Chapter 62
“SOCIOPATH” BY STAYLOOSE AND brYCE FOX
My boots thumped through the barn, a maddening glint in my eye. She wasn’t here. I’d looked through every stall, the loft, into the basement, in the main cabin, and Quinntessa was still nowhere to be found.
Papa had kept his word. He wasn’t going to make this easy for me.
I stepped over Felix’s body where he laid face down in the hay, a bullet or two through his body. It was his fault for getting in my way. If he didn’t want to be the bloody footprints under my shoes, he shouldn’t have tried to fight me on looking for Quinntessa.
I needed her.
I needed to find her.
The stall in front of me was stained with blood, though too old to be anything from today. I kicked around through the hay and searched for any hiding spots a body might be.
“Where the hell is she?” I yelled through the barn, listening to my voice echo off the old walls.
It was dark, after midnight. The cold was creeping into my bones. Winter was almost here. Not a speck of snow had fallen yet, but it could any second. I could wake up from this nightmare to see snowplows running through the town, tossing salt in every direction.
“Don’t you think it would be better for you to just let this go?” Levi asked, leaning his chin on his arm over the stall. “Before you make more of a mess.”
Two gun shots.
Levi ducked behind the stall door as I fired in his direction. The metal shook in my hands, my teeth gritting angrily. I was not in the mood for bullshit.
“Where is she, Levi?” I hissed.
Levi pulled out his gun and kept it at his side as I came around the door with mine drawn. He chuckled and watched me in amusement.
“I knew it.” He waved his gun around. “The second I saw you looking at pictures of her, I knew you were just like your grandfather.”
“Where is she?” I asked again, the gun in my hands shaking.
“Rumor has it, your debushka wanted Eleonóra all to himself,” Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Wanted her so bad, he didn’t care how he took her, just as long as she was his, kind of like you and your little pet.”
The corner of Levi’s mouth lifted just enough to smirk at me. I didn’t care about the story. I’d heard lies from my grandparents for years. There was no doubt I’d heard a story or two about their love story.
“Eventually, she learned to love him, as you can see.” He broke out into a sadistic laugh. “Is that what you wanted from Quinntessa? Obedience?”
“Where. Is. She?” I stepped forward and shoved him against the stall wall with the barrel off my handgun. “Or I will earn my stars one man at a time.”
Levi rolled his eyes and raised his gun up quickly, pressing it into my forehead.
I didn’t flinch. I couldn’t think about anything but the fear in her eyes when her father held that gun to her head. I wondered how she looked at Oscar, how he got that necklace off her. Had she been dead or alive? Were there witnesses? Did he shoot her? Stab her? Choke her out? Drug her?
“I’m calling your bluff,” he said, digging the cold metal into my skin.
“I just want to see her body.” My heart shattered. “Then you can shoot my head clean off for all I care.”
“Wow.” Levi coiled his gun back and grinned. “That might be something I’m interested in.”
“Where is she?” I asked again, nostrils flaring.
He used his gun to push mine away from his face. He smirked and stepped into my space.
“I don’t know.” He hummed. “As I’ve told you, if she’s not here, then Oscar picked a spot he’s comfortable with. You both were trained the same. Don’t you remember?”
I remember. Seven fucking years of waking up in the dead of night to go into the woods and play games that counted toward our survival. Our parents wished for us to be the best and put us through everything they could while we fell asleep at our desks during the daytime.
Not turning my back to him, I paced to the side. I kept him within sight, not trusting he wouldn’t run or send a bullet into my side. Levi enjoyed a quick kill. Toying with me was only fun for him for so long.
The throbbing in my chest never stopped, not even for a second for me to think straight. I’d been so blindsided by this change in events, it left me pumped with rage. The sorrow I felt sitting in that chair, not believing that necklace could be hers, ruptured every artery of mine.
I was crying blood. That was how red my vision was. That’s how sick in the head this madness felt. I wanted to kill Oscar. I wanted him to die on the end of my knife, sobbing for mercy. If she was dead, I wanted to return her body to her father.
