Chapter 48
DOMINIC
I glanced to my right. Maddox King lounged in the passenger seat, his hand scratched idly at the stubble on his chin, but his eyes were locked on the mansion in front of us. My father’s mansion.
If someone had told me years ago that I’d be here, sitting beside my former enemy—no, my father’s former enemy, planning his execution, I would’ve laughed in their face, but here we were.
“Are you sure the guards are only inside?” Maddox broke the silence.
“It’s Friday night. He always pulls them in for the evening so he can indulge in his… activities with no interruptions.” I glanced at my watch, the metal cold against my wrist.
“His wife’s there?” Maddox asked.
I nodded once, and his jaw clenched. Something flickered in his eyes.
After what his wife told me, nothing about Garrett Stone could surprise me anymore.
He was a monster in a bespoke suit, feeding off the pain of others like it was fine wine.
The kind of man who didn’t just destroy people, he enjoyed it.
No wonder his wife, who once hated me, came to me for help.
But it was my mother’s death that sealed his fate.
That was something I could never forgive.
All the punishment, manipulation, control—I might’ve survived that, I did survive that, but murdering the only person who ever looked at me with warmth?
He made me a weapon, and tonight, I was going to turn it on him.
For so many years, I harbored hatred for Maddox King, hatred that was slowly destroying me every fucking day.
I’m not saying he wasn’t guilty of what happened, yes, he was, but not directly, and fuck it, as much as I don’t want to admit it - I understand it.
He did what I would’ve done, what I will do for Athena King if anyone ever looks at her like she’s something to be claimed.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Maddox murmured, snapping the chamber of his gun into place. Alec, in the back seat, did the same.
“Let’s end this.” I nodded once.
The mansion loomed ahead, quiet on the outside but glowing from within. The party was already in full swing. We moved quickly, silently. The front entrance was left unlocked.
The halls were as I remembered. Each step took me deeper into the nightmare I’d once called home. We paused at the double doors of the main salon, voices carried from inside. Laughter, moans, liquor pouring. Alec gave me a look, and Maddox nodded as they raised their weapons.
I kicked the door open, and chaos erupted instantly. The guards, five of them, were too slow. Maddox and Alec moved like predators, executing them with brutal precision. Bullets flew, bodies dropped to the ground. Blood sprayed across the marble floors like crimson ribbons.
Screams filled the room. The half-naked women scrambled for the exits. They weren’t here willingly, and we weren’t here for them. One man tried to run, pants half-down. Alec caught him by the collar, threw him back on the couch, and smiled darkly.
“Going somewhere?” The man whimpered, and Alec aimed lower. “Let’s make sure you never get up again.”
Bang. The scream that followed was inhuman.
Garrett’s guests were frozen, white-faced, too afraid to move.
Then I saw him slumped in the center of his debauchery, his robe open, a glass of brandy frozen in his trembling hand, and across the room, motionless and silent, sat his wife.
Her eyes were hollow, her soul long gone, forced to watch him with other women. Disgusting.
Maddox stepped forward.
“Well, well. Garrett Stone… did you miss me, old friend?”
Garrett’s eyes snapped to me. His face drained when he saw us side by side.
“Dominic,” he breathed. “What the hell is this?”
I smirked.
“Call it a family reunion.”
Garrett flinched like a startled animal, retreating into the couch as if the leather would save him. It wouldn’t. There would be no hiding now.
“Or maybe…” I took a step closer, “…I’m here to settle the score between us.” I leaned in, my voice razor-sharp. “Like father and son.”
“What?” he muttered, and I laughed.
“You don’t need to remember.” I snapped my fingers. “I’m here to remind you.”
Maddox King didn’t wait a beat. He moved fast, grabbing Garrett by the collar and slamming him against the mahogany table so hard the crack of skull to wood echoed like a gunshot.
Garrett groaned in pain, Alec remained posted by the door, his obsidian eyes never leaving the trembling men nearby.
They were statues, shaking, silent, suffocating on their own fear.
