REprisal - Kathy Coopmans Page 0,91
take a long, hard look buddy. Keep it up and you’ll end up like me, left with fucking nothing. It ain’t worth it.”
He stares up at me from the floor, so strung out I’m surprised he could even speak coherently when he called me.
A minute or so later, the doors of the van swing open and two other agents drag the kid out of the back as another agent climbs in. They slam the door shut and we take off out of the parking lot.
We get onto the highway and ride for about a half an hour before pulling off, driving for several more miles. Finally, the van turns down a dark, secluded road, then onto a beaten path tucked deep in the woods, reminding me of the home I grew up in. Just like that bitch to think she is going to end me in some piece of shit place like the one where my hell began. Not happening, sweetheart.
“You ready?”
Zack turns to face me. Something flashes across his face when he connects his eyes with mine. My eyes widen and my mouth lifts up in a devilish smirk. I nod, acknowledging that I have received his message loud and clear.
He doesn’t want me to lure Tina out. He doesn’t want her to spend the rest of her life in prison. He wants the same exact thing I do. He wants his mother to die.
A large house appears out of nowhere, dark except for one light on in the front. The lights go out on the van as we roll to a stop.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the agent says to me as I hop out. I just lift my chin and slam the door shut, my boot clad feet crunching the gravel as I go.
I slowly climb the steps to the front door. It opens as soon as I set foot on the porch.
“Hello, Trent.”
Tina swings it wider, inviting me to step inside. I say nothing as I take in her appearance. She’s dressed in a black suit, her hair perfectly pulled up in a high ponytail. Her make-up fresh. Nothing out of place.
“I’m not here to make nice, Tina, and neither are you. We both know it, so let’s not play games.”
She raises on one of her perfectly manicured brows, the devious look still there.
“No. You’re right. I also know you didn’t come alone.”
I say nothing, my face impassive.
“I know everything, Trent. I know you love Clove, I know that every time you fucked me, you wished it was her,” she sneers. “I know all about the cameras you had set up. Watching her, getting yourself off, wishing you could have her. I know it all. The one thing I don’t know is why her and not me? We could have had it all, you and I. Everything! But you had to go and fall in love with my daughter. I can’t and won’t live with that. I loved you. I would have done anything for you, and you betrayed me.”
I laugh bitterly at the bullshit spewing out of her mouth, and shrug.
“You don’t love anyone but yourself. You’re a narcissist, Tina. A vain, fucking delusional woman who is obsessed with herself. You don’t know the meaning of love.”
I take a step closer to her, she takes a step back.
“And you do?” she scoffs, venom dripping from her voice.
“Actually, I do.” I take one more step closer. She takes one more step back. “Clove taught me.”
Now both brows shoot straight up to her hairline. Malevolent, high-pitched laughter tumbles from her poisonous lips.
“She doesn’t love you, you fucking fool.”
“Never said she did. In fact, she loves me about as much as I love you. Actually, I bet she probably hates me more than I hate you. But here’s the thing. She knows the true meaning of love. The way she loves her daughter; the way she loves her husband, her father, her brother. Clove is the definition of love, while you? You are the perfect definition of hate. Hate so deep and so goddamn dark, it has blackened your soul.”
“Fuck you!” she spits out.
“No thanks. You weren’t any good at it. Now your daughter, on the other hand...”
At that, Tina leaps at me, her sharp nails clawing at my face, stinging as she drags them across my cheek. I don’t even see the gun she pulled out of nowhere until it’s lodged firmly up against my chest. I grip hold of her wrist, pain scorching through my shoulder.
She fights,