Chapter 10 #2
As soon as Gabby had accepted the arrangement at the Marked Blooms Syndicate, she had likely started sending Hazard those payments.
It would have been easier to dismiss Hazard if he had kept the money for himself, but no, he had saved it for his sister.
Did he think she needed the money? Or did he not want to touch it, since it was hers?
He was full of spontaneity; why wouldn’t he spend that money on some crazy spur-of-the-moment idea?
I didn’t like it when people did ‘nice’ things. Hazard wasn’t supposed to have a soft spot for women or have actual respect for his sister. It put a sour taste in my mouth.
Because I couldn’t dismiss him.
Whatever it was, I was going to use Hazard to get Ernest out of my way. I didn’t want to mistake liking Hazard for trusting him; I knew better than that. This was a world so much bigger than me, and until I climbed my way to the top, anyone could try to stop me, even Hazard.
And I wasn’t going to let that happen.
As Gordie and I made small talk, a figure crowded the doorway, round and ominous. I clicked off the phone, finding my father. He braced himself, each hand on the doorframe, trapping me inside. My stomach sank and I closed my thighs together, placing my hands in my lap.
“Where’s your husband?” my father asked. “I’ve been trying to reach him for a few days now. It’s like he’s disappeared off of the face of the earth.”
I suppressed the smile growing inside of me. Logan was a small time kill compared to my father, but one day, my father would join him too, after I got what I wanted.
Then Hazard could work his magic.
“Don’t know,” I said, keeping my expression neutral. “Why?”
“Board business,” he huffed.
“I can help.”
He scowled, then fiddled with his cufflinks. “Simon is dead. Thought Logan might have a clue about what happened there.”
Ah! The man with white spiked hair who had taken a turn during my guillotine game at the Masquerade. Before Hazard took the remote from everyone else.
Had Hazard seen Simon play, then?
Warmth filled me. I knew what had happened; Hazard had killed him for me. And he hadn’t even bragged about it!
Hazard was such an odd mix of qualities. I couldn’t help but enjoy sifting through those impulses.
“Marc DuBois is missing too. It’s a mess,” my father sighed.
I let out a breath. That one was on me. I wasn’t at all remorseful for paying a contract killer to gouge Marc’s eyes and dismember his hands for harassing one of our staff members.
My father adjusted his collar, then glanced at me.
“You ought to move to your husband’s place now.
It’s a bit unfitting for you to be around when I can’t use you anymore. ”
I gritted my teeth. So the director didn’t like that he couldn’t screw his only daughter anymore. The fucking pig.
“I can help with the board,” I repeated, letting his ‘unfitting’ comment flutter away from me.
“We don’t need your help, but thank you, Zira,” he said.
I relaxed into my seat as he left the room.
It must have been alarming that Simon, Marc, and Logan had suddenly disappeared, especially since Logan was recently promoted to his position on the board.
Perhaps his little girlfriend had shown up, begging for answers.
I didn’t have anything against her, per se, but I liked the idea of her pitiful desperation.
Hazard’s drill echoed through the corridors, bringing me back to the present. Logan’s disappearance might have been a big deal to my father, but to me, my husband’s death was a small, negligible worry in the grand scheme of things. There were far more intriguing plans ruminating in my mind.
* * *
Night fell, and the echoes of the construction had disappeared in the estate, but Hazard’s truck was still in the driveway. He must have been snooping around again, but he didn’t have the key to the room inside of the catacombs, so the information about who had killed his sister was safe.
Like a specter, Hazard appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame, like he didn’t have a care in the world. A black box was in his hand.
“This may come as a shock to you, but I am a bit of a dabbler in metalworking,” he said.
I cocked my head to the side. “Like jewelry or construction?”
“I made this for you.”
He offered the box to me. It was square and deep, big enough to hold a plate, and for a millisecond, I wondered if he’d have another heart on a platter for me.
“You killed Simon,” I said, my tone filled with a sudden wistfulness that shocked me. I didn’t know I was capable of awe. “Didn’t you?”
“Who?” he asked, his eyes practically bulging from his skull.
“He was a member. White hair. He kept it gelled. Played at the guillotine before you did. You must have seen him.”
“Oh!” Hazard said. Glee filled his eyes as he nodded. “Forgot about him. Yeah, I killed Spiky. Didn’t like the way he touched you. But forget about that and stop teasing!” he barked eagerly, motioning at the box. “Open it now.”