One pissed himself, and another looked like he was seconds from vomiting.
I stepped forward and I bent down beside Garrett, whose face was pressed into the wood, eyes wild and glassy.
“I’m not here for mercy,” I said. “I’m here for justice.”
I watched his pupils dilate as recognition flickered in the back of his eyes, like a man staring into the mouth of Hell and realizing it has his name on the guest list.
“Now do you remember, Garrett?” I hissed. “That’s how my mother fought your men the night they came for her. That’s how she screamed while they held her down. That’s how she begged, before they killed her in front of me.”
“Dominic, listen to me—” he started, voice trembling. I nodded to Maddox.
Crack. Garrett’s head slammed into the wood again. This time, the pain stuck, and a red smear bloomed on the table like spilled wine.
“All I want to hear is why. Why did you lie? Why did you let me rot in that house for years, believing you?’’
“Because I made a mistake,” he coughed, blinking through blood. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”
I laughed. Harsh and empty. It tasted like ash on my tongue.
“You didn’t want me to hate you?” I echoed. “You killed her.” I pointed to the deep ridge slashing across my cheek. “You see this? Do you remember who gave me that?”
He didn’t answer, so I gave Maddox another nod.
Crack. This time, his mouth split open. Blood and a tooth spilled out.
“You’re pathetic, Garrett,” I spat. “You used me to hurt him.” I glanced at Maddox, who was watching with quiet fury. “You took everything from my mother because he took your son.”
Garrett’s voice was gravel as he choked out, “Are you any different than me, son? You’re standing beside the man who started this.”
Maddox didn’t wait for permission this time. CRACK. Another painful moan from Garrett.
“Couldn’t help myself,” he muttered with a vicious smile. “I hate that bastard.”
I turned my glare back to Garrett.
“You’re trying to justify what you did, but we both know my mother didn’t deserve to die,” I said. “She was innocent. I was innocent.’’
Garrett tried to speak, but it was pathetic, nothing but a bloody gurgle.
“You had a thousand chances,” I whispered. “A thousand moments to do the right thing, and you still chose to ruin me.”
He said nothing, because there was nothing left to say. I turned toward Clarissa. Her eyes met mine, hard as steel, cold as winter. No tears, just fury.
“Come here, Clarissa.”
She stood, tall and poised despite the years he’d spent breaking her down. She walked toward us with quiet strength and sat exactly where I told her to—across from Garrett. She folded her hands in her lap, but her eyes never left his, and now he couldn’t look away either.
“You are a terrible man, a terrible father, and a sick husband. You humiliated your wife in front of strangers just to feel powerful. You used women like objects.”
I took another step forward, tilting my head slightly.
“But here’s the thing, Garrett—you created me.” I gave a small, cruel smile. “And my mind? It’s just as sick as yours.”
I snapped my fingers again. Maddox grabbed Garrett’s hair, yanking his head back, exposing his neck like a lamb to slaughter. His eyes rolled wildly, lips quivering with terror.
From my coat pocket, I pulled the blade. It was sleek and polished. The kind of knife meant for pain, not mercy. The moment Garrett saw it, he started to panic.
“What the hell are you doing? STOP!”
But I didn’t stop. I leaned down, so close our breaths mingled.
“You once told me to stop crying when you broke my ribs,” I whispered. “You said, ‘Pain is temporary. Weakness is forever.’”
He was shaking now. Truly shaking.
“Here’s a lesson in permanence, father.”
The blade kissed his cheek, just under the eye, and then I cut.
A scream tore through the room, primal and raw.
I carved through flesh slowly, slicing clean through his right eyelid and into the soft jelly beneath.
The scream that followed was otherworldly, echoing off the walls like a banshee’s death cry.
Blood poured like a river, staining the table.
Clarissa didn’t flinch, nor did Maddox. Garrett writhed in Maddox’s grip, convulsing, but he couldn’t escape. Not anymore.
“STOP!” he sobbed. “PLEASE, STOP!”
