Rex
“You were born and raised in West Orange, Kinnock. What about your childhood made you think you could ignore the warning of a Sinner?”
Kinnock’s eyelashes fluttered as if he were still unconscious, but I knew that was bullshit.
I’d been leaning against the wall, watching the man who my daughter had gifted her loyalty to, stare up at the ceiling.
I’d been so fucking quiet that he hadn’t even known I was there.
Most of the nurses didn’t know I was here either.
I’d crept into the bathroom and had stayed there until it was the early hours, just waiting for this moment.
“You can pretend with Ally and Wynter that you’re sleeping, but I’m not as inclined to believe you,” I drawled, boots clipping against the linoleum as I moved over to the bed. “You can’t face them, and you’re being a dick about it. That you just tensed up told me your ears are working fine.”
Not stopping until I was looming over him, I watched his eyes pop open to glower into mine.
Irritation masked his fear.
Poorly.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” he ground out, his voice raspy from misuse. “If you even think about touching me, I’ll press the alert button!”
“With which set of broken fingers, huh?” I mocked, smirking at the warning which was when my hand snapped out and I pressed my thumb to his eye.
The lid darted down then widened as he tensed and froze in place when my hand didn’t move. Against the pad of my thumb, his eyeball was wet. The eyelashes were crispy.
“W-What are you doing?” he whispered, preternaturally still, and not just because he sensed there was a predator in the room with him.
Kinnock was unable to defend himself seeing as the Triads had shown their displeasure by breaking a bone in each of his limbs.
That they’d left a mark at all was sign of their displeasure with the man.
I wasn’t sure I believed Xiang when he claimed he wasn’t in the skin trade, but I could be grateful he preferred to deal in favors rather than underage girls.
“What does it feel like I’m doing, Kinnock?” I breathed, looming over him as my thumb slowly pushed into the socket. He began choking, his head starting to whip from side to side, the heart rate monitor on his chest beginning to surge.
I ignored it all.
My thumb was inexorable.
Down, down, down, I pressed.
Soft flesh conceded to my force as I growled, “You think I’d let you get away with trying to sell my daughter?”
“I-It wasn’t like that,” he croaked, his forehead butting forward to try to dislodge my hold.
It didn’t work.
A soft scream escaped him just as his heart monitors went wild.
I immediately pulled back, watching him pant and strain to collect his breath, his head tilting down as if he could shield his eye from me.
“You do anything to endanger my daughter again, Kinnock, I’ll scoop out your eyeball with a teaspoon and force-feed it to you,” I hissed in his ear, just in time to back away as a nurse came bustling in.
I shot her a winsome smile. “He got overexcited when I told him last night’s scores… I’ll get out of your hair though,” I said before she could chide me.
And I made my exit.
Kinnock had better heed my warning or he’d spend the little time he had remaining blind.