“You wanted to destroy me,” I said.
“Not initially.” He scratched his overgrown, greasy beard, using his shackled hands. “But…with time, I decided I’d kill both of you.” A cruel smile painted his lips, his eyes bloodshot and wet. “At least your brother is a good mobster, a good son. He was a great investment. But you were always too broken, too traumatized. No one could reach you. I guess when Tiernan took Fintan’s life, I realized it was time to make you both pay. That is when I went to Vello and offered to be his spy. I knew one of you would do something prideful and stupid to cause your downfall.”
Achilles grunted but didn’t speak.
“What were you hoping was gonna happen?”
“I thought Vello would do the right thing and kill both of you.”
“Because Mom died?”
“Your mum. Fintan. Myrealfamily,” he sniffled. “The one I knew and loved.”
I waited for the pain to come, but it never did. Truth was, whatever he told me, I already knew or at the very least suspected.
Losing his patience, Achilles turned around and ambled toward the glass tank in the corner of the room. It was lit from the inside and quite spacious.
“I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Tyrone,” he said conversationally, grabbing a pair of chemical resistant gloves and donning them, businesslike. “Her name is Zelda.” He picked up a serpent hook and unhooked the cover of the enclosure.
I watched, mesmerized.
“Zelda is a Russell’s viper. Highly venomous. Illegal to keep, obviously, but just look at that face.” Achilles used the snake hook to slowly lift the serpent and turn its head Tyrone’s way. “Adorable. Wouldn’t you say?”
Tyrone’s eyes grew impossibly large at the sight of the brown-and-yellow reptile.
“I had to adopt her. I’ve always loved snakes. They don’t bond with their mates, young, or in groups. Instead, they keep to themselves, preferring to live solitary lives. I consider myself much the same. Other than your daughter, I’ve no use for others of my species and hold them in low regard.”
Tyrone sucked in a breath, crawling backward in his cage, trying to escape the inevitable.
Achilles’s stride was slow and purposeful. Zelda’s forked tongue slid out, but she looked otherwise comfortable in Achilles’s care.
“What I love about the Russell’s viper is their striking range. They never miss, and once they sink those fangs into you…” Achilles shook his head, tsking. “Let’s just say it takes about thirty milligrams of venom to kill an adult human. An adult Russell’s viper releases about a hundred. And while it’s nothing in comparison to the king cobra’s thousand milligrams of venom, one thing you should know about the Russell’s viper is that it’s a very,veryaggressive snake.”
Tyrone released a desperate sob. “Please! No!”
Achilles ignored him, continuing. “They don’t like humans, bite them indiscriminately, and tend to hang on with their fangs for a long-ass time. So whatever you do, Tyrone, just try and keep still when I let her loose in your cage. Oh, and by the way, my girl’s hungry today. A little mix-up in the kitchen, I’m afraid. The freeze-dried rodents I usually feed her? I fed them to you.”
Tyrone gagged uncontrollably, looking at the half-eaten, indistinguishable meal on the dirty plate in his cage.
Achilles stopped in front of Tyrone’s cage. “You never should’ve hurt the woman I love, Tyrone.” He shook his head. “Now you’ll have to suffer through one of the slowest, most painful deaths known to man…and we’re going to watch.”
Achilles tossed Zelda into the cage, between the bars. She dropped to the ground.
“No, no, no!” Tyrone kicked and thrashed, squeezing into the corner.
“You’re not making things better for yourself,” Achilles muttered.
Zelda side-eyed my father, reared herself into an S shape, and lunged at him, striking his foot.
An ear-piercing shriek rang through the air.
I watched my father die with a smile on my face.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Achilles
Three daysafter I delivered Tyrone Callaghan his much-deserved demise, I sat in the office of Forbidden Fruit Club, tapping my phone over my desk.