But all I could hear was my mother’s voice. Her scream, her begging for mercy, she never got. I smiled like a psychopath when I was done with my masterpiece, matching the one he carved on my face years ago. I grabbed the back of his head, forcing him to look at Clarissa.
“Do you think that’s enough, Clarissa?”
Her lips curled into a faint, bitter smile. “No.”
I nodded at Maddox. He pulled Garrett’s head back again, and I slashed the knife across his other eye with the same brutal force. I leaned in, my face inches from his, savoring the moment.
“Does it hurt, Garrett? Do you feel the pain now? ‘' I spat ‘‘The pain you’ve been causing me for years? The one that turned me into this perfect weapon? Can you feel it now?”
His shrieks turned into pitiful whimpers. His pleas meant fucking nothing.
“Are you begging for mercy, father?” He nodded almost helplessly, and I smiled even though he couldn’t see me. “Funny. My mother begged too. But she never got any.”
Maddox slammed Garrett’s head into the table once more, the crunch of bone and the sickening sound of his skull colliding with the wood reverberating in the room. I clenched my jaw, my fists tightening around the gun in my other hand.
“I hope you rot in hell, Garrett.”
I dropped the knife, raised my gun, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang through the room like a death knell. Garrett Stone collapsed, lifeless, sprawled across his own table, blood pooling around him. Clarissa didn’t look away. She watched every second with an intensity that felt almost hungry.
I looked at my gun, smoke curling from the barrel, and then my gaze dropped to Garrett’s lifeless body, sprawled across the table.
The man who had ruined me, who had stolen my innocence, destroyed my mother, and twisted my existence into something unrecognizable—he was finally gone.
I waited for the weight to lift from my chest when the man who had caused so much suffering finally paid the price.
I expected relief, a sense of triumph, but it didn’t come.
What I felt instead was emptiness. Not satisfaction or peace. Just the cold certainty of an ending.
I turned to Clarissa, and for the first time, I saw something different in her eyes. Not hatred, not the venom I had grown used to seeing. It was gratitude. A subtle acknowledgment that we were, perhaps, not so different after all.
My eyes shifted to Maddox King, and I saw the twisted smile on his face, a grin that could have been mistaken for pride. He slapped me on the back, his hand lingering a moment longer than necessary. There was something in his gaze, something almost approving.
“I think it’s time we get out of here.”
Alec said, his voice cutting through the moment, drawing me back to reality.
He stood across the room, still keeping the remaining partners of my father pinned to their seats.
Fear had turned their faces pale, their eyes wide with terror, unable to move.
I glanced at my father’s lifeless body one last time.
They were all the same. Monsters who took from others without hesitation, without remorse. And though I felt no desire to spill more blood, I knew that I had to. These men didn’t deserve to breathe. I raised my gun, but Maddox caught my arm, stopping me before I could take another life.
“Leave this to me,” he said, his smile twisting into something predatory, dark. He turned toward my father’s remaining partners. “It’ll be my fucking pleasure.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you give your wife a promise you won’t kill anyone?’’
“Don’t worry, she knows me better than that to believe this when bad people are involved.’’ Maddox’s grin only widened.
Without another word, he joined Alec, and in a heartbeat, four shots rang out, one after another, their echoes making the walls tremble. I turned to Clarissa.
“You’re free,” I nodded to her. “I hope you find peace now.’’
“I will. We’re even now, Dominic. Thank you.”
She nodded, her eyes steady, and for the first time, I saw a flicker of peace behind the storm. I gave a small nod, my gaze lingering on her for a moment before I turned toward the carnage around us.
“I’ll handle it,” she added, her tone surprisingly calm, as if she had already made plans for the bodies. She glanced at me, a sly smile curling at the corner of her lips. “Leave it to me.”
I didn’t need to stay to see what she’d do next. I simply nodded, leaving this haunted place, followed by Alec and Maddox.
It’s fucking over. Garrett Stone is gone.
But the scars he left on me? They would remain forever.