for survival turned out to be fortunate, when at the reading of the will we learned the controlling stake in your family’s holdings wouldn’t have passed to Emily as we previously thought. But they would pass to you, and your guardian. Otherwise, your foolish parents were giving everything to thepeople of Oz. What a fucking waste that would have been.” Eastin rolled her eyes, like she wasn’t personally responsible for a quarter of Ozmandria’s population.

“Em got the money, with it she gave me the assets to seize control of all of this.” Her long nails clicked against the top of the globe as she lovingly stroked down its side. “Now that you’re 21, however, things have changed. Financial holdings passed to you on your birthday.”

I had no idea. My parents had enough money to kickstart an empire? Em of course never mentioned any of this. All she ever did was talk about how much I cost her.

“Convenientlyyourwill states that upon your demise all assets transfer to your closest living relative. Something I’m only too happy to help Emily with.” My heart rate sped up, aching at its ferocity. Eastin tenderly stroked the leather whip over my bruised cheek. The faceted edges, still wet from my blood, scraped the raw surface. “I’m owed your blood, baby girl. I earned the right to take my vengeance on your flesh.”

Vengeance? What had I ever done to her? I licked my dry lips.

“I think Emily thought holding onto you gave her some kind of power over me. I offered her money. She turned me down, at first. But you must have done something to make her really angry. Em sold you for not even half of what I offered the first time. She didn’t even haggle.”

I thought of the fury on my aunt’s face when Henry threw me at her feet, the angry phone call she made immediately afterwards.“She’s yours. I don’t care what you do with her. No, whatever you want.”

“Why?” The word slipped out before I’d realized what I’d done, and I instantly regretted it.

Eastin grabbed my chin, her thumb pressing hard against my damaged cheek. I cried out, a pained muffled sound forcing its way past my squished lips. Eastin pulled me towards her hard enough that I fell forward and had to brace against the desk. My wrists pulled at their bindings as I tried to find purchase.

“You want to know why I savor your pain? Why Iwilldelight in your death?”

I tried to nod, despite the fierce grip Eastin held on me.

“Because your parents took everything I ever loved, leaving only wickedness behind.”

My fingers bumped against something hard and cold. The snow globe. I acted on instinct. With both hands I latched onto the base. I pushed to my feet, swinging the full weight of the globe with all of the power I could muster.

The hard glass ball slammed into her temple. I felt the bone give way beneath me. Eastin fell to the ground with a withering sound. Before she could move again, I lowered the globe once more, smashing the bridge of her nose. A wide splatter of blood peppered the air. The glass broke and I rammed the pointed end of the building at her. I did it again and again, until she stopped fighting. The sounds she made went from pain, to something wet, and then she went completely still.

Standing, I dropped the building on her one last time. It slammed home in the wet pile of meat that had once been her face.

I stared at my shaking hands. My near naked body was coated in wet glitter and a speckling of blood that looked more like macabre freckles than the carnage at my feet.

I killed her.

Fuck.

I just killed Eastin Witcher.

That panic was rising again, along with a deep tremor. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t swallow.

What the fuck was I going to do?

I was dead. Deader than dead.And naked.

Chapter 4

Islidmyshirtback up my arms, and over my head, wincing at the pain in my wrists, my side, and the way the thin fabric clung to the raw flesh of my back.

First thing I needed to do was cut these bindings, and fast, before the guards returned. I scrambled around the desk, fumbling at the drawers as I went. Eastin had to have scissors in here somewhere. All I could find was a silver letter opener. It wasn’t even sharp.

I tried anyway, and gave a silent scream of pain and frustration when all I did was succeed in cutting up my wrists more. Maybe if my hands weren’t shaking so damn much.

“You’re going to need to be quicker if you want to get out of here before they return.”

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