Page 59 of Be My Sinner

I wipe the smirk off my face and stare at my father, looking deep into his eyes and letting him see right into the darkness that invades me. The one that lurks just below the surface and waits for every opportunity to be unleashed on the world. The darkness that makes me just as much a killer as Dinah Camrose.

“Nothing about this situation is humorous. You have a killer after you. You have brought an unhinged girl into this house, one who I am almost positive has been defiled by her guard, and you are demanding to marry her. Have you thought about how that will look to the Brotherhood, Ezekiel? What will you do about the guard once you marry her?”

“I’m not worried about the guard or her supposed defilement. He has protected what belongs to me all these years, and kept her safe. As for her being unhinged, aren’t we all? She is pure. I had my fingers up her tight cunt mere hours ago. When my cock slides through her, she will fucking bleed in her purity.”

A sarcastic laugh leaves my lips at my father’s look of horror. “The Brotherhood will thank me for doing my sacred duty, and marrying one of our own with a high-ranking founding family’s name, and breeding her until we can replenish God’s army.”

“Ezekiel!”

“I’m not done speaking, so perhaps you should shut your mouth, father,” I interrupt, my irritation rising with every moment I am forced to spend in his presence.

“The guard will become part of my household. He will remain with Dinah and help us to protect her from this Unholy Ghost, and anyone else who would think to harm her. He is loyal to her, and no amount of money can buy that type of loyalty. Furthermore, Abe will remain by my side with no further attempts to marry him off. You, personally, will speak to Peter and stop him from actively searching for a wife for him. When, and if, Abraham is ready to marry and leave my side, it will be his choice alone. Not either of yours.”

“These are big demands, son. Demands that you have no right or power to make. You are but a son waiting to take his place; I am the Founding Father. Now be a good boy and do what I say, Ezekiel. Let’s not make this more difficult than it has to be, shall we?”

He speaks to me like I am but a spoiled child. One caught with his hand in the cookie jar instead of a grown man, ready to knock his fucking teeth out. Disgust fills me for the man who has had a hand in raising me. He helped shape the monster that I am, and he doesn’t even realize the danger I am to him.

A deranged-sounding laugh leaves my lips, and I watch as Noah Rothesay shivers with unease from just the sound. It brings me immense pleasure to know that right now, I terrify him. He hasn’t seen me at my worst yet, but he will. I’m the villain he didn’t see coming. While he worries about killers hiding in the shadows, here I am in the light right before him.

“How very basic and powerless you think me, father. You say they’re big demands, and I’m here to tell you they’re but the tip of the iceberg. The real demands are buried under frigid, deadly waters that you can’t see yet, but you will.”

I move around the desk towards him, taking slow, menacing steps. “You think me weak, old man. A child that you can maneuver on a chess board to your advantage, but what you fail to see is that you taught me the game, and I’ve always been a quick learner. The student now surpasses the master.”

Two more steps, and then I’m standing right in front of the man who used to tuck me in at night with tales of the saints, long gone from this world. “Secrets seem to have a way of not staying so secret, and skeletons buried in shallow graves have a tendency to make reappearances at the most inopportune of times.”

I pick a piece of lint from his navy blazer and watch his jaw tighten. “Like, say, for instance, secrets that you wouldn’t want the Holy Father to know about, like your involvement in the murder of his kin. Or how about the sale of Sacred Daughters and Sacred Wives for nefarious reasons? Pretty sure he wouldn’t approve of those.”

My father tries to step back from me, but I wrap my hand in his lapel and hold him firm. “How about the siphoning of funds from various Brotherhood accounts over the years? Those funds were used to buy further influence and power for the Rothesay name, weren’t they?”

A smug smile crosses my lips as I watch his eyes widen dramatically. “Then there’s the little games you and Peter have my mother participate in. Ahh, yes, remind me. Is she not one of the Holy Father’s cousins? And was Maria Camrose not one of his precious and adored nieces? The Holy Father himself walked her down the aisle all those years ago when she married Francis Camrose, didn’t he?”

His body tenses, his shoulders rise closer to his ears, and I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs.Gotcha, motherfucker.“I’m sure he would be interested in what goes on behind closed doors, or maybe he already knows. The more important question is, what would happen if that information were to become public knowledge, say with videos and photographs, appearing out of thin air? He would have to disavow you and hunt you down like animals. You would have to stand trial before a populace just itching for another revolution.” I pause for dramatic effect.

“You see, father,” that word leaves my lips with as much disdain as I can produce. “I will have my demands met. All of them, and you will do it quietly so as not to garner any unwanted attention. I have all of that information ready and safe, just waiting to land in the hands of the rebels, and our beloved Holy Father. If something, say, were to happen to me, it would appear immediately in the hands of those who could do the most damage with it.”

“You would betray your own family name?” His voice is soft as he utters the words.

“I would end our family name with a fucking smile on my face, and meet the devil with a warm embrace.”

He looks at me with pure anger and hatred in his eyes. “You truly are a demon from the bowels of hell, Ezekiel. I should have had you killed years ago; you and Abraham. Neither one of you is right in the head.”

“Yes, you should have, but alas, that opportunity has passed. Do we have an understanding father, or do you need further convincing?” I bristle at the sight of him, standing there wishing he could have had me murdered.

His green eyes shine with wrathful loathing; his lip is curled in a snarl he wishes he could unleash. I almost wish he would, so I could slam my fist into his pathetic face. It must feel horrible to have your power taken away; maybe now he has an inkling of what he makes others feel.

“You would have to marry the girl immediately, Ezekiel. Tonight. You cannot keep her safe in your care without her carrying our name, especially if you have already abused her. She could cry foul to the Holy Father, and then your head would roll just as mine would. She would have to forfeit the remainder of her mourning period, and a special exception would need to be provided by the Holy Father himself.”

“Which you will see that we have in mere hours, won’t you, father? You, with all that power that you have garnered over the years,” I question with a haughty eyebrow.

He nods in affirmation, but I can see the resentment behind the action. He knows I have him by the balls, and it’s not something he’s enjoying. “All of the rituals would have to be observed. Even your threats can’t prevent that. A rushed wedding is still that to the Brotherhood, a wedding. You will have to bind her to you until death separates you. Life. Blood. Faith.”

A rush of sadistic pleasure races through me at the thought of the rituals, and of binding Dinah to me until death. Even then, if I were to die first, I would ensure she joined me in the underworld. Not even death will be able to take her from me now.

“One more thing, father. All of the Camrose fortune will be turned over to me solely. You will not dip your fingers into my pot. I expect those papers with the transfer of funds you have diligently held as executor, since Gabriel’s unfortunate and questionable death, to be signed and ready before my vows.”

I pat his shoulder and straighten out his tie, then turn around and move towards the door. I need to get out of this polluted room. Away from this man, who I once believed loved me. A younger, naive version of me who didn’t see the world for what it indeed was.

Corrupt. Evil. Dangerous.

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