Chapter 16 #2
I threw myself off of her. My heart raced, my throat tight and sore. I buttoned up my pants, my movements harsh. Everything was blurry as I tried to find my place. I angled toward the staircase, ready to leave.
“Hazard?” Zira asked softly. I stilled.
Her father had killed Gabby, and Zira cared more about keeping him alive so she could get her little secret society, than she cared about telling me the truth. And Bloom had raped Zira. Bullied her. Disrespected her for years. Treated her like an object. Made her feel like garbage.
How could she protect him from me?
“Hazard, did you kill Ernest?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Madness filled me. Every muscle in my body tensed as I laid my eyes on her. Crumpled on the floor. A mess of wet fabric and bleeding makeup. A disgraced queen.
The best way to get revenge for Gabby would be to kill Zira, Bloom’s only offspring.
And why shouldn’t I kill her?
I pulled the gun out of my holster and aimed it at Zira’s head.
“You know what I think?” I asked. “I think I know who killed Gabby, and you know what would hurt that son of a bitch the most? Killing his only daughter before he got his grandson.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zira snarled, staring straight down the barrel of the gun.
“But I do, don’t I?” I said. “I killed Ernest. There. I said it. Does that make you happy, Bloomy?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You broke your promise to me.”
“Why don’t you go run to your daddy?” I said. “You’re just like those men that you hate. Just like your daddy.” I spat to the side of us, wiping my face on the back of my free hand. “You’re selfish to your fucking bones.”
“Fuck off, Hazard,” she snapped. “You’re doing the same thing to me. I just happened to do it better than you.”
A crash of heat landed on my shoulders, trickling down to my toes. This is how she wanted to play? Digging the knife in deep and twisting it?
Then I was going to emotionally gut her too.
“You know what hurts you the most?” I asked, jabbing the gun closer to her.
“If you had been the least bit competent, your daddy would have made you a board member. You know he could. He always had that power. There ain’t nothing stopping him.
But you never measured up, did you? Not even after everything you did.
You’ll never be able to change anything.
You’ll end up here like the rest of these corpses. ”
“Fuck you,” she rasped.
“You’re protecting someone who thinks you’re trash. A vessel to be used. Married off. Forgotten. Just like the rest of them,” I growled. “You mean nothing.”
She balled her fists. “Stop talking.”
“I was the closest shot you had at getting what you wanted. You’re never going to fix things now.
” I aimed my gun to the side. “Say goodbye to those dreams you had. Balance. Getting even. All that power you wanted just to watch it go up in flames?” I laughed hard.
“You never even had a match, baby. What makes you think it’ll burn? ”
“Shut the fuck up!” she screamed. She ran toward me, knocking into my arms. I shot the gun, the bullet striking one of the wooden boxes.
Zira latched onto me, wrapping her legs around me like she was climbing a tree, then she grabbed my head as if she wanted to rip it off.
I laughed in her face, making sure she could feel every pleasurable breath.
“You know why I’m not going to kill you?” I asked. “Because you don’t mean shit. Your daddy doesn’t care if you live or die. He never believed in you. No one will ever believe in you.”
Suddenly, she stopped, glaring into my eyes like she saw something there that hadn’t been visible before. She pulled back, shifting her eyes between mine.
“It’s easy to hate on someone else,” she said calmly, “as long as you’re not the fuck up. Isn’t that right, Hazard?”
“The fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“You want to blame my father. Me. Anyone else. Except you can’t face the hard facts, can you?”
“The hard facts about what?” I shouted, pulling her off of me.
She landed on her feet, then smeared a hand across her face, the black streaks painting her like a warrior. “The only reason your sister accepted the arranged marriage with the Syndicate in the first place was because you had gotten her into financial debt.”
“So?”
“You’re the one who fucked up. You’re the reason she searched for my father’s secret society. That’s right,” she laughed. “Gabby searched for us. She knew the Marked Blooms Syndicate was the only way to save you.”
“If you say another word, I’m going to hurt you,” I whispered harshly.
Zira grinned, tilting her head to the side. “My father didn’t kill your sister, Hazard,” she said. “You did.”
I pulled the hammer back and put the gun to her temple. Zira blinked, a slight smile on her lips. Was it because she wasn’t afraid of death, or was it because she knew I would never kill her?
She infuriated me.
I threw the gun to the side of the room, letting it skid across the floor.
She slowly clapped for me, throwing in a jagged laugh for show.
The fucking bitch. I hated her. Hated every part of her brain.
Her need to hurt others. Her desire for power.
Her selfishness. But I hated her because I saw so much of myself in her.
And yet, somehow, I hated her because her reasons seemed far more important than mine.
She wanted revenge, but the result of fulfilling that goal would far outweigh anything I could do for Gabby. Gabby was already dead. Zira was here, still trying to change things, even if she knew it might not work.
And maybe Zira was right. Maybe it was all my fault.