I lifted the lid. Inside, a crown of black metal and yellow gold twisted in a circle, reminding me of a wreath of thorns. Sharp edges speared out of the sides, decorated with blood red rubies, and those red stones were circled by pearly white teeth.
“Are those—”
“Logan’s teeth,” he grinned. “I’ll have to work on finding yours, but for now, his teeth will have to do.” He cracked his knuckles together, almost like he was excited to finally give me this gift. “You deserve it.”
Something inside of me churned, and for once it wasn’t dread or disgust. It was something else. It was almost pleasant.
Maybe it was because Hazard was like me. Maybe that was why I was both disgusted and intrigued by him. He had his own intentions, but so did I, and neither of us hid that from each other.
But even with that knowledge between us, he didn’t have to make me a crown. He knew I was going to help him find his sister’s killer. Eventually.
He made the crown because he wanted to.
He took the box from my hands, then moved me so that I was in front of the full-length mirror in my wardrobe. A sheer dress hung off of my shoulders like the long branches of a willow tree, and he placed the crown on top of my head.
“Look at that,” he said, digging his nails into my hips. A shudder rolled through me at that possessive gesture. “A fucking queen,” he murmured.
For a moment, I was glued to my reflection.
The sheer dress made me look like I belonged in a fairytale, but I dimmed the lights and suddenly, I transformed into the villainess who had finally taken back her power.
I had fought for so long, always one step away, just out of reach, that sometimes, I wondered if I would ever be able to get what I wanted.
But right then, staring at myself, the crown of rubies and teeth on my head, it was like stepping into myself.
For once, I wasn’t fighting for it. I had it all.
Hazard stepped away, returning with a scepter in the same style; gold strands worked through the black metal, ending in a giant ruby dotted with pearly molars.
“It’s not just Logan’s teeth, is it?” I asked.
“Had to go hunting for more,” Hazard said. “Funny what you can find with the right motivation.”
My chest swelled, and everything was light, like I was walking on air. Logan had never believed in me, and now, his teeth and who knows how many others’ teeth—living or dead—were on my scepter, displayed like prizes.
Hazard peered over my shoulder, looking at my reflection. His eyes traveled from the crown on my head down to my red toenails poking out of my heels.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He twisted me around until my back was against him and he held the scepter against my throat.
The metal cut into my bones; he could snap my neck with a little more pressure, but he kept it right at that tight edge.
His deep growl filled me, shaking through my chest like a beast in a cage.
He released the scepter, spinning me around so that I faced him.
“I’m your fucking queen,” I howled, both turned on and enraged with power. “On your knees.”
He dropped down, then pulled up the layers of my dress, feasting on my pussy like a starved man.
His warm lips and tongue enveloped me, sucking me into a timeless space.
An emptiness filled my head, my brain transforming into mush as pleasure overwhelmed my senses.
He grabbed me by the ass, forcing my legs over his shoulders, then moved me to the floor, lying on my back beneath him.
He licked my folds until I vibrated with pleasure.
It was a never ending power shift with him; we were always swinging that balance back and forth, playing with each other until we knew we were ahead. But it was never unequal; it felt right. Like he was always ready to take his place by my side once we were done.
But I still had to fight him.
“Fuck,” I yelled. At those words, he pressed the scepter up to my neck.
He leered down, his eyes wide and bloodshot, his crooked canine pointing us toward our dooms. I reached for his pants, thrusting my hips against him, desperate for anything he would give me.
“Just—” I gasped, “—fuck—” I twisted my head and until my eyes landed back on his face, “—me!”
He lunged forward and mounted me, putting that scepter against my throat again. His cock impaled me as I choked, gasping for air. Every inch of his tattooed shaft hurt like hell. Stars flashed across my vision as the scepter pressed against my neck, making it so hard to breathe.
“Give it to me, you little slut,” Hazard shouted. “Come for me now!”
I suddenly came, bucking around him like a wild animal.
Without wasting a second, he pulled out, tossed the scepter to the side, and my lungs swelled, desperate for air.
He crawled over my body, then shoved his dick straight down my throat.
Those sharp black lines swirling around his cock filled my vision as he pulsed inside of me, taking my breath away again. Replacing it with his come.