Nila #2
My mind ran away, forgetting Flaw existed. The only way I could kill those who needed to die was to be strategic. I couldn’t do it around others. I couldn’t do it in plain sight. I had to be sneaky and wily and smart.
Every night, I stared into the darkness, using the black emptiness as a chalkboard for my plotting. I wished I had a treadmill in my room. Running always helped me problem solve. But even though my body remained stationary, it didn’t mean my mind did.
I’d never been so enamoured with death before or so hyped on hypothetical murder.
I knew from television to expect copious amounts of blood and a struggle if I stabbed my victims to death. I also knew that strength would mean nothing against Cut and Daniel, so I had to have the element of surprise.
A gun would’ve solved my problems, but the noise and lack of experience in aiming could potentially be my downfall.
All opportunities led to one conclusion...I had to be quick and quiet. I had to be ruthless. And it had to look like an accident or remain hidden long enough to steal three lives before I was slaughtered in retribution.
I can’t kill Bonnie.
Not yet. It had to be Daniel or Cut first...then her.
She’ll be my last.
“You better go. I doubt she’ll make allowances for lateness even if you haven’t written her on your social calendar.” Flaw’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “New day. New psychological plague to administer.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Ha-ha. Not funny.”
Taking a deep breath, I placed my cell-phone on the end of the bed. “I guess I have no choice.” Spinning to face him, I gathered my long hair and secured it in a messy ponytail with an elastic band from my wrist. “Did she say why at least?”
“Do I look like I have tea and crumpets with the fucking woman?” Flaw rolled his eyes. “All I was told was to get you.” He held up his hands. “And no, I don’t have insider knowledge like I did with the lawyers. This time, you’re on your own.”
His eyes skated down my white jumper with a filigree seahorse and denim skirt. “I, eh...don’t have to tell you what happened a few days ago has to remain secret...no matter what she, eh...does?”
My heart spiralled into a tailspin. “What are you saying? She’ll torture me?”
I was no stranger to pain but deliberate extraction of information through agony? How long can I endure something like that?
He stiffened. “If she knew you had something you weren’t telling...I wouldn’t put it past her.” Coming closer, the strain around his mouth and eyes was prevalent.
I’m not the only one not sleeping.
“I don’t need to tell you how—”
“How important it is that those who shall not be named remain dead? Yes, I understand.” I placed my hand on his arm. “I won’t tattle. What you did to help them has firmly earned my loyalty. My lips are sealed.”
The air in the room turned heavy with seriousness. “I’d understand if she did something to make you tell.”
I blanched. “You think I’ll crack? I’m in love with him. There’s no way in hell I would jeopardise their lives.”
His shoulders slumped. “Okay. Sorry for pushing. My neck’s on the line, too.”
I dropped my touch. “I know. You’ve gone above and beyond...only...”
My forehead furrowed. Details were often the crux of impending ruin. Flaw and Jaz had freed them, but now Jethro and Kes were in the hands of doctors, nurses, and people who would talk.
“Only what?” Flaw prompted.
“How did you do it?”
He pursed his lips. “Do what?”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Get them to the basement. How—”
“Easy.” He ran a hand through his hair, wincing at memories. “Don’t suppose you know how many secrets live on the estate. How many animals exist—all bred for different purposes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve seen the pheasants for shooting, horses for riding, dogs for hunting. But I doubt you’ll have seen the pigs.”
I took a step back. “Pigs?”
“Pigs are an excellent way to dispose of things you never want found again.”
My mouth hung open. “Excuse me?” In the months I’d lived in Hawksridge, I hadn’t seen a single pig. “Where?”
“They’re hidden over the chase. Having a few pigs and not a pig farm can be suspicious these days, thanks to the recent mobster movies, serving shall we say ‘alternative food.’”
I wrung my hands. “You’re saying Cut feeds his enemies as food to his pigs?” My gullet churned, wanting to evict all knowledge of this conversation. “Shit, he’s barbaric.”
Worse than that—he has sewage for a soul.
Flaw raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying it.
“Whatever you think, it’s smart business.
” His voice lowered to a sepulchral whisper.
“Anyway, Cut asked me to get rid of their bodies. Only, Kes and Jethro had already come to me first. They knew something like this might happen. After all, they’ve been playing with their lives for months.
