Page 82 of Twisted Empire: King's Gambit

She hesitates for a second, clearly shocked, but then does as she’s told. Her knees hit the floor with a soft thud, and she looks up at me, her eyes welling up even more. God, I hate the fucking pity that snakes its way into my chest.

I lift the gun, aiming it straight at her forehead. My finger’s still on the trigger, but it’s like it’s glued there, refusing to move no matter how hard I will it to. I look into her eyes, and for a second, I see a flicker of something that makes my insides churn.

Is it hope? Love? Fucking desperation? I don’t know, but it’s unraveling me.

“Open,” I say, and she immediately obeys. I shove the muzzle into her mouth and grin. “My little slut loves taking things in her mouth, doesn’t she?”

My hand trembles, just a little, and I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, staring into an abyss. I could pull the trigger and plummet into that darkness, or I could—what? Forgive? Forget? Fucking absolve? I don’t even know if those words are in my vocabulary.

She gazes up at me with those whiskey eyes I used to be in love with, and I don’t even know where my life ends or begins anymore. I never should have let her in, never should have allowed her into my heart.

My hand is as steady as my shaking soul allows, my finger heavy on the trigger. Every instinct in me, every shattered piece of trust, screams at me to pull it, to end this farce once and for all.

Even as the woman I love is standing before me as both my savior and my damnation.

And yet again, I don’t know if the child is even mine and I doubt I’ll ever know.

“History has a fucked-up way of repeating itself,” I scoff, cocking the gun.

To be continued…

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