“Fucking cunt! Wake up!” A slap.
Pain explodes across my cheek and my head snaps to the side. The coppery tang floods my mouth.
Something sticky and rough is biting into my wrists and ankles. A dull pain in my shoulders says I’ve been sitting in the same position for too long.
Where am I? What happened?
There’s a fog in my head and my vision is hazy. I squirm, and the chair wobbles a little on uneven legs. A nail—or something—is sticking out in the back and scratching my shoulder blade. With my luck, it’s rusty and will give me tetanus. There’s a smell of moldy wood and loam. A campfire crackles on the unfinished floor, and a lone, naked, broken bulb hangs from a slanted ceiling with a hole big enough to see a blurry moon.
I blink, trying desperately to clear my vision. Sticks fan around me on the floor like sunflower petals.What the…?
“You bitch! You ruined everything!”
Rupert?“Aren’t you in jail?” I manage to rasp. My eyes finally adjust.
“You wish! Cunt! Fucking cunt!” he screams in my face. He’s in a ragged T-shirt and cargo shorts—clothes he would’ve never been seen in before. His hair is messier than a bird’s nest. In the bright yellow fire, his eyes glow red like an enraged demon. He suddenly straightens, takes a deep breath. “But guess what? You aren’t the only one with somebody on your side. I got somebody big and important helping me, too.”
Do you honestly believe I have no reach outside of Nesovia? Do you think just because you’re in America, you’re untouchable?
“Zoe?” I ask.
Rupert sneers. “This is what you deserve. You could’ve just been nice. Married me like you were supposed to. I didn’t even want to touch you. Parker is my true love.” He speaks like he was going to do me a favor or something.
Am I supposed to thank him for that?
“Once we realized you’d gotten married, did we make things difficult for you? No! We just wanted to take the things you didn’t want anymore—your trash! They weren’t even worth that much, not compared to the money your father and grandfather left you. With a bit of fame, Parker and I could’ve been happy.” His eyes contain a gleam that reminds me of ice.
“You were going to get rid of Doris and Vernon.”
“Duh! Why the fuck would we keep them around? All this mess because they couldn’t even kill you and your parents right!”
I gasp. Although Zoe hinted at it, the bald revelation sends a shock wave through me. Decades of injustice and grievance twist my gut into a tight knot. I feel hot tears dripping down my cheeks. “Did they poison my parents?” I whisper shakily, wishing I could break the knots and strangle him with my bare hands.
“Well,duhagain! You were supposed to die, too, but they fucked it up. Ugh. If all three of you had justkicked off, Doriscould’ve taken the money. Why are you so fucking persistent? You’re like a cockroach that just won’t stay squished! Why did you have to ruin it for me and Parker?”
“Iruined it? Foryou and Parker? You stole from me! You killed my parents for money!” I shoot back, rage shaking through me.
“Hey, wasn’t me. Doris and Vernon did that. Believe me, ifI’ddone it, you wouldn’t be involved in this conversation!” he says arrogantly.
“You think you’re so clever? You couldn’t even slow-poison me right.”
He shakes his head, pacing. “Partners! Fucking partners. Have to do every goddamn thing myself if I want it done right.”
“How about marrying me, like you were planning? Couldn’t do that, either,” I sneer.
“So what? You’re here now. At my mercy!”
I can’t argue with this nonsense. In his mind he’s the greatest, smartest, most wonderful and deserving, no matter what.
“You should’ve died in that fire twenty-two years ago. You were always out, running around and coming back to the cottage disheveled, like some hillbilly mountain girl. Dirty. Then you came home in a charred dress, scarred in the back. Probably a punishment for seducing who knows what.”
“Wasn’t I eight?” I don’t recall what he’s talking about, but I want to make sure I did my math right. A headache from whatever drug he used to knock me out is hammering at my skull.
“So? Lolita was the same age!”
Lolita? “Like in the book? She was twelve—”
“Shut up, bitch! Doris should’ve have stopped me when I told her I should just beat the resistance out of you and have you the way I wanted. You were always just a tool and should’ve beentaught your place.” He heaves air. “But no. You wanted to have thingsyourway. Well, since you wouldn’t serve your purpose, now I have no choice.”