We’d all agreed that I would remain in Cut’s good graces and do what I could to give them a second chance. ”
I kept my voice quiet—hidden from microphones trying to record our treason. “But how did he not notice they were still alive?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Pacing away, I scowled. “Didn’t he ask if they were dead?
Didn’t he get on his knees and see for himself if he’d killed his sons?
” Even asking those questions turned my saliva into a sickly paste.
How could a father not even stand over his children and say a prayer or goodbye?
How could he just pass off their remains to a servant without a backward glance?
A monster, that’s who.
Flaw grinned, a calculating glint in his eyes. “Aren’t you glad he didn’t? If he had, the outcome of this would’ve been entirely different.”
Ice ran through my blood. He’s right.
In a way, Cut’s cold-heartedness had destroyed Kes and Jethro but saved them, too.
“Once I’d removed them from the lounge, it was a simple matter to take them where I needed.
Cut didn’t question me. In fact, I happen to know Jasmine kept him and Bonnie plenty entertained with her screaming about wanting revenge on you.
” His eyes warmed. “That girl thinks fast on her feet. It was a good diversion.”
Yes and kept me safe from the full Debt Inheritance.
I ought to be nicer to Jasmine. The risk she’d played would’ve silenced any lesser woman. She truly was Jethro’s sister—strong, formidable, and slightly scary with her temper.
“After I returned from hiding them and setting up the medical equipment, I reported to Cut that it was done.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “All he cared about was if the carpet was cleaned.”
My heart shattered under an anvil of hostility.
Cut was more worried about an object than his sons’ souls.
Utter bastard. Sick, twisted freak.
And who taught him those qualities? His dear old mother.
Bonnie—the female version of the devil.
My hands balled. “I’ve heard enough.”
Bonnie had summoned me. She’d scared and intimidated me but she was no match for my sheer hatred. I wanted to throw her in a cauldron and watch her bones bleach white. I wanted to behead her and witness her body twitch with death throes.
That’ll come true before this is over.
“Take me to her. It’s time we had a little chat.”
* * * * *
“About bloody time.” Bonnie sniffed as Flaw beckoned me over the threshold.
The second my sock-covered feet padded onto the pale pink carpet of Bonnie’s domain, he cocked his chin in goodbye and abandoned me behind the closed door.
All alone.
An opportunity or a disadvantage?
She couldn’t hurt me. Names and slurs weren’t enough to subdue me anymore.
Screw surprise and secrecy.
If I have an opportunity, I’m taking it.
“What do you have to say for yourself, girl? Tardiness is a dirty sin and must be abolished.” Bonnie tapped her cane like a cat flicked its tail.
No matter how much time I spent in the Hall, I doubted I would ever explore all the rooms and levels it offered.
Bonnie’s quarters were yet another surprise.
Flaw had guided me up the stone staircase where Jasmine and Cut’s study rested, only to pace down a different corridor and up another set of stairs made of winding red carpet and unicorn spindles.
Straightening my shoulders, I looked down my nose at the shrivelled old woman. “I have nothing to say for myself. I was in the middle of something important. I couldn’t let a simple summoning derail me.”
She made a strange wheeze—like wind through wheat or ghosts over a graveyard. “You insolent little—”
“Guttersnipe. Yes, I’ve heard it before.
” Moving forward, I didn’t ask permission as I inspected her domain.
Every part of me shook. I was angry, afraid, livid, terrified.
Lying in the dark, bolstering my courage and fermenting in hatred hadn’t prepared me for face-to-face duelling.
This was new—putting my thoughts into action.
Now that I knew Jethro was alive, I had something to risk.
A future.
Jethro’s alive.
I’m alive.
We can be alive together—far away from here.
If I became too impertinent, I could ruin my plans and destroy my future. But if I didn’t stand up to them, I might not see the next debt coming—just like I didn’t see the Third Debt until it was too late.
I had to be strong but aware, vengeful but intelligent—it was an exhausting place to be.
Bonnie’s room wasn’t what I expected. The peach coloured walls, white fireplace, and rose fleurs on the ceiling plasterwork all spoke of a law-abiding, cookie-baking grandmother.
How can a room fulfil the stereotype of elderly nana when the woman is anything but?
The wainscoting gleamed with gold wallpaper, while cross-stitch framed artwork graced every inch of wall space depicting bumblebees, dragonflies, and multihued butterflies.
I expected torture equipment and the blood of her many victims on the wall.
Not this...