24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Naomi
“Y ou look quite lovely tonight, Belle.”
“Oh, thank you,” I say, forcing a blush. “Killian got this for me.”
“How do you know my nephew?” he asks.
“Oh, we met a few years ago. It’s an on-and-off situationship.”
Andres’ limo quickly arrives, and he opens the door for me. “After you.”
I get inside, but my right thigh is exposed due to the lack of fabric. I note that the front is blocked off where the driver is. “Thanks.”
“Situationship, that’s a new one.” He laughs, seemingly perplexed. “I figured it was more with that charm you wear.”
“We thought it’d be a cute touch, even if for one night only.”
“So he wouldn’t miss you if you were gone?” he says, staring at my chest before bringing his eyes to my lips. “I mean if the other woman showed up.”
I stammer, “Uh, I guess not.”
“How about some champagne as we get to know each other?”
Barf. “Sure!” I agree. “I’d love to get to know you better, Andres.” I make sure to roll my r and give him my best flirty eyes.
“I can see why Killian keeps coming back,” he says as he gets two flutes and pours the piss-flavored liquid inside
“You have no idea.” I giggle.
“One second.” He types a quick text and looks toward the front of the car. “Okay. Now, where were we?”
“About to drink?” I say, pretending to be shy.
“To new friendships.”
“To new friendships,” I cheers as I force a sip down.
“Drink, drink, it’s a party,” Andres encourages.
I smile and gulp the whole thing down. We talk for the next thirty or so minutes before the car starts to sputter.
“I feel funny,” I slur out.
“Driver, what’s wrong?” he asks, but there’s no response. “Maybe some fresh air will help,” he says with a smile.
“Oh — ” I hiccup. “‘Kay.”
“So precious,” he says, pushing a loose hair behind my ear. He helps me out of the car. “Looks like we’re by the forest you wanted to explore.”
“Yeah.” Goosebumps erupt over my body as the cold air of the night hits. “Can we go home? The hotel’s not too far.”
“Just take a deep breath, little bird. It’ll all be over soon.”
“What?” I stammer back but hit the car door. “What do you mean?” I ask, shaking my head. This is what my mother must’ve felt.
“I see something I want to collect, and I like to chase my prey.”
“That’s not news to me,” I say, taking my mask off.
He tilts his head. “You look familiar.”
“I’d hope you’d remember the daughter of the woman you killed.” I stop pretending to be drugged. Axel swapped out the alcohol earlier. While he was able to run after his prey early in his killing career, he’s too old for that now with his younger victims.
He smirks. “I’ve killed so many, but I do remember a face. Naomi, not Belle, isn’t it?”
“No, I’m only Belle to Axel. But we figured saying my real name would put you on edge.”
His smirk disappears. “We?”
“Did you not realize that I just said the woman you killed? I know what you did, Andres. Or should I say Wildcat?” I stand up tall.
He takes his bottom lip in with his teeth. “Well, it looks like it’s just us and a whole lot of forest for you to run.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Are you ready to run, Andres?” I say.
The front two doors of the limousine open. “Are you, Uncle Andres?” says Killian.
“I do love a good chase,” Axel chimes in.
“Killian! What?”
“Oh, save it,” he says. “You killed my parents and I know it. Then tried to get Naomi to kill me. Who fucking does that shit to their own family?”
“The world was better off without them. No one deserves to be that happy. Fucking perfect company. Perfect marriage. And their perfect fucking son,” Andres spits out.
“Well now you’ll get to experience first-hand how it feels to be prey,” I say.
“And how it feels to be betrayed by your own family,” Killian adds.
Andres looks at us before turning to Axel. “And you?”
“I’m just here to help.” He shrugs. “I don’t like when my friends are upset. And what you did was far beyond that.”
“It’ll take more than you three to take me down. You’re forgetting I’ve been around longer than two of you combined.”
“I think you’re forgetting that’s the exact reason why we’ll have better stamina than you. You’re used to drugging your victims more recently, no?” Killian asks.
“I-I can take you,” he stammers, while trying to seem like he’s able to hold his ground.
“We’ll give you a running head start,” I say mischievously.
“Wh-what?” Andres stumbles back a step.
“Run!” I yell. “Since you do love a good chase, we thought we’d comply.”
“Fuck!” he screams as he bolts toward the trees and into the Forest of Malmaison.
“This’ll be fun!” Axel exclaims. “I can’t wait.” I take a moment to remove the bottom of my dress to reveal shorts and grab a pair of sneakers from the trunk. We all also grab a few weapons that will be easy to carry.
“FUCK!” Andres screams as I hear the world’s deadliest giggle. Perfect. I slam the trunk closed.
The men look in my direction, confused, as I start jogging in the direction of the scream. They follow behind as I say, “I think Quinnly found him.”
“Your sister Quinnly?” Killian asks.
“Yeah, loser. You think I’d miss this?” Quinn comes out from behind a tree holding a bloody knife.
Axel’s jaw drops. “You’re magnificent. I think I’m in love. ”
Quinnly tilts her head at him. “Of course you are.”
“We’re definitely becoming best friends.” Axel smiles at her.
Killian waves at her. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m sure it is,” she deadpans before pointing. “I let Ass dres go that way.”
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, Uncle .”
Quinnly skips next to us. “I got him good. Right in the shoulder. I’ll be needing the other half of my scissors back.”
