Chapter 61 #3
Maxim’s smile grew. “Yeah!” He chuckled and looked to my father. “You’d be surprised. Oscar could barely carry her. She’s got an ass on her.”
I bent down and grabbed the handle in my combat boot. My eyes watched him closely as he told my father about how Oscar strangled her and remembered to double check she wasn’t breathing. He seemed so proud, so fucking proud of himself.
“Did you touch her?” I rolled the pocket knife’s handle under my sleeve.
“What?” Maxim chuckled, confused by my question.
“Did you…help kill her?” I snarled, earning my father’s attention.
My body trembled. I could feel the agony taking over my senses. Flashes of her laying below me as I choked her filled my head, fighting against the happy memories of us hanging out, kissing, sleeping in each other’s arms. I didn’t protect her. I promised I’d protect her.
“Have you been listening?” Papa rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the necklace. “The boys killed her together. She’s probably on her way to the farm now.”
“If Oscar doesn’t have some fun with her first. I think he wanted to get a look at what’s under the hood, ya know?” Maxim laughed.
His smile suddenly wavered, a gurgling gasp for a breath ripping through the office. His eyes widened with pain as he struggled for air.
“Fu-fuck.”
Maxim grabbed at the handle of my knife in his lower chest and stumbled into the loveseat. He tried to pull it out and take another breath, but I twisted it further into his lung. He fell to the floor and scrambled for the handle.
I stared down at him and flared my nostrils. His breathless cries and bubbling chokes had no effect on me. Not this time. I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for him. In a way, it felt therapeutic to finally stab that motherfucker.
“If anyone was going to kill her, Vincent, it was me.” I took my boot and stomped down on the knife.
Papa rolled his eyes as Maxim screamed in agony as it plunged deeper into his chest. He looked around and groaned.
“You know I hate blood on these floors, Eleanor!” He shook his head in disbelief.
I didn’t bat a lash at him. Papa wasn’t the guy who would help someone dying. He’d let nature run its course with Maxim and only offer help if the boy could get himself together. I hoped he couldn’t. I hoped Maxim laid there, in burning pain, and died a slow, agonizing death.
“Where are you going?” my father growled as I stormed toward the door. “We have much to discuss!”
“I’m going to the farm.” I muttered.
“If you interfere in any way, I will have you?—”
I swung around and clutched my hands at my sides, tight fists shaking with rage.
“I am going to the farm!” I shouted at him. “You wanted me committed, so here I am! Ready to fucking commit.”
“Eleanor.” He walked up to me and slowly reached behind me to lock the door. “I think it’s about time we talk about the real reason you’re here.”
“You got what you wanted.” I glanced at the necklace, shaking in my place. “I need to go.”
“A little birdie told me my daughter might be fraternizing with the enemy. Going for joy rides, playing house, singing songs about her? That sound familiar?” Papa stuffed the necklace in his pocket and rubbed his hands together.
“And we won’t have that. So, I forbid you from going to the farm until this is taken?—”
My fist slugged at his face, nearly getting what I wanted. I was so close, so close to striking him down a peg or two.
Papa tossed me to the floor. He wasted no time in slamming his foot into my ribcage.
“Listen here, girl!” He grabbed a fistful of my hair and wrenched my upper body from the ground. “I won’t accept weakness from you. Do as you're told, and go home to your daughter.”
Papa dropped me back to the floor. He picked up a glass on the side table and smashed it down near my head, cutting my cheek with a sharp shard.
“And clean up this goddamn mess.”
He turned away from me and walked toward the door. I slowly started to stand, stumbling through the throbbing in my side.
“I-I’m going to the farm,” I insisted, feeling a sharp pain in my side. He probably broke my rib again. Fractured it. Something.
“I’ll be sure to have her moved somewhere more secluded.” Papa smirked over his shoulder. “The farm’s too easy. Let’s make this fun.”
“You want a fight?” I shouted after him. “I’ll fucking fight!”
His laugh echoed in my ears as the heavy door closed. The light from the hallway disappeared, and I was trapped in darkness. The only sound to comfort me was Maxim’s ragged breathing through his pain.
I dragged my feet over to him and ripped the knife out of his chest. He screamed. I wiped it on my leg and gritted my teeth through the pain shooting up my left side.
“Yo-you failed,” Maxim coughed, blood lacing his teeth. I bet it oozed from his airways, drowning him from the inside out. “No-now we get to enjoy her.”
Without a second thought, my heavy boot came down on his neck with a powerful thud. The distinct crack of his neck breaking made a smile tug onto my face.
“Enjoy hell, Vincent.” I blew him a kiss and ripped my knife from his chest.
If my father wanted a monster, I was going to give him a fucking monster.