Page 108 of Heartless Enemy

Roaring fury seared through my veins. I hadn’t realized how angry I really was until he spoke those words. Who the fuck was he to say that I hadn’t been a good person before he took over as my guardian? And who the hell was he to decide what constituted helping people and contributing to society? He had no fucking right to try to make me into someone thathedeemed worthy. I made my own choices. For good or evil. This was my life, and I alone decided how I wanted to live it.

“Please, kiddo—”

“Do not call me that. You never had the right to call me that.”

“Look, I—”

“You killed my father. You took everything from me. And now, I am just returning the favor.”

The pleading look at last disappeared from his eyes. Instead, a stubborn and righteous anger took its place. Glaring back at me, he ground out, “I will beat this.”

“No, you will go down in history as one of the worst traitors the north side has ever seen.”

“Now that I know what you have done, I will tell the judge and the whole court. They will believe me when they hear the truth in my words. Iwillclear my name.”

“No, you won’t.” A terrifyingly cruel smile spread across my lips. “Because the crooked constable known as Ulric Smith committed suicide in his cell tonight because he would rather die by his own hand than face his colleagues and friends and family now that they all knew the truth about him.”

Shock pulsed across his face. “What?”

“Blood requires blood.”

I rammed the knife into the side of his neck.

The dinner knife that I had swiped from the desk when I passed it wasn’t very sharp, but it didn’t matter. With enough force, it still punctured Ulric’s carotid artery.

He sucked in a gasp, his eyes going wide with both shock and pain.

Blood sprayed as I yanked out the knife. Holding the dull utensil in my left hand, I watched Ulric crumple to the ground. He hit the edge of the bed first, trying to hold himself up. Then he slid down on the floor next to the bed instead. Lying on his back, he stared up at the white stone ceiling while desperately trying to press his hands to the wound. Blood leaked between his fingers, forming a pool of red on the floor beside his head.

Being careful to keep clear of the blood, I crouch down over him.

His body spasmed.

“You’re just…” he pressed out with great effort as he stared up at me with damning eyes. “Like your father.”

A wide grin twisted my lips. “I know. Isn’t it great?”

He opened his mouth as if to speak again, but only managed to cough blood into my face. I remained where I was, crouching over him, and watched as the life bled out of him second by second.

When his eyes at last glassed over, and he stopped moving completely, I expected to feel a stab of guilt. But I didn’t. Instead, a ruthless sense of satisfaction spread through my chest. It hardened my heart, turning it blacker and colder.

It was worth it, though.

No matter how I looked at it, this vengeance would always be worth it to me.

I reached down and placed the dinner knife in Ulric’s right hand. Since that was his dominant hand, I had made sure to stab that side of his neck. A suicide with his left hand holding the knife would’ve been odd.

Fortunately, since Ulric had been trying to stop the blood with his shackled hands, they were already positioned close to his neck, so I didn’t have to move them. All I had to do was to place the knife there and curl his fingers gently around it.

Then I straightened and reached into my pocket.

Paper rustled as I pulled out the forged suicide note that I had asked Sonia to make for me.

Prisoners were allowed a pen and paper, in case they wanted to organize their defense arguments, so I opened the desk drawer and pulled out a blank paper that I stuffed into my pocket. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if they counted the papers in the desk, but the more convincing I could make this the better.

Once I had taken the blank paper, I placed the forged one and the pen from the drawer on top of the desk, right next to Ulric’s now empty plate. They would be back for that within the hour, so I really needed to leave soon.

The suicide note said exactly what I had told Ulric. That he didn’t want to face his friends and family and the colleagues that he had been betraying for years, now that they all know how crooked he really was. Since I had spent so much time with Ulric over the years, I knew exactly which phrases he would have used. No one would ever believe that someone else had written it.

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