He starts speaking. Taunts, commands, demands, but my brain barely registers it. I keep staring at my sister, wonderinghow the hell this is real. Wondering how deep into her head he got.
And then, with no warning, no breath, no emotion, Natalya’s hands flash to the knives at her waist.
One fluid pull.
Two blades in her grip.
And the next heartbeat, they’re flying.
One slams into my thigh. The second hits Adrien, same wound. I choke on the pain, dropping to one knee as fire rips through my leg. Adrien collapses beside me, blood blooming through his shirt from the old wound, dripping onto the floor.
Lucien watches us with mild interest, like we’re a show he’s already seen but still enjoys.
Fuck.
How is this possible? We had our last check from the PD just a month ago. Nat was supposed to be at her house.
This is not possible.
This is not even her.
Lucien stands there beside my sister, fully relaxed, while Nat is by his side, her face empty and hollow, with a smile that’s almost eerie, looking at him like he’s her God.
Adrien looks at me, his eyes wet with tears threatening to fall down, but he doesn’t let them. We exchange the terror in our eyes and look back at Lucien, who just rested his weight against the black SUV and crossed his legs at the ankles.
He takes a deep breath and starts, “I apologize for keeping your girl for so long but I actually thought you’ll find us much sooner,” he says with a half-smile. “Anyway, I need you to do me one more favor.”
“What do you want,” I grit out, the pain from the knife stuck in my thigh muscle getting worse with every breath I take.
“I need you two to kill my father,” he says with complete seriousness.
Silence settles over us.
“Don’t look so shocked. You inspired me, with that parental homicide, the fire and all.” He crosses his arms over his chest, enjoying this moment too much.
We just kneel on the ground, barely able to move thanks to that little blade my dear sister apparently learned how to use.
What the actual fuck.
“I tried to bond, remember, Kas? I thought we could be friends, you know. Trauma-bonded,” he does the air quotes and laughs at his little pathetic joke. “But then you made that deal with my father, and you took Natalya away from me.”
His eyes darken, while he just stands there, looking down at us, when it clicks in my brain.
“She isn’t something to claim, you psycho,” Adrien chokes out, the blood from both of his wounds is starting to leak down on the floor.
“Yeah, I figured, when she went fucking mental when youdied,” Lucien laughs under his breath. “But you left her rotting in that psych ward for almost a year.” Lucien winks at him and my insides turn upside down.
Was she here all those years?
“Okay, so, we’re about to go, you two know what to do, I don’t care how you do it, I just want him dead. Here’s your motivation.” He circles his hand around my sister’s shoulders and leads her to his car, taking her away.
I can’t stand up and I can’t think. Adrien is bleeding. My sister is—
I don’t know what she is now. And I don’t know what to do.
“If you do as you’re told, she’s all yours and you’ll never hear about me again, you have my word,” he tells us before he turns around, about to walk away, but Adrien grunts and then moves.
He grabs the knife in his leg, rips it out in one violent motion, his blood sprays across the floor, and then he smoothly flips the blade in his hand. His eyes lock on Lucien, and he throws.
