Lucy… she was coming back to me? Why? I don’t know, but before I end this sorry piece of shit, I need to find out.
“How did she threaten you?”
When he doesn’t answer me right away, I move my foot like I’m about to kick him again. I would’ve, too, except he curls into the fetal position to protect his vital organs.
I stamp my boot down, near enough to his head that he jumps. “Tell me.”
Julian rolls onto his back, struggling to sit up. A hint of that defiance from before flares up as he licks the blood from hisfront teeth, checking to see if they’re still there. “She overheard a conversation that wasn’t meant for her.”
That’s not good enough. Pulling out my pocketknife, I give it a practiced flick, releasing the blade. Lowering myself by his face, I move the knife next to the corner of his mouth. “See this, Julian? If you don’t tell me straight what’s going on, I’m going to cut out your tongue, then make you swallow it. I’d rather hear the gurgles and the gasping as you choke on it than anything you say if it’s not what I want to know.”
This time, I see real fear sparking behind his dark eyes. “Fine. You want the truth? There are plenty of Order members who didn’t like you stepping into Daddy’s shoes, taking his throne. I didn’t think she’d care, but Lucy must’ve heard enough to realize we were moving against you. She threatened to tell you and I… we couldn’t have that.”
The red from before returns to the edge of my vision. “So you decided to kill her for it.”
“She was my wife,” spits out Julian. “She said she’d call you. Said she’d burn it all down if we touched you once she heard that Jacky Boy couldn’t handle his booze.” As beaten as he is, he laughs as he mentions my old man this time. I can’t tell if it’s because he knows what’s coming and he figured that that might be enough to get me to end it quickly instead of continuing to torture him, but he guessed wrong. Mom is truly a touchy subject for me, not Jack. But Lucy…
“She was coming back to me and you tried to stop her?”
“Why not? She wasmy wife. It doesn’t matter that she didn’t marry me because she wanted me. She married me because Jack threatened to kill you if she didn’t, and he paid me fifty grand to take that worthless piece of ass across the country so that you couldn’t find her.”
My jaw locks. I knew… Iknewthat Jack had something to do with Lucy’s sudden marriage to this monster. He just about saidas much, and made it clear that, if I went after her, Lucy would have the same sort of accident that Mom had.
But my sweet Lucy… she thought she was savingme?
“She stayed with me,” Julian adds bitterly, “because she thought it kept you safe. But when Jack bit it and you were King, I should’ve known she’d find any excuse to crawl her way back to you.” He scoffs. It comes out like the sound a garbage disposal makes when you drop a metal fork down it, but the intent is clear when he goes on to add, “And maybe you wouldn’t have minded taking the sloppy seconds that I’ve spent the last five years fucking whenever I wanted. You might change your tune when I tell you that she knows what really happened to your mommy.”
This time, Iknowhe’s trying to rile me up so that I end this. Just for that, I dig my knife into his cheek, blood welling up at the point.
“You’re fucking lying. Maybe I take that tongue now after all.”
“Dal.” That’s Bas. “I see lights outside. We might have company.”
Fuck!
I’m not done. I’mnot?—
“I had five years with her,” Julian taunts softly. “Five years in my bed. Five years of her body. Find her grave. Dig her up. You can have her pussy now. I’m done with her.”
This fucking asshole. He didn’t even care enough about Lucy to make sure whether or not she lived or died after his shove. And I know Adrian’s probably out there, smooth-talking some cop or visitor or nosy neighbor. Somewhere behind me, Bas swears under his breath.
I grip Julian’s head by his hair. Normally, I do like a quick end to things. I’ve got as much information as I can bear to hear right now, and a shot between the eyes will shut him up for good.Only I don’t know who is out there, or if they’ll hear a gunshot and get even more in our biz.
So, instead of grabbing my Ruger, I jerk his head back and use my knife to slit his throat open before dropping him to the floor like the piece of garbage he is—but not before I say, “No need to dig up her grave, asshole. She’s alive, and she’smine.”
Once Julian stops gurgling and the light has slipped from his dark eyes, Bas moves away from the door.
“Well,” he mutters, glancing at the body. “You held out longer than I thought you would. Though, gotta say, bro, you scared me a little back there.”
I wipe my hands and my blade on Julian’s shirt. “Is there still someone out there? ‘Cause we need to clean up and bury this prick where no one can find him. His car, too. Let’s junk it.”
“You got it. And, nah. There was someone, but I saw the lights bob away. It’s just Adrian now. You want me to go get him?”
I glance down at the battered corpse that used to be Julian Fairchild. Of the blood and the mess and the rage still simmering deep inside of me…
“No,” I tell Bas. “Let me. You stay with the body. It’s… yeah. I’ll be right back.”
Because he was right. I scared him, but I scared myself a little, too.
