Page 189 of Healed

I heard Vienna move, and then he was behind my head, looking down at me with the same manic, terrifying grin.

“Boo,” he laughed, grabbing hold of my head and straightening me, keeping me steady, forcing me to look up at him.

“Bad news, I’m afraid,” he said, twisting his lips. “I don’t think you have long left. Which is a shame, I know, because we were having such fun together! But it does mean I need to speed our lessons along. You don’t mind, do you, prince?”

His hands moved, and the next thing I knew something was being forced around my neck, tight enough that it cut off my breathing, tight enough that I could no longer twist and turn.

The cold metal bit into my skin, and I knew then it was a clamp.

“So, having said that, we’re now onto our final lesson, and this one is the most important,” Vienna said from above me. “I can teach you all about foreplay. I can remind you of the importance of your hands. Your dick. Your mouth. But the real lesson comes from in here.”

He tapped my temples.

“If you don’t learn how to respect women, if you don’t retrain your mind, it doesn’t matter what your body knows. You’ll always revert back to violence. But luckily for you, I’m practically a brain surgeon. I can reprogram you.”

He brought the knife to my forehead, carving along the length of it. The knife travelled around the side of my head, and along my ears.

I tried to scream, tried to move, but I couldn’t do anything. My lips began to tear, the veins in my neck bulging.

Then Vienna dug his fingers into the split in my scalp and tugged, tearing the skin from my head.

I howled, my lips tearing open in one smooth movement as I screamed and screamed. Blood flooded my mouth, choking me, making every breath difficult. Vienna used my hair for momentum, grunting with the effort of scalping me.

My vision swam with black, and bloody vomit exploded from my lips.

Then my skin was slapped over my face, shrouding me in darkness.

“Goodnight, Nico. I’ll take good care of Princess for you.”

And then he slammed the knife into my brain.

Chapter 60

Vienna

“Well,” Dante said, looking down at Nico’s dead body. “He certainly doesn’t look very comfortable.”

He picked up the flap of skin covering Nico’s face, his lips twisting at the grim sight beneath it.

I just laughed through my nose.

“Did you ring the funeral home?” I asked, not bothering to explain anything.

“They’ll be here in five. Why are you wanting him cremated?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I shrugged. “Just something I need to do.”

“Right,” he looked at me then. Almost cautiously. I just grinned back, nice and calm.

“Can you perhaps explain why you have his hand on your shoulder?”

“I cannot.”

“Fair enough,” Dante said, looking around at the scene some more. I stayed quiet, letting him drink it all in.

I was pretty proud of my handiwork, actually.

Nico still had his scalp on his face. His brain was shredded, but mostly still inside his skull. A few strings on the floor, but that was neither here nor there.