Chapter 15 #3
Why did she have to die? I barely knew this girl, and I knew in my soul she was innocent. She was one of those people who lit up a room without trying. Quinntessa never meant to put herself here.
Her father was the one who got her into this mess. He was the one who knowingly brought her back here after murdering members of our family. He was undercover in a mob; why the fuck would he bring his little girl here and think she wasn’t at risk?
I wanted him dead.
I wanted to be the one to kill Sebastian for putting me in this situation.
If he hadn’t brought Quinntessa here, I never would have been chosen for this shit.
I could have continued working on myself and focusing on getting me and Estelle out of here.
Now, I’d be stuck staring into her dark eyes, wondering if they’d make me feel the same warmth when the light inside them completely disappeared because of me.
Here I was, destroying another person’s life, all for my selfish parenting style. A mother had to do what a mother had to do, right?
Wrong.
This fucking sucked.
“Ah, my girl. Don’t become attached to those who aren’t worthy.” My father picked up the newspaper and ruffled it as he searched for something to reach. “That Erica girl was your only pass, you hear? Only because she’s so sweet to my little bunny.”
His eyes trailed up from the paper, the edges of the Chronicles hiding his smirk.
“Unless you want to trade her. Then we can talk about you killing Erica Kane instead.”
Everything felt tight. The world around me was so close to my ears, I felt like gravity was yanking at my ear drums. The ringing sound of instruments in my ears and obnoxious lip smacks from the table beside me.
Engines revved up as the light turned green and little kids jabbed their fingers into the cross-walk button that hastily reminded them to be patient.
My chest heaved, but nothing entered my lungs. My eyes burned as an uncomfortable tingling traveled from my numb toes up to my chin. It pricked at my nerves like I was close to drowning. Not even holding my chin high helped the distant pain in my memories.
The world continued to turn. It spun and danced without a care for if I might keep up. It was as if I stood in the middle of the field during the Ghouls halftime show while everyone else continued performing.
Thousands of eyes were on me as I stood there, unmoving and in silence, while every girl around me busted their ass for the new open spot on the top of the pyramid.
No one cared I couldn’t breathe. No one cared I was being choked out by the cross digging into my throat.
The world would continue to spin without me.
I was insignificant.
The door to the coffee shop opened, and Quinntessa walked out with a to go cup in hand. I ignored whatever my father said next and watched as she turned down the sidewalk with her nose in a new book.
It was a hardcover book with a blue casing.
I’d seen her read it these past two days, though from here, it almost resembled a different shade of blue.
What was so interesting in that stupid book that she couldn’t see how dangerous the world around her was?
What had caused her to become this incredibly blind to danger?
It was as if she wanted to ignore everything around her.
Behind her, one of my father’s men followed Quinntessa down the sidewalk. I gripped the edge of the table so hard, my hand turned white against the black metal. She was so unaware of her surroundings for someone so paranoid about everything all the fucking time.
Turn around.
Turn the fuck around.
Quinntessa, turn around!
“Okay!” I blurted out when I noticed Mishka dangerously close to an unsuspecting Quinntessa.
Forcing my eyes to my father with a frantic smack on the table, I close to shouted in his face.
“Fuck, okay! Okay. I want to do it. Let me do it! I’ll keep our deal.
J-Just call her off. Don’t do this in daylight.
” I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “Don’t let Mishka bite her!”
Papa’s eyebrows raised. A sly smirk crossed his features as he pulled out his phone from his blazer pocket and sent a quick message. My heart pounded as I snapped my neck back to watch Quinntessa approach her car, Victor walking in another direction with a fired-up Mishka on a chained leash.
My eyes narrowed angrily when Quinntessa finally raised her head with a violent flinch.
Must she be fucking clueless? She was bothered enough by the dog barking to slow her pace and hesitate returning to her Mustang.
Not until Victor had turned a corner and Mishka was nowhere in sight, even if most of the square could hear her, did she move.
I wondered if the police dog had bitten her before. The thought made my heart hurt for her, having heard Erica comment on Quinntessa’s attachment to their dog.
A breath of relief escaped me when Quinntessa got in her car unharmed.
Mishka was the same dog to torment Rillie.
She and Yuri were the canines to attack her after she stumbled upon the wrong deal with one of the Styxton High kids.
I knew what those dogs were capable of. Lukas was semi-trained by Dominik in protecting our family, and even I worried he’d make the wrong move with me.
It was the very reason he was on a short leash when it came to interacting with Estelle.
That dog might be as dumb as a sack of rocks, but he could also snap into a vicious headspace. I knew he could bite. He just wasn’t good enough at it.
If given the signal, Lukas could shred my ass to pieces. I knew he’d let go and walk off?—
eventually. It was the only reason Papa had given him to me, his inability to hold a bitch until cued to release. Lukas wasn’t a killer, but he could cause enough harm.
“Valentine’s Day.”
“Valentine’s Day?” My eyes snapped to his.
“To wrap things up on this job. Your way.” He rubbed his hand over his jaw as he stared at me, and I couldn’t help but think there was some sort of significance to the date. “But I want everything delivered to me by Valentine’s Day. Understand?”
“Understood,” I muttered, dreadfully doing the math.
One-hundred-and-thirty-six days.
I had one-hundred-and-thirty-six days to become a murderer.
“Good.” Papa tossed his napkin out and laid it over his lap. “Now, pick something to eat and tell me about how school is going. Once you graduate, I’ll move you and Estelle to the farm.”
“What? No. I don’t want her at?—”
“I wasn’t asking.” His eyes darkened. “You wear my stars, you play by my rules. You’re going to learn how to run this family business, and I’ll make sure nothing touches you and bunny after Valentine’s. You fuck this up, and you will lose her. Understand?”
I gritted my teeth and hissed out the answer I knew he wanted.
“Understood.”