I motion to the group as I put my finger to my lips and point. Once we’re quiet I can hear someone breathing heavily. I pull out a dagger and stealthily move to where the noise is coming from. I crouch down and stab Andres in the leg.
“Please, God, no!” he screams and lunges forward to run, but the injury is slowing him down. He turns to look at me to see if I’m following, which I’m not, but he runs straight into the barrel of the gun that Axel’s holding. Andres shoves his hands up to protect himself as Axel pulls the trigger. He screams with such ferocity.
“Come on, Andres,” I tease. “I was expecting more from the great Wildcat.”
Andres whimpers, “Please.” He turns to the left and is met by Killian who stabs him in the stomach.
“What happened, Uncle? Losing your edge in your old age?”
“I’m sorry . . . just let me go.” He runs again, forgetting about Quinnly. She looks beautifully manic holding the remaining half of her bloody scissors. Andres takes one look at her and steps back.
“Looks like we have a game of monkey in the middle!” Quinnly squeals. “Where are you gonna run to, big boy?” She’s grinning from ear to ear and raises her eyebrows at him.
“There’s nowhere left to run, not that you gave us much of a fight. You’re pathetic, really,” I say.
“Your mother didn’t think I was,” Andres snarks.
Grabbing a throwing blade, I chuck it at him, hitting him directly in the eye—I knew I wouldn’t miss the mark. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he screams as he holds his eye, not daring to dislodge the blade.
“Bullseye!” Quinnly claps. “Well, Ass dres-eye, or whatever.”
“You taught me well, Quinn.”
With only one good eye, he tries to run between Axel and Killian, but they grab him in a few short strides. “There’s nowhere left to run, Uncle. Now it’s time for us to exact our revenge.” Killian punches him in the face repeatedly.
I grab him by his hair and yank down, making him fall. Once he’s down, I kick him hard in the stomach and his pathetic dick.
“We’ll make you relive each injury you caused our parents. Every fucking cut, punch, and kick,” I say.
“I beg of you,” he pleads through the tears and blood streaming down his face.
Killian scoffs. “Not yet, but you will we really get started.”
“Okay, Wildcat ,” I spit out, “maybe I can help you.”
“Please, yes, I’m sorry.” He grabs my legs.
“How about I help you with your eye? I’m a great trauma surgeon, you know.” I grab the hilt of the dagger, which makes him scream. I twist the blade and yank it out quickly making his eye pop out of the socket.
“Fuck!”
“If that’s trauma surgery, I think I can do it too,” Axel comments.
“Mi! You should show us more!” Quinnly says.
I smirk. “Like a full live anatomy lesson? Sounds like fun.”
“You get one last chance to try running,” Killian states.
Andres looks like he’s going to puke and faint, but he starts hobbling through the deliberate opening we leave. He starts to jog and then run as he holds his vacant eye socket.
“He’s running — ” Axel starts.
“Toward the car. It’ll be convenient not to have to drag him back. We’ll go to the secondary location now.”
We match his stride and trickle in formation behind him, allowing him to continue to tire himself out. He makes it to the road, where our limo still stands. “Help! Help!” he screams to no avail.
Killian punches his uncle, and we stuff him into the trunk of the car. After a few minutes of driving we make it to the abandoned warehouse we outfitted for the occasion. We set up a bed with harnesses and brought many fun toys to play with.
Axel and Killian help situate Andres on the bed while Quinnly and I look through the weapons we want to use.
“What do you want to learn first, guys?” I ask as I hold up my tried and true tool—a scalpel.
“I’ve always been curious about the digestive system!” Axel states.
Quinnly rolls her head up, thinking. “I don’t really care, but we should aim for his balls and dick too.”
“Arms and hands,” Killian whispers. “The same ones he used to hug us, his family. And the ones that he used to make the deal to have them killed.”
“Sounds like a long TED talk. You ready, Andres?” I ask. But he’s just moaning because we duck-taped his mouth—he was trying to bite when we pulled him out of the car. Glancing over the table of tools and items, I furrow my eyebrows. “I’m sorry. Looks like we forgot the morphine. Guess you’ll have to stay awake and alert for us.” His screams grow louder despite being muffled.
“You can learn something too,” Quinnly chimes in.
“I’m just kidding, there was never any other way besides you feeling every moment of pain.” I move toward him with the biggest smile on my face.
We all take our sweet time with Andres, not finishing for a couple hours. I made sure to pack smelling salts in case he passed out from the pain. Thankfully, we only had to use it once. He wasn’t allowed to miss out on a second of agony. For what he did, he deserved so much more. By the time midnight strikes, he takes his last pained breath. Which helps Killian and me finally be able to take a relieved one for avenging our parents.
Killian’s holding me by my shoulder as we look up at the moon. Our mess is being cleaned up by the crew Axel has on standby. No one will ever know what happened here. Axel and Quinnly are a few feet away, talking about their favorite ways to torture someone.
“Thank you for bringing me some peace,” I tell my kidnapper-turned-saviour.
He kisses my forehead. “I could say the same to you.”
I turn to face him and envelop him in a hug. “Here’s to our next adventure together, without the weight of this trauma looming over us. I’m excited to continue to get to know you, from you . . . not by stalking you.”
I feel him laugh into my head. “Yeah, that would be nice.”
“I really like you, Killer.”
“I really like you too, firecracker.”
“Let’s go home.”
“I’m coming too! Plus you need to meet Lincoln!” Quinnly says.
“Family dinner, anyone?” Axel says. In the end of this long twisted game, it seems like we’ve all come out winners.