Page 149 of Avenging Azalea

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing. Worry about how you answer the question and if it pleases me,” I drawled, while perusing the different options of branding irons.

Thief. Liar. Rat. Coward. They were lined up in a neat row. Coward seemed the best choice, and I put the brand in the forge to heat up.

“Okay, okay. It was your father.”

I turned around and glared at Neil while Nathaniel made a disgusted noise behind me.

“Explain. All of it.”

“I was down on my luck and owed the 696 money. Somehow, Dimitri knew about it and called me. He said he’d make my debt right, and I could have Fawn back. The only thing was that I needed to tell him everything about her and that I had to take her and make her disappear when he gave me the order. He sent me the address of that clinic she works and told me to scope it out and then sit tight. He settled my debt right away and offered more to hang around Cali. Few days ago I get the call to take her, so I waited until she was alone and took my chance. The 696 offered to sell her for me so they helped grab her.”

My hand curled into a fist, the rage making my body shake.

“When did my father first contact you,” I asked, figuring it would be after I agreed to marry Vera.

“Few months back.”

Yup that lined up, the sneaky fucker was always looking for an insurance policy. A way to force our hands if we didn’t comply to his demands. Unbelievable.

“And then he said move in a few days ago?”

“Yeah.”

Father called this fucker right after I canceled the contract at Nathaniel’s wedding. I glanced at Nathaniel who slowly shook his head, disgust and hatred brewing in his eyes.

“You’ve been following her for months,” I asked, pissed off that I hadn’t noticed anything suspicious and neither had my guards. Naji and I were going to have a chat.

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, but like I said, I was just following orders.”

I roared and grabbed the handle of the branding iron. Yanking it out, the head glowed bright.

“No, please. I told you what you wanted to know,” he begged, but it fell on deaf ears. I stamped the end against his skin over his heart.

“Ahhh!” Neil screamed, trying to pull away as his skin sizzled. The smell of burning flesh rose in the air with the smoke.

Pulling the iron away, a red and black Coward was now on display over his left peck. Neil slumped in the chains, bawling like a baby.

“You asshole,” he panted. “Your father is to blame. I hadn’t even thought about contacting Fawn.”

Tossing the iron down, I swiped the knife off the tray and lunged at Neil. He screamed as I grabbed his jaw and squeezed hard enough that his mouth opened. Holding the cold steel between his lips, I got close to the pathetic worm and stared him directly in the eyes. All the things that Fawn told me as we had lain quietly in bed stormed to the surface.

“Really? And is that the excuse you’re going to use for all the times you forced yourself on her? Is that your excuse for the fact that you made a fourteen-year-old kid go on birth control and take day-after pills like candy? Or how about all the times you sold her to men to pay off your debts? Or all the times she had to visit doctors and have tests run because she was terrified about catching a disease? Was that you following orders, too?”

Fear danced in his eyes, but there was still a hint of defiance, and I planned on wiping that all away.

“Answer the question, Neil.”

“No…no, that was me, but…” I pressed the blade into the corners of his mouth, threatening to give him a Joker smile.

He stopped talking, but I knew he still believed that Fawn wanted him. She told me about the shame she felt because she hadn’t fought back. She had accepted her fate to keep her family safe and from worse. There was nothing about the situation that suggested she wanted anything to do with him, but it was obvious he took her reluctant compliance as more.

“How many times,” I asked, not sure I wanted to know. “How many times did you use her?”

“I don’t know,” he said. I pulled my arm back and slammed the sharp blade into his shoulder and left it there. “Ahh, fuck!” I grabbed another knife. “I don’t know. I’m telling the truth.” Blood ran down his chest, painting him red as he stared at the knife like he couldn’t believe it was buried in his skin.

“Guess,” I ordered, twirling the blade in my hand.

“One to three times a week until Cesare took her. For about two years. I don’t know the exact number,” he said, and my hand stilled as my mind raced, doing the math. “It all depended on when her mother was on the evening shift at work.”