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“Try anything like that again, girl, and I’ll start having some of that fun I was talking about earlier,” he whispers in her ear. “Maybe King can watch, hmm?”
I buck against the chair, trying to shake myself out of the knots I’m tied up in, when Casper walks away from Theo and back to me.
“So what do you want now, huh?” I ask, trying to come to the conclusion of all of this.
“Well, I’m the rightful heir to the First District, I believe, now that your mother and sister are gone.”
“I’mthe heir to the First District,” I spit. “Even if I’m not Carlo’s son, my mother was a Rhivers. When Carlo died, the District becamemine.”
“This is all very true, but when I kill you, it will be mine,Son.” He smiles, looking like the cat who ate the canary.
33
THEO
I watchCasper as he continues to talk to King, but my ears are ringing, my blood is boiling, and if I don’t get out of this chair soon, I’m going to really lose my shit.
Casper Ramon killed my mother. He drowned her in our bathtub and left her there. He’s the reason I don’t have a mother. He’s the reason I have fucking scars on my arms. He’s the reason I became a coldblooded murderer in my plan of revenge against Carlo fucking Rhivers.
He didn’t entirely deserve to die for killing my mother, but he deserved to die for murdering Emily and Bonnie. He should have died a long time ago.
And King was right, my fatherwasplanning to sell me. The fucking psychopath. He was so invested in money and claiming Carlo’s death as his own that he’d sell his own daughter to someone he knew would hurt me.
And to think I was pinning all this hate and anger towards King the past couple of days, accusing him of wanting to kill me, when in reality, he’s been protecting me more than I even realised this whole time, even from the moment he put me in that prison.
Casper’s threat floats in the air around us when the door opens and bangs shut once again and through the shadows my father appears to stand at Edison’s side.
“Ahh, Kennedy, you made it,” Casper says, opening his arms wide, gesturing to us, his two captives.
“Are you about done?” my father replies, bored almost. His eyes scan the room but never fully land on me, and he just disregards that I’m even here. I’ve never had the best relationship with my father and I should’ve known after he tossed me into King’s arms all those months ago that he never really did care about me. Why should he start now?
“Kennedy, that’s not a way to treat our guests now, is it?” Casper scoffs. “I was just filling our friends in about our plans. And talking of plans.” Casper turns to look at him. “Do you have my money?”
I look between him and my father, raging that they’re talking about this in front of me, discussing me like a transaction.
My father pinches the bridge of his nose and scrunches his eyes shut.
“No, Ramon, I told you I’m not giving anything back to you. You paid me for her, youhaveher. I didn’t get my full amount anyway.” He sounds exasperated as if he’s so done with talking about me.
“You didn’t get your full amount, Harlow, because I’ve had to wait months for Theodora when she should’ve been mine in a matter of weeks. You broke our deal, so you owe me my money back.”
“Enough,” King shouts, causing all three men to look at him. “I told Kennedy this way back when and I’ll tell you now. Theodora is mine.”
Casper smiles and looks at me before looking back at King and down to his bloodstained shirt.
“Sure doesn’t look like she wants to be yours. Maybe you’re more like Carlo than I thought. Like to take what isn’t yours,” Casper taunts.
King growls and reels his head forward, headbutting Casper right on the nose.
“I am nothing like him. Like any of you,” he spits ferociously.
As Casper recovers from the shock, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, collecting the drips of blood, Edison storms up to King and punches him square across the jaw a couple times.
King takes it like a man, not a single noise escaping his lips, nor showing pain or vulnerability. I almost scream in protest but think better of it.
“What I find amusing is how anyone thinks they have a say in anything. Theodora Harlow is in fact mine. The Districts are mine. King, son, even you are mine.”
“Casper, we had a deal,” my father shouts, stepping up to Casper so he’s standing right in between me and King. “We run this together. You can have the girl and the kid. I don’t give a fuck. But we agreed. Take out Carlo and we do this together.” His dismissal should’ve hurt, but I’m beyond that now.
