“Killed,” I gasp more than say as the room begins to spin. “It was you? You’re the reason?”
“Your father didn’t give me any choice. Ibeggedhim to let me turn you into a star, but he didn’t care how much money you could make us, so…” My uncle shrugs. “He had to go. Your father was no saint, Aurelia. He had it coming, and now so do you.”
My mouth opens and I think I’ll scream, but instead, all I do is say his name. “Baaaane,” I cry out when my rage reaches its tipping point. My vision is blurred by tears now falling freely down my face, but I can still make out the alter’s indistinct shadow looming over my uncle.
I hear a sickening crunch and then the gun falling to the ground as my uncle’s chilling screams fill the dark hallway. I blink the tears away and my vision clears enough to see Seth’s hunting knife embedded to the hilt in my uncle’s wrist, but that’s not all. Uncle Mar’s bare arm has been split open from shoulder to wrist in a gory display of violence.
Bane removes the knife just as my gaze drops to the discarded gun. I could go for it, but shooting my uncle after what I just learned would be too good a death for him.
“No,” I say to Bane when he moves to plunge the knife into his chest.
Bane’s eyes rise to meet mine in the dark, and he almost looks like he won’t stop until he drops his hand and shoves my uncle into the wall. He holds him there, and with my eyes on my struggling uncle, I reach under my gown and quickly free my own knife strapped to my thigh.
“You,” I say with rage riding every letter as I come to stand before him, “willnevertake another thing from me, Uncle. And I will never give you a single thought after tonight. Not one.”
“You—”
Whatever venom my uncle was ready to spew is cut short when I drag the knife across his throat. He chokes on his own blood before falling to his knees, and when our eyes meet one last time, I release a guttural scream and drive my knife through his eye. Filled with grief and sorrow and hatred, I stab his face over and over until he’s unrecognizable.
Until I’m bathed in his blood and my rage, and he no longer looks like my father.
BANE
She kicks and screams as I lift her away from the bloody pulp staining the floor now. The bathroom door bursts open a moment later, and Ezekiel’s friends burst through, stumbling to a halt when they see me—or rather the crimson scene we made together.
Mine and I.
“Seth…” I growl, and the one Ezekiel calls Khalil swears. “Bane?” I don’t respond, and his gaze flicks back and forth between Mine, who is still now and staring, unseeing, and me. “What happened?” he questions as he keeps a healthy distance. “Bane? What happened? Did he hurt her?”
“No.”
“How the fuck are we going to explain this?” the one called Thorin barks before kicking the one who tried to hurt Mine.
“Self-defense?” Khalil throws out.
“Believable before she turned his face into ground beef.”
“Who cares? He’s clearly not dressed for the gala, and he brought a gun. He was here for one reason, and we all know what it was.”
Thorin still shakes his head. “It’s too risky with the conservatorship hearing coming up. We need to get rid of the body.”
“We’d have to make sure there is nothing left of Marston to find, and even if we did, his DNAandhers are all over this place. We can’t pull off that kind of cleanup with two hundred people down the hall. We have to risk it.”
“What about cameras?” Thorin volleys. “It could prove she was in danger.”
“There aren’t any in this hall. It’s the first thing I checked. This hall is a blind spot and likely the reason Marston chose it.”
Thorin swears and then nods his reluctant agreement and looks at me warily. “Bane,” he huffs out. “I need to check Aurelia. I need to make sure she’s not hurt.”
I tighten my grip on her and give him a look to stay away.
“Bane,” Mine croaks a moment later. “It’s okay.I’m safe.Thorin and Khalil are safe.”
Safe.
Ezekiel thinks so too. And Seth.
I eye the men as they wait anxiously for me to allow them near her. It’s what Mine wants, so when Thorin steps forward, I don’t kill him. I stand motionless, holding Mine close as he gently turns her cheek and inspects her bloody nose. “What happened?” he asks her.