Then, he’d shoot me, and this pain would finally stop.
The pain I’d been feeling since August, since the dawn of my existence, since my world began to spin again at the mercy of glittery red fingertips—it would finally stop.
“Did you love her? Is that what this is about?” Levi asked, leaning back against the stall door. His gun scratched the back of his head. “Or are you wanting a trophy wife? Is that within lesbian wishes?”
“She is no trophy wife,” I growled at the accusation. “She is…was… Quinntessa is a goddess. Purity within my sins. I will not allow her to be thrown in a pig pit with the other hits.”
“Romantic.” Levi pushed off the wooden doors and looked around. He pursed his lips at the three bodies on the floor, all three killed by me in a quaking rage. “Well, I’d hurry. Your father isn’t too pleased with you. I’ve been informed you’re somewhat of a traitor.”
I stopped walking and looked up. “What?”
“When you favor someone related to the police, you kind of get that name.” Levi snickered, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “While you’re hunting for her, I think plenty of men are hunting for you.”
“Why the fuck would I be here if I was a traitor?” I glared at him. “I would have gone to the cops!”
“Because you’re in love.” Levi wiggled his fingers near his ear. “Or so the whispers have been saying.”
I shake my head, a vein close to popping out of my neck, my jaw clenched painfully tight.
“Are you in love with her?” Levi taunted me, stepping off to circle around me. “You like the way she tickles your bean or something? You like a girl who pushes the boundaries? Gives you a thrill!”
Breathe. Breathe. Fucking breathe, you bitch.
“I’m sure, in the end, you’ll both be together.” He smiled, eyes sparking with amusement. “Now that your little princess is dead.”
I moved my arm without any reaction from my face. My ears rang, and I watched his hands scramble up to grab at his throat. Blood oozed out, and he coughed, spitting up as he choked on his own fluids.
“Don’t ever call her that again,” I said, walking up to his body and watching numbly as he collapsed onto his back. “I’m about tired of insecure men picking on my girl because she’s special.”
Levi clawed at his throat. He shook, blood spilling from his mouth as he gave me a red smile.
“We-Weak. You . . . ar . . . are we . . . weak,” he choked out.
I blew his fucking head off without a second thought.
“That’s for Jamison,” I mumbled, staring down at him before turning and walking away.
If what Levi said was true, I didn’t have long. My father could have claimed I went against them, and it would trigger a domino fold up to the top. I’d have Chicago members coming after me, thinking I was going to kill my grandfather.
Estelle.
“Fuck.” I rubbed my face and stomped my feet in frustration.
My daughter and friends were in danger. My mother would be one of the first people they would question for my whereabouts.
But I needed to find Quinntessa. I needed to know where Oscar took Lukas. I needed to figure out what to do before I was shot up in the place I stood, and all of this was for nothing.
Estelle.
For once, I needed to be a good mother. Quinntessa would have wanted that for me.
I yanked out my cellphone and quickly dialed my mother’s number. It went to voicemail. I dialed it again and was directed back to voicemail.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I hit my head with the butt of my gun and whimpered. “Please, Mom. Please answer.”
I called four more times. Nothing.
There was only one other person I could think of who had the power to help me.
“Dedushka?” I gulped as he answered the phone. “I need our deal to move a little faster. Kvintessa mertva.” Quinntessa is dead.
My heart dragged me down as tears flooded my eyes. The phone in my hands shook, and I stumbled into one of the folding tables the boys kept in here for poker.
“Very well,” his voice rasped through the line. “I hear you’ve caused some trouble.”
“I need to protect Mom and Estelle. Just help me protect them. Please,” I begged. Fuck; no wonder my father saw me as weak.
“You already know what you must do.” He chuckled. “You’ve known for some time, child. There is only one way to protect your family, Eleanor.”
“What? But?—”
The line went dead.
And so did the hope in my shriveled heart.