Page 281 of Vexatious Queen

Vadin screamed, again and again, as Vlad twisted the blade, puncturing holes and carving his skin. I listened to the wails as one listens to the opera. A tear in my eye at how the beautiful sound filled the room. I held up my hand when his voice cracked, and words dissolved into sobs and gasps.

I watched and didn’t look away.

When Vlad finally stepped back, blood dripping from his hands, Vadin slumped forward, shaking.

“Where are Christov and Patricia?” He shook his head. “Tell me, or I will have Vlad gut you like a pig and make balloon animals out of your intestines while you watch.”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

Vlad placed the barrel of his gun against Vadin’s kneecap.

“Tell me where they are. I won’t ask again.”

“I don’t know.” he whimpered. “I’ve only seen Christov once, and he never said where he was staying. And I never met Patricia. I swear.”

“Where is his phone?”

“Here.”

Mylo handed it to me, and I held it up in front of my father’s face. Would the facial recognition work with the blood and swollen eye? I wasn’t sure at first, but then the screen lit up.

I gave it back to Mylo.

“Have tech search it and trace any calls to the local area. Christov hasn’t scampered into a hole yet. We’ll find him.”

“On it.” Taking the phone, Mylo marched out.

Giving my father time to breathe, I walked around the room. Let him think that there was a glimmer of hope. Hope was the greatest traitor to a man who had already lost everything.

Stopping in front of him, I grabbed his bloodied face and forced him to look me in the eyes.

“I want you to know that once you’re gone…I’ll never think of you again. I won Father. Even if it took me longer than I planned. You tossed a girl to the wolves to be eaten alive, but instead, I crawled out of the pit of darkness stronger than you could ever imagine in your nightmares. I am a woman, scarred but not broken, and your greatest mistake was underestimating me.”

I released him and straightened. I wrapped my fingers around the gun strapped to my leg and pulled it free of the holster. It felt heavy. Right.

Vadin saw it and began to sob in earnest.

“Yuli—”

“I’m stronger and more ruthless than any son.” I raised the weapon.

“For Lilya Ren Genovese, long may she reign.”

The shot echoed through the library, the sound final. His body went slack instantly, and the chair rocked once before stilling.

Silence filled the space. I didn’t look away, waiting until the light faded from his eyes before I lowered the gun. My hands were steady even as my chest burned. There was no great sense of relief or celebration of victory. It was a death that signaled the beginning of the end.

And for the first time since I’d run all those years ago, I allowed myself one quiet, shattered breath—because my family would wake tomorrow.

And he never would.

Nash

“Ah!” Sharpe wailed as Myles, or in this case, Echo, worked. I’d given him free rein, and so far, it had been a master class in torture. He truly worried me a little with just how good he was at this.

Sharpe had tried to sneak out of town by bus. Cliché, maybe, but in theory not a terrible idea. The poor idiot had booked a ticket for the wrong one, though. He could’ve picked a dozen other ways to run, but instead he climbed on and sat in the seats filled with my drugs, beside my men posing as passengers. Karma really was a cunt, but right now, I loved her.

The room beneath Volatile smelled like concrete, iron, and fear. No windows. No clocks. No way to tell how long you had been here or how long you would last. Sharpe hung from the chain bolted into the ceiling, wrists bound, toes barely grazing the floor, and a single light overhead.