What happened to her was horrific. I don’t even want to think about it, but all that aside, her biological father was my uncle, and the quirky girl who stepped up to replace me as Lexi’s best friend when I failed her is actually my cousin.
I would never have known, and I doubt she knows either.
Ringo’s frown is a little amusing, but Jols steps forward with the papers, pointing to the name, which I assume is Brian’s, and I can tell by his wide eyes that his brain starts to catch up.
“You…” I trail off, shaking my head in disgust at my mother as I wrap my head around the damage my bloodline has caused. “Your father… your family… are nothing but toxic cultists,” I tell my mother, and she instantly tries to spit on me again, but it falls short, hanging off her chin.
“When I get free, I will gather the congregation and take over my father’s work so we can rise up and make this world pure.”
A laugh slips from me. “When youget free?” I scoff. “You think you’ll escape this fate?”
“Of course,” she sneers, and Maggie’s chanting cuts off.
“We have the work of Symme to do!” she cries. “Let us go!”
I roll my eyes at my sister before turning my attention to the Sadists holding my mother in place.
“Cut her ties and let her go.”
Their brows shoot up, and gasps fill the air around us.
“Angel?” Ringo asks, and I glance over my shoulder at him.
“She thinks she’ll be set free, so itmustbe true. She needs to do the work ofSymme,” I sarcastically deadpan, and then roll my eyes.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his lip, and he crosses his arms over his chest, nodding to the Sadists to do as I’ve asked.
My mother has the audacity to look smug as they cut through her binds and release her, but the moment she takes a step towards Maggie, I hold up my hand and shake my head.
“Not her. Just you,” I snap, bobbing my head in the direction of the clearing. “Off you go.”
For a moment, my mother looks a little baffled, her eyes darting between me, Maggie and the clearing.
“If you get past the boundary, I’ll let Maggie go too,” I tell her, and those evil eyes narrow as she jabs a finger at me.
“If you don’t, Symme will rain hell down over you and this cesspool!”
I nod. “I expect nothing less.”
She frowns, clearly thrown off by my change in direction, but when I don’t budge, she finally takes a wobbly step forward. And then another. And another.
Each step she takes gets faster, and within seconds, she’s running, glancing over her shoulder every few metres to see if I’m coming after her.
“You just gonna let her go?” Jols asks, but I shake my head, sighing.
“Who wants to go hunting?” I ask loudly, and when I glance around at the Sadists, smirks start appearing on their faces. “Have at it. Chase her. Scare her. Torment her. Make her piss her pants. Hell, slap her around a little if you like, butdon’tkill her.” I turn back to see her halfway across the clearing as the falling rain starts to get heavier. “That’s my job.”
“Fucking oath!” Vender bellows, and the moment he starts bolting across the clearing, over twenty men follow, war cries bursting from them as they make chase.
I hear my mother scream when she realises they are coming after her, twice as fast as her legs can carry her, and I turn back to face my husband as I blink past the rain.
“I want her to know what it’s like to be so terrified that you actually think your heart is going to stop beating.”
He nods, reaching for me, and I step into his chest, letting him embrace me as we get drenched by the chilly downpour.
“Why are you doing that?” Maggie sobs. “Just let her go.”
“She has to pay for what she’s done, Mags. That’s just how it is,” I mutter, not sparing her a glance.
