Bonus Epilogue
HARLOW
Lotz-Moore stared at me as he took his last breath; he couldn't keep his head up any longer. It wouldn't have done him any good anyway. The water was too high.
"What time is it?" Boner asked.
"Eleven twenty-three," Jules said. "Fuck."
I glanced over to them, questioningly.
Boner was grinning.
Jules was scowling at him.
Archer and Cass both looked resigned.
"What am I missing?" I asked.
"We placed a little wager on what time he'd die," Boner said. "My guess was the closest."
"You got lucky," Jules said. He pulled out his wallet and handed Boner a twenty.
"I have skills." Boner accepted the money and tucked it into his pocket before taking one each from Cass and Archer. "Predicting his time of death is just one of them."
"I'm impressed," I said teasingly.
"Of course you are, love." He tucked the other two bills into his pocket. "Time to get him out of there."
He unlocked the top of the box and eased the lid open. He looked way too eager.
"You didn't just bet money on it, did you?" I asked.
"You know me too well," Boner said. "No. Part of winning meant I get to cut out his heart and give it to you."
He looked more pleased about that than he did about the money.
"Cass and I didn't enter into that part of the wager," Jules said.
"I did." Archer sighed.
I stepped over to put my arms around his neck. "It's okay, you're here to witness it."
"Yeah," Archer said. That didn't seem like much consolation, but he helped Boner to pull Lotz- Moore out of the box and carry him over to the table.
I opened the small plug in the corner of the box to let the water trickle down to the drain in the centre of the bathroom.
The others gathered around the table, while Boner brandished a knife.
"I feel like I should say a few words or something." Boner cleared his throat. "Here lies Zeus, dead as a goose." He grinned while the others groaned.
I laughed and shook my head. "Very sentimental."
"I thought so." He started to slice into Lotz-Moore's chest.
Cass swallowed deeply, but didn't move. Instead, he stood and watching carefully cutting away skin and flesh before he reached Lotz-Moore's heart.
"Once again I'm surprised one of these assholes has a heart," Boner said, carefully slicing it free from the corpse's chest. "One of these days I'll open one up and find nothing. I might test that theory on Jules."
"Fuck off," Jules said, backing up a step but not looking worried or even angry. He knew Boner wasn't going to kill him.
Boner scooped out the heart and held it out to me. "Here it is. The last one for you, m'lady." He bowed low while offering it to me.
It was still warm when I held it in my hand, blood pooling on my palm.
It seemed like such a small thing, but this was a big moment. The last of my sister's abusers was dead. I hoped wherever she was, she was finally at peace.
"I'll put this in a jar and add it to my collection," I said.
The last and final heart. Now I could get some rest for myself and enjoy my life with my four gorgeous boyfriends.
Thank you for reading.