This gives Killian pause, but I can’t help wondering if it’s a lie, a last-ditch effort to save his life.
“And who are you?”
“The world believes Kale Cronkite is my dad, but my real father was Heath Folcrum.”
The family Killian single-handedly destroyed after they almost extinguished his.
I’m taken aback by the confession, but either way, Wilmore must realize that regardless of what he says, he’s not leaving this room alive.
Killian’s eyes darken.
“I’ve been watching,” Wilmore rasps, “waiting for an opportunity to end you, and what better time than when the O’Dells are moving on and a Folcrum can take his rightful place as ruler over the underworld.”
Killian loosens the grip on the noose. “Your family killed my father, my brothers and sister, my mother, and tried to kill me.”
“And I was going to finish the fucking job. Total annihilation of the Lordes.”
“You never had to get involved in any of this. You could have lived a full life.”
“I’m a Folcrum. Vengeance is in my blood. And your name is written on my heart.” Wilmore doesn’t say that like a man who’s been terrified throughout this torment, but like a determined man on a mission.
“And now that your plan has failed?” Killian asks.
Wilmore grins. “Did you really think it would be this easy?” He chuckles, but then it morphs into a cackle, menacing and wild.
Killian strangles him again. “You. Will. Tell me.”
But the fury of Killian’s chokehold has Wilmore blacking out, and despite using the defibrillator, it’s evident this was the last for Wilmore.
When Killian sets his sights on his next victim, Hartlow trembles in his restraints, his cock looking like it’s about to crawl up into him. “Please no more. Please…I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Killian yanks him off the floor by the collar around his neck. “Tell me what you know, and perhaps I’ll make your death a quick one.”
“He said he knew the Lordes’ weaknesses, and that your failure to protect your greatest ally will show everyone in the underworld how weak you really are. That’s all I know. I don’t even know what it means.”
Killian’s eyes widen as he turns to me, clearly rattled. “Our greatest weakness is the kids,” Killian says. “The fucking kids.”
Malaki and Rory, fuck, he’s right. The rest of us have plenty of security, but because they’re not here, they have the fewest guys protecting them. I pull out my phone and text the group chat for Malaki’s and Rory’s security:CODE RED.
Killian takes out his phone, taking the same measures before asking me, “Is it done?” At my nod, Killian wipes his brow and pushes to his feet.
He’s demonstrated repeatedly that he cares about my family’s safety, and he can’t know what it means to see him, even in this heated moment where he’s driven by these dark instincts, considering us above his needs.
As he approaches me, I ask, “What are you doing?” since I expect him to finish the job.
But he smirks, saying, “I didn’t want to hog all the fun.”
My dark side fills with excitement at the promise of getting to exact my own punishment, especially now that I know what they did to Killian.
I only feel bad for Hartlow, who’ll be taking the punishment for what Wilmore had planned for my brothers too.
*
When I stepout of the basement, into Killian’s study, I’m overwhelmed with emotion, partly from trying to hold myself back from helping Killian do the deed, partly from my efforts at ending Hartlow, but also because I find my cock hard as a stone from what we did.
This is one of the differences between Killian and me—he admits what he is and faces it, whereas I try to hide from it. Deny the demons I’m afraid to look at.
It reminds me of the day he saw that side of me, the way he didn’t so much as flinch the way I expect anyone else in my life would have if they knew the truth. Even more, he knew I wanted to participate, that I needed to, and he invited me to be myself with him.
