Chapter 42
Istill can’t believe the state I saw him in. It’s unusual for me to see him vulnerable—scared, even. But deep down, I know he’s relieved and happy he finally went to his mother’s grave. He needed it.
On one hand, I’m a bit jealous of him because he has good memories of her, while I have nothing good to remember about my own. We both miss our mothers; only he was loved unconditionally by his.
Many times, I wonder if anyone has ever truly loved me. If I even deserve it.
But then he came, and I stopped wondering if I was good enough.
In fact, it’s better than I ever believed. He doesn’t pretend to be pure or gentle. He’s just there, proving it every single day, and for someone like me, that’s more real than anything else I’ve known.
He’s not trying to fix me. He sees the cracks and calls them beautiful because he carries his own.
When he looks at me, I feel seen. And if the price of that is a love soaked in obsession and marked by madness, I’ll pay it.
Back from the cemetery and still in my black pencil dress, I retreat to my room and leave him to talk to his cousin. He spoke of him like he was some monster, but if I’m being honest, the man I saw seemed serene and kind.
I would never have guessed that he was talking about a priest. Nothing about him suggests that he’s a killer.
But strangely, after all these weeks here in his house, I’ve got used to violence. Not that I like or accept it, but it’s not as strange to me as it used to be.
Hours pass without me realizing. I’m so absorbed in my thoughts, lying on my bed and just staring at the ceiling, that I don’t even notice when night falls.
I sit on my bed, a weird feeling in my chest as if something is wrong. I want to check on him. I step off the bed, barefoot, and walk toward the door.
Suddenly, the door swings open with force, startling me completely.
It’s Landon.
“Hello, pumpkin,” he pants, a sinister smile crossing his lips.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I ask, stepping back, trying to hide my terror.
“I’m sorry, my parents didn’t teach me manners,” he mocks, his arms extended to his sides as he prowls closer to me. “But that’s the way you like it, isn’t it?”
“If Cain finds out about it—”
“Why bring others into our nice little conversation?”
My breathing accelerates as he approaches me, and I realize I don’t have anywhere to go.
Do prdele! Shit!
“What do you want?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“Let’s just say that your mind is too innocent to understand.” He smirks, his eyes wide like a complete lunatic.
“Cain will kill you!”
“Cain is long gone, doll.”
“W-What?” I stutter, stumbling on my bed and sitting on it. He can’t be dead. No, no, no!
He holds my chin and raises my head to meet his gaze. “I want everything he owns, and I will take it all, one by one.” He grabs my throat tightly in his hand, making me gasp for air. “And I will start with his whore.”
He pushes me back and climbs on top of me. I yank myself as hard as I can, kicking and slapping him away, but he’s much stronger than me.
“Don’t worry, babe. I like it rough, too,” he hisses in my ear.
“Slez ze mě, ty zasranej prase!” Get off me, you fucking pig!
He forces my legs apart and slides between them.
He undoes his belt.
He unzips his pants.
My breath catches.
Please … please, God, no …
Then, a gunshot rings out in the distance, but it comes from inside the mansion.
“Fucking useless people!” he curses, pulling back slightly.
Instantly, he grabs my wrists and pulls my arms behind my back. He holds a zip tie and secures them together.
“Let me go, you piece of shit!”
“Shut up!” He slaps me so hard that I almost lose balance.
His phone rings, and he answers it.
“Talk,” he snaps. I can’t hear what the other person says. “Fucking useless piece of shit.”
One more gunshot. He hangs up the phone and pushes it back in his pants pocket.
Dazed, I barely notice him dragging me further, tying me to the chair with his leather belt.
“Let me go,” I breathe, trying to hold my head up.
He leans in, grabbing my hair in his fist. “I’ll come back for you, bitch. First, I’m gonna make sure that worthless fuck ends up with his brains splattered on the wall.”
“No, please, Landon.”
“Shut up!” he barks in my face. “Shut the fuck up!”
God, I’m too dizzy to talk. My cheekbone burns, and something warm trickles as if it’s bleeding. He sticks a piece of fabric in my mouth, but I’m too tired to protest.
He exits the room and locks me in.
Please, God. This can’t be the end.
