Chapter 61
“HAYLOFT II” (SMASHUP) BY MOTHER MOTHER
Isnuck Lukas into the hospital with me when I arrived. The entire drive, I noticed a shadow following me through town.
I thought I could lose them with my dark Jeep on the back roads of Murdafest’s township, but they followed closely, closer than any other tailing job I’d seen from my father’s boys.
Lukas hung close to my side as we walked down the eerily quiet hallway. It was late, and most of the commotion was on other floors. This wing was almost entirely for the offices and board rooms of higher up doctors who needed a moment to themselves.
Like my father, who believed this entire hospital revolved around him for some odd reason.
“What the hell . . .” I mumbled and quickly clipped the leash on Lukas’s collar when Victor turned the corner a head of me.
“Eleanor.” He smirked. “Haven’t heard from ya in a while.”
“Purposeful.” I shrugged. “Haven’t seen you at the farm too much.”
“Oh, I’ve been there. The pigs like to eat through the night.” Victor slowed his walk past me and winked.
I stared down the hallway as I kept walking. Giving him any attention would entertain the idea I was bothered by his words. I couldn’t let him think that. If I did, then I’d be stuck in his cycle of mind games.
Lukas growled quietly when my father stepped out of his office. I didn’t correct him and waited for my father to look up before I greeted him.
“What’s the big emergency?” I asked.
“Emergency?” Papa chuckled. “Besides addressing how you avoid me?”
“I have a life that isn’t all about you.”
“Hm.” He turned around and disappeared back into his dark office. “I thought when one committed to the works of our kind, your life became us.”
My nose wrinkled at the way he spoke. Nonetheless, I followed him into the room and let the door close behind me. My blood ran cold when I noticed two men standing against the wall behind my father’s desk.
As I approached, the darkness of the office illuminated by a few candles, I noticed Oscar and Maxim’s faces. For a doctor, my father was fucking dumb. At least if the candles lit right, he’d blow himself up.
“You’re kidding, right?” I eyed them with disgust.
When my father lowered down into his leather chair, I scoffed and looked at him.
“You sent them to strike me!” I motioned Lukas into a down between my feet. “Did you send them into my daughter’s room too?”
“Now, why would I do that?” Papa smirked. “We have a deal, don’t we?”
I inhaled and pushed away my personal vendetta with both boys to focus on my father. He invited me here for a reason. The least I could do was hear him out before getting into a screaming match the entire hall would hear.
“Why am I here?” I snapped when my father didn’t speak to aid the silence. So much for remaining calm.
Papa waved a hand to the chair adjacent to his desk. “Sit, sit,” he insisted. “I was just running over some papers, slipping through the hospital’s proposal for us to…partner with a better deal for us.”
Not a surprise. Many were eager to partner with the pakhan when possible. I was guessing that was why Grandfather was here, snooping around where he could.
“While you’ve been off doing whatever it is you do with your toys, the Vincent bratans have been very busy.” He rested his papers down and brushed them flat.
My gaze traveled to where the brothers stood, leaning against the wall with slithering smirks on their faces. I took quick note of the new tattoo on Maxim. It wasn’t completely visible, but the top of the decorative crucifix tail showed at the top of his shirt.
How the fuck did he receive a high-ranking marking? He was marked as a Prince of Thieves. A bratan. A real brother to me now that I had taken the blood oath and excelled further with my grandfather’s blessing.
I had a tattoo like this on my back, protected by the stars on my jacket. An upside down cross with a screaming skeleton. And still, it took a lot of sacrifice, starting as a young child, to be awarded such an ‘honor’, to uphold such a symbolic crowning.
Oscar wouldn’t have earned such an honor without making a large kill. He was younger than Maxim, lazier and more unruly. It would have taken more than a little talk from my papa to make him uphold to a certain standard.
Maxim was obnoxious, dumb and male. Other than that, he had little promise.
I leaned back in the fabric chair and kicked my feet up. If he wanted me to act more like him, then I would. I’d already lost his respect by taking my time with…with my assignment.
Papa stared at my shoes on his desk, grinding his molars. “Tell me.” He tapped two fingers on the top of the desk. “What progress have you made?”
“Enough.”
“And that is…”
“I’ve ruined her. She’s broken, vulnerable, scared.” I swallowed, the pit in my stomach swirling with poison. “And I’m enjoying it.”
Because I was a fucking psychopath.
“You had me worried, I’ll confess.” Papa tilted his head and leaned closer to me. “I thought you were too weak.”
