own family didn’t deserve you.” He shook his head at them as though disappointed in them himself. “You were just fortunate that I was the one they bargained with for your life. I, who loved you. I, who could give you the world.”
“A world built on nothing but terror,” I snapped, but I didn’t take my eyes off Dad. How could he do this to me? His only daughter …
Dad lifted his head. “I’m sorry.” His apology tried to hook onto my heart. I cast it away. Hugo’s blank expression remained lowered. He was a shell. No more than a living corpse.
“Adley’s firm is built on terror, but you spread your legs for him easy enough,” Ollie hissed, and I saw my dad’s face redden. I saw the slight against me inspire a surge of anger inside him.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” my dad snapped at Ollie, the authoritarian I knew rising to the surface. “Don’t you fucking dare—” Before my dad even had time to finish his sentence, Ollie pulled out his gun and, this time, fired a bullet straight through my dad’s head for real.
Dad immediately slumped to the ground.
“I’m sorry, baby. Please forgive me,” Hugo said, then, finding some spark of life, charged at Ollie. He knocked Ollie to the ground, and I screamed. I screamed as blood drained from my dad’s body. And I screamed as one of Ollie’s men put the barrel of his gun to Hugo’s temple and fired. The next second he was on the floor, beside my dad, Ollie rolling out from underneath him.
Tears streamed down my face, and I didn’t think I could take any more. I couldn’t take any more blood. Any more deception. Any more death. How much could one person take before they broke?
“Cheska,” Gene said, clearly seeing my emotional freefall. I looked at him beside me. “Stay strong. You have to stay strong.” I closed my eyes and tried to block out my family on the floor, the girl who at first glance looked like me.
Death. So much death.
Ollie dropped to kneel before me. “Shh, sweetheart.”
Looking him dead in the eyes, I spat in his face. “Go to fucking hell,” I said and, in his presence, felt my heart turn to stone.
Ollie wiped the spit from his face, then grabbed my hair. He yanked me to my feet, my scalp screaming at the pain, and dragged me to a smaller room at the back of the garage. I heard one of Ollie’s men dragging Gene behind us. Ollie threw me on the floor. My cheek slammed against the cement.
“You need to watch your mouth, sweetheart.”
I rose to my hands. “You killed Arthur’s mum and sister, didn’t you?” Ollie stopped dead, then turned to face me. “The fire? The cottage?”
“My dad ordered that one. I was a bit young back then to be making murderous decisions.” Gene made a choked sound at the confession. Ollie shrugged. “My old man hated Alfie as much as I hate Arthur. I was glad they fucking burned.”
“He’ll kill you,” I said coldly as Ollie went to shut the door. “He’ll find me here and kill you.”
Ollie paused. “He has no idea who the fuck we are,” he said, pride on his face. “For years we’ve existed here in good old London Town, and no one has found us. My old man made sure of it.”
“But that was him, your dad.” I watched the smile fall from Ollie’s face. “You’ll fuck up. You have fucked up. You fucked up the minute you started messing with the Adleys. You’ve been too messy in your obsessive search for me, in your need for revenge. You’re not your dad. He built an empire. He was Xerxes. You’re just the heir who will never match up. And you’ll see this empire fall.”
“Careful, Cheska,” Ollie said. “You don’t want to join your family on the floor out here.” He held the door, his hands turning white, betraying his ire. “Arthur Adley has no idea where we are. You forget, Freddie knows him. Has been with his family his entire life. He can read Arthur like a book. Adley’s hot-headed. He’s predictable. And if he does find us …” Ollie shrugged. “Then he’ll join his father. It’s about time that entire scumbag family ate dirt. They’re a blight on our city and need to be destroyed.” He pointed at Gene. “And I’m thinking I’ll start with you.”
Ollie slammed the door, and the room plunged into a heavy silence. I heard