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Artemis’s head suddenly swivels, and he’s facing our general direction.
“I hear you in the woods there,” Artemis calls out to us. “You’re next!”
Abruptly, he turns and fires, peppering the thick brush with bullets. My father lets out a grunt, and I see that he’s been winged. He runs off noisily, shouting as he moves. He’s distracting Artemis, drawing his attention.
Dammit.
Artemis fires repeatedly into the bushes, following the thrashing branches. I quickly stand up and hurl the knife at Artemis. It lodges in his right arm, the arm he’s shooting with, and he lets out a strangled cry.
I run into the clearing, and wrench the gun from his hand.
Paxton wheezes pathetically. “Please save me,” he snivels. “Please, please…” He looks at his father, miserably. “Dad,” he sobs. “Daddy. The charter…”
I ignore him and punch Artemis in the nose, shattering it. He staggers back with a grunt of pain, gurgling and cursing. Solomon bursts through the trees, coming to kill us or save Artemis? We’ll soon find out. He walks toward me, holding his hands up. He’s holding his knife in his left hand, and the superior smirk has vanished.
“Don’t kill him! Let me do it.” His face is flushed, his voice hoarse.
He’s speaking to me. He’s asking me to stand down so that Artemis dies by his hands.
His eyes bore into mine. “Before you kill me. You can do what he was going to do. You can shoot me, and then carve out the evidence. Or we can fight hand to hand, if that’s your preference. But please, let me kill this motherfucker. I’ve been waiting all of my life for the opportunity.”
“Solomon!” Artemis whimpers. “No! I was like a father to you. Don’t—”
He shifts his gaze to Artemis, who cowers like a child. He’s as weak as his son.
“Youkilledmy father,” he spits at him, face twisting with hatred. “You killed my brother. You raped my mother, again and again, all you sick perverts, until she hung herself. She was studying to be a doctor when you kidnapped her. She used to talk to me when we were alone. She begged me to end you. I’ve lived for nothing but this moment, old man.” He looks at me, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. “After you kill me, tell them what he did. Tell them he cheated.”
“No!” Artemis screams, staggering backward. “No, let me die with honor. Don’t soil my memory. Please.”
“Honor is earned, you treacherous little pussy. I’m going to scream your cowardice from the rooftops,” I snarl.
“By the way,Ikilled Robert,” Solomon sneers. “It wasn’t Troy or Benedict.”
“Noooo…” Tears dribble down Artemis’s face. “We can…we can work this out…we can find a way…I’m not ready to die. I don’t want to die.”
At this moment, I’m disgusted to find that a man I thought only days ago to have some semblance of honor was full of shit. Family and the charter mean nothing to him. It’s only power he wishes to possess. He’s evil incarnate.
“That’ll be the inscription on your tombstone, you little pussy!” Solomon’s foot lashes out and connects with Artemis’s kneecap, and Artemis screams in pain.
My father comes stumbling out of the bushes. He falls to his knees, breathing heavily. He’s waxy pale, and bleeding heavily. “Make it count,” I say to Solomon, jogging over to tend to him. I strip out of my jeans and cut off strips to bandage him up as Solomon starts in on his uncle. Artemis screams like a little girl, and the screams last for a very long time. He’s taking his time, and it brings a twisted smile to my face.
Finally, Artemis falls silent. Paxton stares sightlessly up at the sky, his mouth slack, the misery of his final moments stamped on his face.
My father’s sitting silently, watching. His breathing is more stable, but he’s still alarmingly pale. Solomon looks as if he’s been dipped in a bucket of blood, and there’s a peacefulness to his expression now. He spits on Artemis’s body, and then looks up at me and nods. “I’m ready. What do you choose? Are you going to shoot me, or are we going to fight this out?”
My father tenses, his hand closing around his knife.
An idea’s been formulating in my head, and I need Solomon for this to work. Although my lust for killing is unslaked, Solomon doesn’t fit my needs. He could’ve killed me or my father, but he showed true honor. He’s only a threat to me because the charter forced him to be. I’ve found that he’s not an evil man at heart.
“No. Neither,” I say to Solomon, the gun hanging by my side. “I’m not going to kill you. We’re all walking out of here alive, and things are going to be different from now on. I’ve got a plan.”
Solomon cocks his head to the side, his eyes bright, his face flushed. “I’m listening.”
CHAPTER27
Bastien
Six hours later…
