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I open my mouth and clamp it shut. I take a second and ask, “H-how…Why?”
“You’re at a loss for words, so let me help,” she says condescendingly. “The moment I realized you were my kidnapper, I decided to use you since you clearly have no conscience.” She looks at her dad and then at me again. “You men are so malleable, it’s a joke anyone ever put you in power. The day I learned you wanted dirt on my dad, I found it myself. And oh my, what a surprise when I saw my progenitor was the one who hired you to break me.” She cocks an eyebrow and tilts her head to the side. “Do you understand your role now?”
When I blink at her, she laughs mockingly.
“Let me make it simple for you two. One of you has abused me my entire life, and one of you is a violent criminal. Here I am, in the middle, used by the both of you. All I had to do was get you,” she looks at me pointedly, “in the same room as him,” she nudges her head toward her dad, “to witness what he does to me. We were broken up—because you’re a dick—so it would have sounded suspicious if I suddenly invited you, didn’t it? I played the heartbroken girl part for a few weeks so it’d sink in. So you’d become more obsessed than ever, holding onto any branch I offer, even if it’s a twig. I brought up the birthday party, andlook at that!Xi is desperate to come.”
She puts her hands to her cheek, pretending to be an actress playing a dramatic role. “Oh, no, please don’t come.”
“You checked if I was going to work late tonight,” her dad murmurs to himself.
Her sharp eyes turn to him.
“Well, yes. Initially, I was going to bring Xi to your office after the party and announce that we were together. Then I was going to slowly watch you lose your shit.”
Her mouth twists, showing that it didn’t work out as planned. “But then he didn’t show up. My hopes died until he broke into my room in the middle of the nightagain. I could see something was wrong. Something had changed. And the poor boy admitted everything to me, so I immediately reminded him why he was using me in the first place.”
I’m guessing you want me to take you to my dad’s office now.
She manipulated me just like I did her.
“The result was the same.” She shrugs her shoulders. “We were all alone in the office. Then I had to get you to hit me. Which isn’t hard, is it, Dad? I spread my legs a little and showed you his cum running down my thighs. And there you were, showing your true self. Now Xi saw it. He saw some old bruises you left on me, too. He knows you’re the one who hired him.” She winces, her little face scrunching up, and shakes her head. “Doesn’t look too good for you, Dad. That man is crazy for me.”
She turns to me, vulnerability shining in her eyes. “Imagine falling in love with the person who broke you,” she whispers. “Imagine…being able to get past it and hating yourself for it while at the same time finding it impossible to stop that awful flow of true love you feel slithering through your veins.”
Her eyes dart around my face, moving between mine like following a game of tennis. “Isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever heard?” she rasps.
I shake my head. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard,” I whisper.
The corner of her mouth tips into a winning smirk. “Make it up to me, then.”
“What?” I ask, completely taken aback.
“Dad,” she says, almost innocently. “Let’s play one of our games. What does the Latin wordmorsmean?”
Delacroix pales.
“Dad?” she sing-songs without even looking at him.
“D-death,” he stutters.
Her gaze goes to the gun and back to me, her voice lethal. “That man has made every single second of my life a living hell. Now pull that trigger and avenge me.”
My heart explodes, beating so loudly in my ears I can barely hear Tamar’s voice behind me.
“Xi, don’t.”
Alex’s eyes narrow on Tamar, ready to annihilate anyone who dares stand in her way.
“He’s a senator. Donotkill that man.”
“Listen to your friend,” Delacroix blurts out.
Except my eyes are on Alex.
“You did all this so I would kill your dad?” I ask, completely incredulous.
“Yes. Because it turns out I’m too weak to do it myself.” She flutters her eyelashes at me. “I’m just a woman, after all.”
