It would’ve been easy for me to jerk some calm into her, use the dominance she relished and obeyed, to control her. I chose not to. This wasn’t the woman who’d filled my soul with serenity. This woman needed to fight, let go, and vent. I had no idea how long it went on, but her end was sudden.
Her voice dragged into a croak, her fists slowed into lethargic falls, she raised bloodshot eyes to meet mine. “I fed her to the rats,” she whimpered. “I killed her.” Her surrender told me she’d never believe otherwise.
Fury sparked my temper.
My muscles spasmed, every mass taut, tense, as my heart pumped liquid fire through my veins, burning every ounce of compassion I usually allowed to lead me into level-headedness. Not this time. Darkness declared its intent. I wanted blood.
“I’ll kill them, love,” I gritted through my wrath. “I’ll kill them all.”
“Promise,” a small whisper prefaced another sob.
Further swells of rage billowed through me. “If it’s the last fucking thing I do, Ella.”
Surprisingly, my anger seemed to have the desired effect. She leaned back. “I didn’t kill Mama?”
Breathing hard, I palmed her cheeks. “No, love, you didn’t. You were just a child cruelly manipulated by sick men. You didn’t kill her. He did. Save your anger for him,” I growled. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” her reply was soft.
“Show me,” I demanded, and she complied.
What we did in that bathtub was raw, hard, and long but she needed it. While it might be considered selfish, her passing out from the pleasure I gave her allowed her to succumb once more to the peace I knew she craved but wouldn’t get, not now and not until those bastards were buried and their bones nothing but dust.
After I dried her, I placed her on my bed, covered her, and went looking for answers. When I entered one of the dungeons below the castle where Wilkes decided to detain Andrew, he shot up from his seat.
“What is the meaning of this?” Andrew shouted, his body language striving for the arrogance his expression failed to elicit. He was scared.
“Sit!” I barked.
Realizing the friend he once knew ceased to exist the second he chose to test me, he slowly sank to his seat.
“Now.” I moved closer, towering over him and forcing his head to tilt back sharply so he could see my face. Given the sparse lighting, he squinted. “You have two choices. Tell me what I need to know about Kabir Shah, or you’ll be kept down here with nothing but your breath for company and, if you’re lucky, rats.
His eyes widened, his panic jumping to the fore as though debating which would kill him first. “Please, Xavier, can’t we chat about this like two civilized—”
“Civilized!” I growled, leaning forward, my face so close I could see the tiny hairs on his face stand to attention. “In what fucked up world is raping an eight-year-old child civilized,” I gritted.
He swallowed, attempting to pat his hair. His hands were shaking too much to fulfill the telltale gesture. “Please,” it came out somewhere between a sob and an apology.
“Kabir fucking Shah,” I breathed harshly.
Slowly, he shook his head. “I can’t.”
Straightening, I crossed my arms over my chest and eyed the man before me. “You were a man I trusted with my sisters, Andrew. You were family.” He opened his mouth to say something. My glare, however, snapped his mouth shut. I looked at Wilkes. “He’ll stay down here until he chooses to speak, and even after he does, I will decide whether what he tells me is worth the air we allow him to breathe.”
“Yes, sir.”
I turned to walk away.
“You can’t do this, Xavier. I’m the mayor.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “I just did.” I walked out to his pathetic howls.
