She shakes her head quickly, informing me she doesn’t know.She’s lying.“Bring me the girl.” I stand, snapping my fingers.
The woman starts screaming behind the tape, her body thrashing on the floor. She goes to get up, but I place my black boot in the middle of her back, holding her down.
A fellow Lord, Miles Hopper, was given this assignment with me. He enters the living room, his arm wrapped around the girl’s upper arms. He shoves her into the room and she trips, falling to her knees. Her arms are also tied behind her back. She leans forward, her long, dark hair shielding her face from me.
I step into her and place the tip of the knife under her chin, forcing her head up. Bright blue eyes glare up at me. “Where is your brother?” I ask her.
“I’ll never tell you,” she says through gritted teeth.
Sighing, I crouch in front of her, my elbows resting on my thighs. “You understand that I have to hurt you if you choose to protect him, right?” I run the blade over her heaving chest.
Her brother has betrayed the Lords. There’s always someone who can’t fulfill their oath. That one Lord that risks it all and then runs, leaving behind a family to take his punishment. It’s a shame really. We’re taught to rule the world, but no one wants to take responsibility when we fuck it over.
“Do what you have to do,” she spits out.
Standing, I shake my head at her. “What a waste.”
“You’re the waste.” She pulls her lips back with a growl. “Doing whatever the Lords tell you to do. You’re nothing but a fucking puppet.”
I throw my head back, laughing. “What’s that make your brother?”
“He had the balls to stand up for himself,” she snaps. “To get away from them.”
Smiling, I wonder, “Why didn’t he take you and your mother with him?” The poor thing has no clue as to why he really left them. Or why we’re here. Not like it matters. Her knowing won’t change the outcome.
“He’ll come back for us when the time is right.” The way she lifts her chin, I think she truly believes that. But why wouldn’t she? He’s her brother. He’s supposed to protect her.
But rules are rules. I have an assignment to complete, and they are at the top of my list. If we don’t retrieve the Lord, we are not to leave anything for him to return to.
I move over to her mother lying on her stomach and pick her up by her hair, making her scream into the tape over her mouth. I stab her in the chest. Yanking the knife out, she falls to the floor dead.
“MOM!” Her daughter jumps to her feet to rush over to the body.
I step in front of her, wrapping my hand around her neck, lifting her feet up off the floor. Placing my face in front of hers, I say, “Still want me to do whatever I have to do?” I arch a brow.
She’s sobbing, body shaking. I loosen my grip on her neck, and she chokes out, “I … don’t know anything.”
Miles enters the room, and I didn’t realize he had left. He holds up the girl’s cell phone. “Let’s see if we can get him to come to us.”
I tighten my hand on her throat once more and she thrashes in my hold as I watch her face turn white, lips blue. When her eyes start to roll into the back of her head, I let go and step back. She falls to her knees, coughing and spit flying from her mouth, sobbing once again.
Moving to stand behind her, I grip her dark hair, yanking her head back as Miles stands in front of her and holds up her phone. “Smile for the camera,” he tells her, and it makes her sob harder.
He types out a message and sends it. I yank her to her feet by her hair and drag her over to the couch, forcing her down onto it. I sit across from her, on the coffee table, and grip her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “You better hope he’s as loyal to you as you are to him.”
The cell in Miles’s hand rings and he looks at me. “Blocked number.”
“That’s not a good start,” I say, and her shoulders shake while she rocks back and forth on the couch.
He hits answer and places it on speakerphone. “What the fuck?” her brother’s voice demands.
“Help me!” she cries, jumping to her feet as if he’s here in person to save her.
I leap forward, shoving her onto her back on the couch and I straddle her chest the best I can, placing my hand over her mouth to shut her up. He’s seen the situation she’s in and understands her life is in our hands. We want him to talk.
“Who the fuck is this?” her brother shouts. “What the fuck do you want?”
“You,” I say simply.