Cain
Some time ago…
Fuck, my head is pounding. It’s a weird kind of pain; I haven’t felt like this in years. My neck hurts like a bitch, too. I try to move, but I can’t.
Son of a bitch!
I blink, trying to come to my senses and gaze around the room. I’m in my basement, tied to a fucking wooden chair. Wrists and ankles.
How did that …?
Now I remember. Judas left after we talked. I closed the door behind him.
Then Gregory said he had to do it because he had orders. Then … blackout.
That piece of shit. I will kill him.
I have to find Kate?ina and make sure she’s okay. Fucking bitches. I’ll kill anyone who even thinks about looking at her.
I gaze around the room to make sure I’m alone. I need to be fast. With great force, I push the chair back until it topples over, shattering.
Now I’m free.
I roll over and push myself up. I get to the wall, drop to my knees, reach behind a loose brick, and rip it out.
There it is.
The axe.
Right where I left it.
I grab it, line up the blade, and press the edge against the zip tie around my wrist. Fuck! It’s harder than I thought. But I do it, and now my hands are free.
My jaw clenches as I crack my neck and head upstairs.
They turned against me … me. I was a fool for letting them all live. I should have killed every single piece of shit who breathed wrong.
I have to find my girl.
Then, I’ll kill them all. One by one, I’ll wipe every worthless bastard out.
And when they pray to the Lord for mercy, they’ll realize God abandoned this place long ago.
Mercy isn’t in my vocabulary anymore.
I should’ve fucking seen it. That’s how those bastard cops made it to my door. That’s how they slipped past the entrance so easily. Everyone was in on it. Every fucking one of them.
I’ve gone soft. I let the hunt for my father blind me, and I forgot to watch my back. But that’s about to change.
Silence surrounds me as I reach the hallway before the living room. As I approach, I hear chit-chat.
“Stop shaking, old woman!” Gregory barks.
“Mind your business, boy!” Eleanor scoffs. “You have no idea what I’ve endured all these years. I want it to be over.”
“Soon it will. Grayson will be long gone soon as well.”
They have Grayson?
I hear footsteps behind me. It’s one of my men. A fucking traitor.
I press myself against the wall, hold my breath, and wait.
The second he passes, I lunge at him and clamp my arm around his throat. He gasps and tries to fight me.
Fucking bastard. He fights, but I’m past reason. My rage is heavier than his panic, stronger than his instinct to survive.
Just before he goes out, he pulls his gun and tries to fire, but I push his arm, and he fires into the air.
Alerting them to where I am.
Now we’re playing.
“Move!” Gregory commands.
I rip the gun from his hand and march into the living room, my finger ready on the trigger, my jaw clenched. The axe drags behind me, screeching across the floor.
I shoot.
Once.
Twice.
I jump on Ben, use his corpse as my shield, and march forward.
“Gregory!” I snarl. “You fucking rat!”
I shoot his hand, and his gun hits the floor.
He screams with pain. Damn, I like it—I shoot his knees out just to hear more.
But he can wait. I’ll deal with him after I’m done with everyone else.
I shoot Milo right in the chest, and blood explodes, splattering across my face. I grab his gun, which is still loaded, and keep going. After I’ve killed almost everyone, I shove Ben’s corpse on the floor and march up to Eleanor.
“No, wait,” she stutters, taking small steps back.
I don’t think. I lift the axe and take her fucking head off. Her body drops to the ground, and I’m standing there covered in blood, breathing like a bloodthirsty animal.
Stupid bitch should’ve silenced long ago.
And now, it’s this fucking insect’s time. It’s just me and him.
He’s sitting on the ground, his back against the wall, spitting blood and dying on my carpet.
I grab the axe and prowl closer to him. Fuck, I need a smoke right now.
“C-Cain, wait,” he stutters, blood dripping from his lips.
“You’ve been working for me for years now. I thought you were learning from me,” I mock, still pacing slowly towards him, the axe dragging behind me. “What was your mistake, Gregory?”
With his good hand, he attempts to retrieve his phone and dial a number.
“He’s free,” he whispers on the phone.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” I take the phone from his hand. “I’m talking to you, buddy. Where are your manners?”
