Maybe I need to dream bigger than I have been. Escape my father? Laughable.
Murder him.
Make him pay for putting me through this.
Make him suffer for giving me a mother who seems to hate me.
Destroy him, the way he’s destroyed me.
“I’ve been imagining it,” Pandora continues, drawing patterns on my chest. “I think I’ll take one eye first. I’m going to force-feed it to him. Just one eye, though, so he can still see everything else I’m doing to him.”
“You’ll have to make sure he doesn’t pass out from the pain,” I tell her. “He doesn’t get to pass out and miss his own murder.” My voice is distant somehow.
“Right. Maybe I need to acquire cocaine. How long can somebody survive a disemboweling? I should test that. On him.” Pandora laughs. “He’s going to bleedso much, River. The entire boxing ring is going to be drenched in him.”
“We might need to take him somewhere else if we’re going to take our time,” I point out. “The boxing ring isn’t the best venue.”
There’s only so much we can get away with, and murdering him in the middle of the boxing ring might be pushing it a step far.
But the idea of everyone knowing what happened to him, withrapistandmurdererwritten across his face and chest, is appealing.
Pandora has the right idea.
“Don’t be a spoilsport, River.” Pandora lightly slaps my stomach. “Nobody will dare go against us. After all, they could be next on our chopping block.” She giggles. “Literal chopping block.”
“I just meant, you can’t get a table saw up there. Or a chopping block.”
Seeing him in pieces, like Rachel had been in pieces, appeals tosomething dark and vicious inside of me. I want to see him relive her fate.
I want him to be awake while he does.
I want him to feel every single second of his dismemberment and murder.
My stomach should be turning; I should be disturbed by this.
I’m not.
Pandora smiles at me. “You’re right. Logistics can be a pain. You’ll have to help me strap him down so we can make a real theater out of it. Operating theater.”
I lean in and brush my lips against hers in a savage kiss. “Deal,” I say, my breathing unsteady.
Slayer was worried about Pandora, but I don’t see a problem. This is Pandora at her most glorious: dark and violent and delivering retribution.
Soon, we’ll make this a reality.
26
ASCH
The logistics of Blaze’s plan are a nightmare, but nothing in comparison to what Pandora wants.
Pandora
Don’t forget the chopping block in the ring! With a big guillotine in the center!
River and I exchange a look.
“I’m not sourcing a guillotine,” I say, deadpan.
