He shrugged. “I guess we were just as fucked up when he offered us to join his business.” Tahir’s laugh lacked mirth. He looked tired. “My brother and I were also born with dual-colored eyes like you—a combination of mum’s brown and dad’s green eyes. When anyone visited, Mum always called us her angels and told people we were her redemption, but she never told them that the father was a nine-year-old boy she kept locked in the basement. Once she began selling Dad and Zarina, his hatred for us grew. He escaped, and you know the rest.” He laughed, shaking his head. “It began with us and ended with you.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, squinting at him. “How is that possible if both your eyes are brown.”
He grinned. “Contact lenses for obvious reasons.”
“What’s that?” Confused, I looked at Xavier.
“They’re used to either better your eyesight or cosmetic purposes when people feel like changing their eye color to match their clothes,” he explained, looking at Tahir. “Some criminals use them to hide their identity. Care to explain what your dual-eye color has to do with Cinder?”
“She was my redemption,” Kabir answered instead, his voice low before his gaze lifted from the floor to meet mine. “Layla robbed me of the chance to celebrate my sons. She stole my life, my innocence, my children. She made me a worthless piece of shit to be used and abused. And when the opportunity presented itself, I showed her what a sick, perverted animal I could become, giving new meaning to barefooted and pregnant. She fucking begged for mercy right up to that last breath.” His laugh was callous before he sighed. “Things were going well. I had a good business running until Sixty was born. Not sure what fucked-up gene pool I shared with my sister. Instead of an abnormal child, Zarina gave me my first blue-eyed daughter. With that dark hair and creamy skin, she was beautiful, and I was fascinated.” He glanced out the window, almost like he was lost in thought. “For the first time in my life, I wanted something more. It was why I allowed Zarina to visit her. I thought if she could teach Sixty about life, I might have a chance of the happiness Layla stole from me.”
“With your daughter?” Xavier asked, his voice thick with disdain.
Unfazed, Kabir shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a different breed. My tastes are adventurous.” His voice eerily calm, he grinned at me.
I shivered and inched closer to Xavier, chills slithering down my spine. His hand slid around my stomach, drawing my back to his chest. Whether he intended to anger Kabir or not, he succeeded. Kabir’s eyes turned a deadly cold, shifting between where Xavier’s arm lay and my face, his scowl deepening with each second.
“Yet you still kept Sixty pregnant and sold her babies,” Zarina scoffed, pulling his attention.
“And you got to spend years with your daughter, you ungrateful bitch,” he sneered. “You forget if I hadn’t escaped and freed you, your pussy would’ve been stretched and torn by all those filthy fuckers Layla sold you to.”
She glared at him, turning her reddened face away.
“What about me?” I asked softly, hoping to persuade him to share more.
His eyes returned to mine and his dark look morphed into an evil smile. “Before you, Sixty gave me five boys. Well, two miscarried and I decided to keep the three. My own little family. Then you came along, a rose among the thorns.” He laughed, and it almost sounded like a happy memory he was reliving. “Unlike all the other children I’d fathered over time, you didn’t make a sound when you were born. Not a cry or a squeak. If it weren’t for your heartbeat, I would’ve believed you were stillborn. Creamy skin, thick black hair, no abnormalities. My perfect kitten. I wanted to share with the world. I was ready to. Then you opened your eyes.” He paused, his eyes riveted on me.
An abrupt shiver stole over me. Xavier’s chest flush against me gave me the strength not to run, to face this demon head on.
“And I saw my redemption,” he said. “One blue eye like Sixty’s and one green like mine—our blessing. My second chance I’d missed with my boys that Layla stole from me. And I knew I couldn’t let the rest of the world see you. In my religion, well, your religion too.” He grinned. “Nazar is the Arabic word for evil eye and is based on the belief that some people have a strong energy that they can use to bring pain, illness, or even death to other humans. I couldn’t let those eyes fall on you.”
“So you kept me locked up,” I whispered. He nodded. “If I were your redemption, why hurt me? Why give me to those vile friends who made you kill Mama?”
He looked at me, his expression unreadable. “I’m sure Xavier will understand George Bernard Shaw’s quote,‘It islongandhardandpainfultocreate life; it isshortandeasytostealthelife others have made.’Maybe you can explain it to her, old friend?” He grinned at Xavier.
I tilted my head to look back at Xavier. “What does he mean?”
He seemed contemplative for a moment. “The life he created, the money he made, the empire he built was taken by someone else, forcing his hand and why he handed you over.”
“Well fucking done, old chap. I can see why you’re a revered businessman, Xavier,” Kabir snorted before his eyes flicked to Andrew Turner, who hadn’t said a word all evening. Then his eyes came back to me. “I guess once a thief, always a thief.” He shrugged. “Don’t be mistaken, kitten. You killed your mama. You fed her bones and blood to the rats. Not my repulsive friends. They were just there for your sweet pussy. If only you listened, she would still be here today. Probably.”
His words were like a slap to my face—a searing slash across my cheek. Not even the lashes of his favorite whip had left me with such torment. I felt those same stirrings I did the night I broke the mirrors. My body burned, scorching my insides and out, my skin prickled, and my ears buzzed. But it was my vision that changed.
Red!
The color I hated. It was all saw.
The red room. The red streaks on my body. That red dress. Red.
Kabir’s blood.
I wanted it, craved it. I could smell it.
I didn’t think, nor did my legs. They just moved.
Lightning speed.
Luke didn’t see me coming. My fingers closed around the gun tucked in the side of his trousers.
