Page 142 of Dishonored

Every move was a mistake. Setting the knife down. Turning his back on her.

Assuming shit about her.

Why did they keep underestimating her? Why did they think they could trust her?

Angelo turned back around in his seat, but it was too late for him. Aria had snatched up that butter knife, and swung hard the second she had the chance. It embedded deep into the side of his neck—right into the major artery—and she was quick to grab the bagel on the plate when Angelo’s mouth opened to shout. She shoved that hard piece of warm bread deep into his mouth, and yanked the knife out.

Blood went everywhere.

On her.

The table.

The windows.

Warm, and sticky, and crimson.

He’d bleed out in minutes, and no one would know a thing. Even if someone did come in, it was already too late to save him.

The music was turned up just enough that Angelo’s choking gurgles could barely be heard even standing right next to him. He almost tipped over the table as he fell to the tiles, and blood pooled all around him.

His eyes stared up at her wide and stunned. She smiled down at him as she began to make a coffee with the bloodstained cup.

“There was really only one way for this to end,” Aria said quietly. “Me, or Caesar. One of us was going to have to go so that the other could get what we wanted. That couldn’t happen, and so I figured out another way to give us both what we want. What was one more death, Angelo? He’ll understand why I had to lie and hurt him one more time.”

She was sure he would.

That didn’t mean Caesar would like it.

“I did come to apologize,” she said, tipping a spoonful of sugar into her coffee cup. “I’m sorry you’ll never get the chance to ask your son for forgiveness. I don’t think he would have given it to you anyway. Die knowing that, Angelo. It’s what you deserve.”

Aria, like she had just before she first entered the enclosed porch, took a deep breath, and then pulled open the doors. As promised, Nico and Caesar were still waiting for her right where they had been standing when she left.

The enforcer was directly across from the doors.

He saw her first.

Saw the blood first.

“What the fu—”

All eyes were on her, then.

She imagined she was quite a sight.

Aria smiled at the man. “There was a little accident.”

She barely got out of the way before the enforcer rushed the room, and the doors automatically closed behind him. Nico made a noise under his breath, but Aria simply flicked a hand at him as if to dismiss whatever concerns were about to fly out of his mouth.

She turned to Caesar.

He was waiting with a smile.

“Now we both get what we want,” she told him. “You’re free—no marriage, no rules. And so am I. You shouldn’t have trusted me again.”

His striking features turned almost playful in his grin.

She didn’t know what to make of it, or him.