Page 55 of One for the Money

“He’s right. You need to do this alone,” Bear agreed. “Who knows, maybe it will help with your nightmares, knowing he’s not out there anymore.”

It’s hard to argue with logic that sound, but I haven’t always been known for being logical.

“All right, I’ll be back when he’s dead. Try not to be too disappointed you don’t get to play too,” I said as I clicked the magazine in place and gave them a two-finger salute.

“Don’t forget to find the last clue,” Erik hollered after me.

Good thing he reminded me. I almost forgot there was another hoop to jump through after this. I’ll hand it to Coronis—whatever his reasoning for all this, he was proving just how good he was. It made me wonder if I would have been able to catch him on my own. I guess I’ll just have to see once I meet the bastard.

Returning to the cage, I pulled the lever that released the chain holding his arms up and opened the door. Judge didn’t hesitate. He stumbled forward and made a run for it, not giving a shit the tunnel was pitch dark. When I tried to lift the lever, it wouldn’t budge, meaning I couldn’t follow after my prey. In small print on the bottom of the sign, it told me to flip it over. An arrow pointed to the right with tunnel entrance written under it. Rolling my eyes, I checked to make sure the glasses were in night mode and jogged to the secondary entrance.

After I took a second to think about it, the choice to have two entry points made sense. It gave time for my prey to get a head start, meaning the game would last longer. Once in the tunnel, I slowed to a fast walk, making sure I didn’t make more noise than I needed. With his adrenaline pumping and heart working overtime, Judge wouldn’t be paying attention to sounds like he should. Hell, his own heartbeat would be deafening in his ears which played into my favor. A polished man like Judge, who wasn’t used to being without power, had no chance against me.

The sound of sobbing alerted me I’d caught up to him. I found him curled up in a ball, trying to hide in the curve of the corner. Raising my gun, I let out a spray of bullets inches away from his feet. Shrieking like a hysterical woman, he shot to his feet and ran—smack into a wall. I gave him time to get to his feet, letting out a short burst of bullets opposite him so he didn’t think I could see him.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I called. “I thought you wanted to play with me? That’s what you always said… you wanted your turn to have some fun. Well, guess what, Judge, it’s finally your turn.”

I slowly followed the stumbling, sobbing, snot-covered Judge, watching as all the confidence he once had fell away. When the man started to slow down, I let out another burst followed by more taunting. Then I noticed what looked like the tunnel opening into another cavern. I moved past the Judge and took in the space. Once, there had been a wooden bridge crossing over an underground river, but it had since crumbled. When my prey stumbled into the open, I knew I needed to wrap things up. Before he could get too close to the edge, I shot him in the legs, sending him face-first into the dirt.

“Just kill me, please. I know you want to, so just finish the job,” Judge wailed.

Squatting a few feet from him, I let out a heavy sigh. “Remember when I used to ask for that very same thing? What was it your son used to say to me…” I paused, curious to see if he’d remember.

“Only the master is allowed to decide if you’ve become worthless enough to kill,” Judge answered, then cried out as he tried to get up.

“Yes, the fond memories he left me with,” I reminisced. “So tell me, Judge, are you now worthless enough to kill? Do you no longer serve any value?”

“I gave up everything when I went into hiding,” he admitted. “What value could I possibly have to anyone?”

Standing, I started to walk around the man who raised the depraved man who abused me. “What do you know, strip away the money, power, and connections, and all that’s left is a pathetic sack of flesh. If your friends could see you now face down in the dirt, begging for your life. Maybe you really don’t have any value and are truly considered worthless.”

Judge broke down, sobbing into the dirt as if he hoped it would choke him to death. Grabbing the back of his costume, I pulled him up as I stepped on his lower leg, making him scream.

“I have one more question you need to answer, then you can die. Where did you manage to hide? No matter what I did or the connections I had, you were nowhere to be found. So tell me, you worthless sack of shit, what hole did you crawl into to get away from little old me?” I demanded.

“Apria. I fled across the ocean and got a doctor to declare me mentally unstable. They drugged me to make it seem real, and I was committed as a ward of the state,” Judge answered between heaving breaths.

Laughter bubbled up until I couldn’t hold it back. Releasing my hold, Judge’s face was once more in the dirt where it belonged. “All because of a sad, broken, abused girl. They were right to consider you mentally unstable. Although I bet if you told them the real story, it would have been just as helpful in getting you locked up. Who would want an abusive sadist to be free, endangering anyone they came in contact with? Don’t worry… it all ends here.”

Taking a second, I patted him down and found the envelope pinned to the skin on Judge’s back where he couldn’t get to it. Coronis and I seemed to share a similar way of thinking, making me feel a little bummed out I had to kill him. Tucking the last clue in my back pocket, I straddled Judge’s legs, took aim, and after using two magazines worth of ammo, cut the man in half. Halfway through, I needed to wipe off my glasses, having gotten covered in blood. His screams bounced off the walls, but the river’s roar kept them trapped in this space.

Now in two pieces, it was easier for me to drag them to the edge and toss them into the river. I made sure to bust up his face so he wasn’t recognizable. Once the fishes were fed, I headed back out to where Bear and Erik were waiting.

It was time to bring this scavenger hunt to a close.

As I emerged from the mine, I flinched at the sunlight and switched the glasses to daylight mode.

“Von,” Erik yelled when he saw me and came running, panic in his voice. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

“It’s not my blood,” I offered, trying to stop him from ripping everything off me. “Give me a sec to get these things off, and I’ll prove it to you. Oh yeah, here’s the last clue.”

“Second to last,” he corrected, taking it from me.

Ignoring his sass, I pulled off the glasses, machine gun, and bandolier. Times like this were why I wore dark colors all the time. Shrugging out of my leather jacket to reveal the clean shirt underneath had both men relaxing. “Told you,” I teased.

“We’re gonna need to find someplace for you to clean up, though,” Erik said, waving the clue. “This is taking us to some bar or a club called The Veil.”

My head snapped up from wiping down the gun. “What did you say?”