“Mr. Manson, please,” he wails, trying to drag his dismembered sack of meat.
“Answer me, Gregory. What was your mistake?”
He clamps his teeth, his eyes slowly going vacant. “That I betrayed you.”
“No.” I snicker and stand up, my palm wrapping tighter around the axe’s wooden handle. “It’s that you didn’t finish me.” I raise the axe. “I bet you wish you had.”
“I’m so sorry,” he sobs, shaking with fear.
I swing hard and tear his fucking head off.
My rasps fill the room’s silence, but I don’t rest.
I need to find Kate?ina.
“I see you’ve got into business already, huh?” Landon says, his fucking sarcastic tone piercing through my skull, irritating me.
“I should’ve known. Who else could’ve come up with something this pathetic?” I hiss, turning slightly to look at him.
“Come on, sweetheart. You’ve got to give me some credit.” He grins broadly. “You didn’t see it coming.”
My head tilts slightly, a sinister smile spreading across my face.
“Clever trick. Got your loyal dogs wagging their tails. It must have felt like you mattered for once.” My expression turns solemn.
“Shame it ends here. You just signed your death sentence.” I raise the axe and rest it on my shoulder. “And I always see that coming.”
“Always so full of yourself. You’re just a whiny little brat still crying over Daddy.”
“I should’ve ended you when you first crossed the line. I warned you what happens to those who dare lay a hand on what’s mine.” I roll my sleeves up to my elbows.
“Oh, I’ve waited so much for this moment. Will you fight me like a coward?” He tosses his gun and raises his fists. “Or like a real man?”
This will be much more fun than I thought.
I let out a chuckle and toss the axe on the floor. “You think tossing the gun makes you brave?” I click my tongue. “You never made a move unless you knew your ass was safe. You always hid behind me like a fucking coward, every single time.”
“Then show me how tough the boy with the daddy issues really is.”
That’s it. The last straw.
I run towards him, and he does the same. We collide in the middle of the room, and I punch first, landing it on his stupid face.
Oh, poor Landon. I know your weaknesses, while you know shit about me.
He punches me hard in the ribs, but I barely feel it. I grab his jaw and shove him back, forcing him to stumble over the square glass table in the middle of the living room. I keep pushing until his back crashes through it, glass shattering around us.
He gasps, but I don’t let him rest even for a second. I grab him by the collar and drag him across the room.
He wants a real fight without any weapon? That’s what he’ll have.
We crash into the piano. He claws at me, coughing, bleeding, snarling like a cornered animal.
I slam the lid open with one hand.
With ruthless force, I seize his head and smash it down against the piano.
“End of the line.”
And then I bring it down.
Again.
And again.
And again.
His blood splashes all over me as I pull it down again, each smack harder than the previous one. I don’t stop until his fucking head rolls next to my feet on the floor.
“Say hi to your dogs in hell,” I pant, embracing the euphoria his death gives me.
His phone rings.
They say curiosity killed the cat, don’t they?
I search his pants pockets and check the phone.
Unknown number. I pick it up.
“Landon can’t come to the phone now. He’s … indisposed. But, please, do leave a message.”
“Ah, you always did have a smart mouth.”
What?
I don’t talk.
He knows I’m shocked. He feeds on it.
“What happened, son? Cat got your tongue?”
Wade fucking Ford.
And Landon has been plotting with him all this time.
“I will make sure you have the same end as your little vermin next to me,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
“And I’ll make sure your whore gets the same end as your mommy dearest.”
Kate?ina …
I march up to her room, the phone still pressed to my ear.
“Remember, son? I wasn’t there to witness it myself, but Atticus was very detailed about the way he choked her.”
“Kate?ina?!” I yell desperately, but I get no answer.
“Oh, the despair in her eyes, the madness that was choking along with her.”
I’m outside her bedroom and shove the door wide open.
She’s not here. Fuck, she can’t be …
“Kate?ina …” I breathe quietly.
“Here’s how this ends. Either you hear her choking on her blood through the phone, or you meet me in St. Stephen’s Church. Though honestly, I’d rather you watch her die. It’d be more poetic.”
“You fucking shit face. If you touch a single hair on her head …”
He chuckles darkly, then pauses.
“The choice is yours.”