“You are very beautiful, Ashley,” he says, ignoring my request. He brushes his fingers across my face. “Intelligent too. It pleases me.”
This guy is seriously insane.
He smiles in a creepy way as he continues caressing my cheek, and I want to tell him to fuck off, but he’s unhinged, and I don’t want to set him off. “You look just like my younger daughter. She’s going to be so excited to meet her new sister.”
“Wait.” Julia bolts upright in her chair. “What?”
“Julia.” Rhett turns his gun in her direction. “What did I tell you!” he roars. “You are getting on my very last nerve. Just shut the fuck up. Finger your cunt. It’ll help to distract you.”
“As you wish, my love.” Julia hikes her dress up to her hips, exposing her bare pussy, because she doesn’t seem to believe in underwear, moaning as she runs a finger up and down her slit.
“You foolish girl.” Mom shakes her head as she looks at her niece. “What have you done?”
“What have I done?” Julia screeches. She stops fingering herself and sits forward in her chair, glowering at Mom. “I have done what I needed to do to be a person of importance in our world. You were too stupid to see the opportunity you were granted.” She casts a sneering look in my direction. “You should have just aborted the bitch and married Rhett, but your loss is my gain.”
“You are clearly delusional if you truly believe that, and your father will not tolerate this betrayal.”
“My father means nothing to me!” she yells. “Nothing is ever good enough for him—no matter how hard I try. Rhett has nurtured what my father was too blind to see.” She tilts her head and smirks at me. “James is going down for the part he played in this subterfuge. When the Board discovers how you all conspired to hide Rhett’s child from him, you will die.”
“He raped me,” Mom says. “Or didn’t you listen to that part?”
“It will be your word against his, and who do you think they’ll believe? There is nothing wrong with a man knocking his fiancée up. There was no reason for you to do what you did, and you’re going down for it. You should have just married him.” She leans back, her fingers returning to her pussy as she grins. “When my love is Lord of The Luminaries, I will rule as the Sloth Luminary in my own right.” She shoots Jase a venomous look. “I will never bow at your feet or play second fiddle to you. I will be in charge, and you will do as you’re told.”
“You’re even more crazy than I realized,” I say. “No powerful man will ever put you in charge. I don’t know what you were promised, but it’s obvious to anyone with more than two brain cells between their ears that you have been played.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!Daddyloves me, don’t you, Rhetty baby?”
Rhetty babylooks close to strangling his love.
I wouldn’t object if he did.
“You’re such a dumb bitch, Ashley. I’ve been spying on you for years. As soon as Rhett realized the uncanny resemblance between you and Paisley, he knew for sure Pamela had lied to him. I took your hairbrush so he could prove it with a DNA test, and then we waited patiently until the time was ready to strike. Now you will die, just like poor Doug and soon-to-be unalived Pamela and James.”
“You stupid girl.” Mom shakes her head. “He has no intention of killing Ashley or telling anyone she is his daughter. If that were the case, he would have done it the moment he made the discovery.” She eyeballs Rhett. “He can’t claim her as his without the truth coming out. It’s too risky, so what is this about?”
“All in good time, Pamela.” He pats her on the head like she’s a dog.
“You were the reason behind the initiation and how fast it was pushed through,” I surmise.
“He needs you to be official for whatever he has planned,” Mom says, musing aloud.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Julia shouts, growing aggravated. “Rhett doesn’t need her, and he’s not going to claim her because she’s filius nullius, and she’s less than useless. Killing her in front of you will be the ultimate punishment. Then he’ll let you live, bringing you to the brink of death over and over until you’re begging him to murder you.” She rubs her hands with glee.
Jase’s chair rattles as he moves around in it, trying to get free, shouting behind his tape as he stares at me with mounting horror.
“Relax, son.” Rhett plants a hand on his shoulder. “I brought you all here for a reason, and it wasn’t to kill you, your sister, my daughter, or her mother.”
“What?” Julia hops up, practically spitting blood. “What do you mean? You said she had to die. That they all had to die for betraying you.”
“I lied,” Rhett says. “And you’ve outlived your usefulness.” Raising the gun, he pulls the trigger and shoots her.
Julia stumbles back, clutching her stomach as blood oozes out between her fingers. “What are you doing?” Horror sweeps over her features. “I love you. We were going to rule together.”
“I was using you, Julia. That was never going to happen. You’re way too weak and annoying. I certainly wasn’t going to do it after you shot at my daughter and almost killed her.”
Julia’s eyes pop wide.
“You’re a fool if you think I didn’t realize you set that up. I have listened to your jealous rantings for years. It’s why I fed you a steady dose of lies and told you what you wanted to hear. I would never kill my beautiful daughter.” He cups my face, and I feel like hurling. “You were smart enough to know you couldn’t kill her. I know you did it to accelerate this process because you were tired of waiting. You wanted me to believe she’s in danger and force me to push the button before I was ready. Nevertheless, you may have done me a favor, so I won’t prolong this.”