“She hasn’t killed her yet,” Oscar spoke up.
Papa cleared his throat and slammed his fist against the top of his desk. “Why don’t you go make yourself useful and fetch those papers from Brenda for me instead of interrupting my meetings every chance you fucking get?” he hissed.
Oscar’s lips turned white, pressed into a tight line. He hovered over my father’s shoulder a moment before dragging his feet past me to the door.
“Take the dog with you. He’s stinking up my office,” Papa added.
Oscar looked down at Lukas nervously. He walked over and grabbed the leash, ignoring my doberman’s growl and commanding him to follow.
“That’s what happens when you enlist scum to do your dirty work.” I smirked when the door slammed loudly, trying to hide my worry for Lukas. Oh, I hoped Oscar heard me.
Papa chuckled, scanning me with a squint of his wrinkly eyes. “I’ve heard some commotion.” He leaned back in his chair and rolled his fingertips over the broad arms. “Through towns. People talk.”
“Hm.” I swallowed.
“I’ve heard some whispers.” He tapped his cheek in tune with my pounding heart. “Do you know what they could be about?”
“Rising gas prices? The shortage on eggs?” I chuckled in amusement. “A woman running for president? I know that one bugs you.”
Papa slitted his eyes. “Since we’re on the subject of women in pow?—”
“Careful.” I cocked my head to the side. “It would be a pity if a woman took out a few of your best men.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Papa laced his fingers together on the desk.
His chest rose, holding there for a moment before falling.
“I admire your defiance of my orders, Eleanor, but let me remind you of the oath you took. When you let your tongue mend with the blood of Harrekson, you are upholding a specific standard.”
“Who could forget when everyone reminds me ten times a day?” I forced an obviously fake smile.
“As you know, I have men all over this area. This town. Coven.” He smirked, taking another moment to tap his desk.
“Which means if someone was out of place, acting a bit odd, I would know. So, it surprised me to learn a young woman passed one of my cameras by the gates of my family’ home.
Unscaled. Alive. Only a few tears to make up for her pristine appearance. ”
“The snow hasn’t hit yet, Papa.” Worry struck my chest. Once again, I was overwhelmed with the idea of him focusing on Quinntessa. “I’m enjoying my find.”
“Your find is standing in front of you with a target drawn over her heart!” He slammed his hands on the desk. “I am growing impatient.”
“You gave me time.”
“Forgive me.” His eyes filled with fire as he dragged his nails over his desk. “I thought you’d make the right choice.”
“Let me get this straight.” I dropped my heavy boots to the floor and tried to play it up.
I wanted him to think I could kill her, that I could do this, until I figured out a plan to get Estelle and me out of here.
Or worse, until I made the move to kill Mustang.
“You can fool around with Brenda Boo out there, but I leave a few hickies on a girl instead of blowing her fucking head off, and I’m suddenly the problem?
Seems hypocritical for you to rush my fun when it’s not even 2025 yet. ”
Maxim jumped when something vibrated. It broke our focus from our stare down for only a moment before we set daggers on one another.
“Why must you insist on disappointing me?” Papa raised his large fingers to his nose and pinched the bridge. “After all I have done—protecting your child when you know it’s against your oath to put her first!”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone says about me being a mother. I will do both to protect her.”
“Um—” Maxim knew better than to interrupt.
“Do you not see I am trying to have a conversation here?” Papa whirled around to face the boy. “Did your father teach his sons no respect for your superiors?!”
“Oscar needs my help. With papers,” he said, quicker than usual.
My brows inched together curiously as Maxim glanced in my direction, then his phone, then back to me. Oscar must be throwing a hissy fit over me bad-mouthing him again. Or maybe Lukas’ bit him in the balls.
My lips twitched into a smile.
Papa watched him walk out of the office. His jaw was practically hanging on the floor in disbelief. He leaned back in his chair and scoffed, shaking his head.
“What the hell is wrong with your generation?” he asked. “We raised you kids from the ground up! And this is the devotion and focus we get? Disgraceful! Oblazhalsya!” Fucked up.
“Posmotrite v zerkalo.” I rolled my eyes.
“I am looking in the damn mirror!” He stood and grabbed his pencil holder off the desk.
I didn’t flinch as Papa turned and chucked the pencil cup into the wall. It shattered, pencils and pens flying across the room. A paperclip fumbled near my boots.
“And all I see is mediocrity! Failures! Lazy fucking children!”
Papa stepped around the desk and began his walk to me. I waited patiently on the chair until he kicked my feet out of his way, towering over me.