“Hold this,” she said, handing me my claws. I took them, and a second later, she was reaching for my left hand, undoing the bracelet on my wrist and carefully pulling off the two metal fingers on my nubs.
I worked on sliding my left hand into the clawed gauntlet, and I bent my fingers, all of the claws clinking together. Metal, sharp and shiny. These claws had been largely forgotten about lately, with everything going on. With me pretending I was someone else.
But I wasn’t. I was me.
Lola, holding onto my other metal fingers, took a step back from me and wiped the corner of her eyes, like she was tearing up—only she wasn’t. “They grow up so fast.” Like I was some baby bird learning to fly out of the nest for the first time.
Together, we stood in front of a door. It was the only door in the basement, just off the last stair. The room was soundproofed and had multiple locks on the outside, with a reinforced door no one could bust down on their own, especially not someone like Tessa.
Fang, Mike, and Kieran were upstairs with Viper, Maddox, and Sylvester. Harvey had been here, but the driver had left after he delivered the package. It was just us. They were all here for me. Jason would’ve been here too, if it was literally anyone else in the basement and not Tessa. Because it was Tessa, he was at his rented house, giving me space to do what I had to do.
I gave Lola a small smile and told her, “Thank you. Thank you for everything. I don’t think I could’ve done any of this without you. Who knew when you came to my hospital room that day, looking for your missing woman, we’d end up like this?”
“I’m glad we did. It’s always good to have more kickass women in your life,” she said. “You and I both have plenty of dick to go around, so it’s nice to balance that shit out every once in a while.”
A soft chuckle escaped me. “You ever find that woman?”
She shook her head. “No, and the more time that passes, I don’t think we will. I guess not everyone’s as lucky as you.”
Lucky. That wasn’t a word I’d use to describe myself, but I supposed, if you looked at my life and zoomed out, luck had to be on my side, otherwise I would’ve been dead half a dozen times over.
So, yeah, I guessed I was lucky. Too bad my dad didn’t have some of that luck. I still didn’t understand how I was supposed to go on, knowing he was gone. This city felt hollow.
“Sorry, that sounded… wrong,” Lola quickly said. “You probably don’t feel too lucky right now.”
“Not really, but I get it.” I glanced at the door that sat between me and Tessa. Cameras were installed in the room yesterday, so I’d have a front-row seat to her misery any time I wanted. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to go in there and spell out exactly what I had planned for her. “I’m going in.”
“We’ll be upstairs. Take all the time you need.” Lola left, heading up the creaky basement stairs, taking my metal fingers with her as she went.
I unlocked the door, lock by lock. It wasn’t as if I thought Tessa would escape—I didn’t think she was that crafty—but you never knew. Had to be super careful when you were in it for the long haul, and this? This was what made the definition of a long haullong.
I stepped inside the room. It was small. A bed was bolted to the floor. A small toilet sat a few feet away, along with a tub. All in all, it was close to the room I’d spent two years of my life in, minus the pink walls and carefully-picked out sheets. Kieran had done his best to make my stay in that basement comfortable, but I hadn’t done the same for Tessa.
Too bad.
Tessa was passed out on the bed. I’d left her silly belly on—figured it’d help me make my point. Her heels had been taken, so her feet were bare. Beneath her dress slacks was a chain around her right ankle, tying her to the bed, just like I was way back when.
I heaved a sigh and stepped closer to the bed. I leaned over her and pricked the top of her palm with a claw. The moment the metal dug into her skin, she woke with a jerk, and a bright redspot of blood oozed out from the wound. When her eyes opened, I took a step back and waited for her to get her bearings.
“What…” She sat up and held her head, then groaned and wiped at her hand, where the fresh blood drop was. That bright red stuff smeared all over her skin. She looked around the room, spotting the chain on her ankle and the fact that she was tied to a bed. After a few seconds, she realized she wasn’t alone. “You.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Me. Bet you didn’t think we’d be meeting again under these circumstances.” I cocked my head at her. “How did you think it would go? That I’d let you kill my dad and leave you be?”
She had the balls to crack a smile in my direction. “No. I thought I’d stage a suicide after your father’s funeral. Such a tragedy it would be: father assassinated, then daughter kills herself out of grief—”
“And then you lose the baby,” I cut in. “Right. How terrible. Only… you and I both know there’s nothing in that belly of yours.” As if I needed to make my point, I stepped closer to the bed and sunk one of my claws into her belly. The metal disappeared slowly, inch after inch, and I yanked it out after that, making sure to wiggle each of my knife-tipped fingers in front of her.
Now, I think, she finally saw how deep the shit she was in was.
She swung her legs off the side of the bed, dragging the chain with her as she moved. “What is this? Cut the shit. If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with already.” Though she tried to sound tough, she failed. My claws were the only thing she could stare at.
“Kill? Oh, no, no, no. Tessa, you’ve got it all wrong. You think I had you brought here so I could kill you?” I let out a laugh. “I’m afraid you’ve never been more wrong in your entire life—exceptmaybe when you sicced your brother and your father on me. Thanks for introducing us, by the way. Your dad’s really cute.”
She ground her jaw. “Fuck you.”
“No, fuck you.” I lunged at her. Even though her hands were free, I’d been dreaming of this forever. I was stronger now than I used to be. This woman could not overpower me. Besides, when I lunged at her, I brought my clawed gauntlet to her face, covering her mouth with my palm and closing every single bladed finger around her face, like a twisted mask. The knives dug into her skin immediately, enough to draw blood in multiple places.
Tessa was so caught off-guard, so fearful of those knives, that she could only whimper in defiance.
