Fourth Debt - Pepper Winters Page 0,3

who’d captured my affection, turning me into a completely different person.

The old Nila died the day she entered Hawksridge. But this new Nila was a fading photograph, vanishing piece by piece while her lover bled out on priceless carpet.

Daniel threw me away from him. “Snap out of it!”

Vertigo caught me in its sickening embrace. For once, I didn’t fight it. I tumbled to the carpet, letting a whirligig of rollercoasters and nausea take me, thanks to my broken brain. Normally, it was the worst kind of punishment, but now it was better than facing reality.

Vibrations in the carpet alerted me to Daniel’s closeness. He towered over me, rage painting his face. “Pay attention to me, Weaver!” His boot shot like a black meteor, connecting with my belly.

Air exploded from my lungs.

Pain crept over my senses—pain I didn’t want to feel because it reminded me I wasn’t dead…wasn’t free. I was still here—in this pointless game of madness and deception.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

I’m all alone.

Daniel kicked me again.

His boot crunched against my belly, sending white-hot agony up my chest.

Agony.

And with agony came life.

You’re not alone.

Vaughn. My father. I still had family who mattered. People I couldn’t abandon.

I’m not dead.

I don’t have the luxury of giving up.

Jethro and Kes had been murdered by men who’d polluted the world for long enough. I’d made a promise to my ancestors to end this. I now made a promise to them.

I will kill your family.

I will end this once and for all.

My eyes shot wide. Energy zapped into my limbs. Agony made me reckless, granting false courage. I was stronger than this. Hadn’t I proven as much with what I’d lived through? Each debt I’d endured, I’d evolved from naïve little girl into a woman.

I’m braver than this.

Scrambling backward, I put as much distance between Daniel’s next kick and myself as I could.

He placed his hands on his hips, laughing coldly. “Finally decided to play, huh? Took you long enough.”

Coughing, I held my bruised belly and forced myself to stand.

He didn’t approach me, giving me time to regroup. He enjoyed me fighting—he wanted me alive and screaming.

Bastard.

“I’ll kill you,” I whispered, wincing with every breath.

He chuckled, moving toward me. “What did you say?”

Standing taller, I locked eyes with him. My ribs bellowed from his kick, but steel entered my tone. “I said I’ll kill you.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair, smiling. The evil tainting his soul suffocated him—he wasn’t attractive even though outwardly he had good bones and sex appeal. To me, he was a troll, a stinking pile of excrement.

“I’d like to see you try.” He closed the distance between us one boot at a time.

I parried backward. “You won’t see it coming.”

“You won’t be able to get close enough to do it.” He winked smugly. “You’re nothing compared to me.”

I bared my teeth. “It’ll happen when you least expect it.”

“It will never happen.” He flexed his muscles. “I’m invincible.”

“You’re human.”

And that makes you killable.

Every word filled me with power. Conviction and confidence shoved aside my numbness and grief.

Jethro and Kes were dead. But it wasn’t the end for me. I had a purpose. I would complete that purpose.

“Want to know why I came back? Why I didn’t run or hide?” The snow in my veins made its way into my heart. “I came back to ruin you.” Spit pooled in my mouth. If I’d been braver, I would’ve spat it all over his face. “I came back for him, but that’s over now.”

I’ll avenge him, so help me, God. Kestrel, too. And myself. And my brother. And my mother and grandmother and generations of Weaver women.

This was the beginning of the end.

The Debt Inheritance was null and void—Cut had seen to that. It was time to slaughter the Hawks and extinguish a dynasty of torture. Every second made me stronger, filling me with a strange acceptance. Happiness wasn’t my life path—but destruction was. I would be that instrument of destruction.

Daniel shook his head, positively glowing with insanity. “You came back to watch him die? How thoughtful.”

“Wrong. I came back to end this.” Darkness settled around my soul, blotting out any remaining light.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

But I’ll keep my promise.

I hadn’t been able to save Jethro, but I wouldn’t abandon him. “I made an oath to myself.” I narrowed my eyes, glad that they’d stopped watering—that I could look at him with strength rather than terror. “Want to know what that oath was?”

He stiffened. “Don’t want to know anything about you, Weaver.” He licked