"I know what he would do," Hugo grits out, gaze never wavering from the woman trapped against the fridge.
Sirens in the distance. Many of them.
"But I'm not him. And I know what I've been waiting a long time to do."
"Would you really kill your mayoress?" Liane's eyes grow wide. A monster, presenting as a doe.
"Fucking ribbon her already," Penn mutters.
Hugo presses harder, more blood flows. "When you murdered my father, you created the day you would die by his son's hand."
Everything about this situation is scary and painful, but when I hear those words, I'm transported to the day Hugo told me he daydreamed about saying that very sentence to his father's killer. The look of pain in his eyes.
"You're lucky I didn't find out about you before I met Mallory. Because my sword would've already piercedyour heart." Hugo presses the flat side of the sword under her chin, forcing it to lift. Her wild eyes are on him, and he looks at her with unparalleled intensity. "When you took my dad, you left me scarred. So here is a matching set for you." With barely a flick of his wrist, he slices each of her cheeks from the corner of her lips to the tops of her ears. "You are a clown, and now you will look like one."
Red bubbles at the cuts, slides down.
Sirens blare. Uniformed officers rush inside. Hugo lowers his weapon, steps to my side.
Penn releases me, and Hugo is there, pulling me and Peanut into his body. I don't know how, but Hugo no longer holds his sword. Penn must've taken it.
"Mallory, Mallory," Hugo chants into my hair. The emotion pours off him, his voice thick with it. With urgency he kisses my forehead, my cheeks, my lips. "That was the worst image I've ever seen. I was terrified. It took everything I had not to gut her while her hands were on your throat."
I nod, shock wearing off. I try to talk, but I can't find my voice. My vocal cords throb.
The police are hauling Liane up, cuffing her, making sense of what happened. Sonya does the talking, until Hugo says, "I recorded everything she said." He finds Detective Towles among the uniformed men.
The detective shakes his head at Hugo. "I told you to wait for me. You hung up."
"I saw her car parked out front. I couldn't wait for you. She had Mallory and my baby."
My baby.
I wish I could use my voice, tell Hugo how grateful I am, how much I love him. My eyes are working just fine, and the tears are flowing.
Detective Towles hauls a bleeding Liane away. She has gone utterly silent. Hugo slicing her face seems to have stolen her ability to speak.
"Hugo," one of the police officers says. "This is an active crime scene. We need everybody out, and we're going to need to take statements."
Hugo's shaking his head. "I want Mallory and my baby checked out by her doctor. Everything else can wait."
Hugo declines the offer from the officer to drive us into town to see the doctor. "I'm not letting you out of my sight," he murmurs, pulling me in close. His tone is gruff from rescinding fear, weak with relief.
As if I'm made of glass, he helps me into his car.
An officer approaches, and Hugo rolls down his window. "Bring her by the station once she gets the all-clear from her doctor."
"Will do," Hugo responds, hitting a button to close the window, shutting us out from the world beyond.
He shifts into Drive, taking me away from the swirling lights of the police cars.
"I'm dying to hold you," he says as we crest the small hill. "But first things first. I need to get you to Dr. Connolly. You and the baby."
"My baby," I clarify, using my voice though it hurts.
"Your baby," Hugo says, jaw tight.
My head shakes, hair swirling. "Your baby...too." It'sthe voice of someone recently deprived of oxygen, the sound of it bringing back what it felt like to have my airway cut off.
