When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,70
her mother. She didn’t think he had any better chance of taking her down than Nita did. And she’d never forgive herself if she let Kovit try to solve her problems and he died for it.
She sighed softly, regret coloring her voice. “Thank you. But I need to do it myself.”
“I understand.” His voice was gentle.
And he did, she knew that. And she loved that he accepted her choice, he didn’t press. He’d be there if she needed him, and that was everything she wanted.
But as she leaned against him, her mind continued running in terrified circles, unable to contemplate a single scenario where she faced her mother and won.
Twenty-Seven
IT WAS ALMOST DAWN by the time they finished getting rid of Andrej’s body. Nita didn’t have a proper refrigeration unit to store all the body parts, and selling them would take time and tools she didn’t have. So she just threw the pieces, wrapped in plastic bags, into one of the many massive trash bins in the city. The trash compacter would come around that evening and deal with it.
The blood wine she kept. Easier to store, easier to transport, and better benefits.
Kovit checked his phone occasionally on the way back, and she thought he was checking for updates on the DUL, but when she asked, he admitted he was just reading group chat messages from his online friend group.
“They’ve decided to kick Gold and me out,” he admitted softly.
“I’m sorry.” Nita’s voice was gentle. “I know how much they meant to you.”
He shrugged, but she could see the pain in his eyes. “It’s okay. I never expected . . . They’re good people. I knew, when the news came out, that I would lose them.”
“It doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
“No,” he whispered. A sad, slightly amused smile crossed his face. “I guess Gold didn’t think it through, though. She’s having an online meltdown that they’re kicking her out too. I told the group what happened in Toronto. I guess Gold didn’t realize that spying and trying to bring me back to a torture cage would maaaaaybe horrify the others.”
Nita sighed, a sound part amused and part exasperated. The more she thought about Gold, the more she began to feel like she might finally understand the angry, vicious daughter of a mob boss.
“I think Gold is in severe denial,” Nita finally said.
Kovit tilted his head. “About?”
“Herself.” Nita’s gaze shifted to her hands. “I suspect she’s done and seen a lot of bad things, and she can’t square the things she’s done with the way she views herself. So focusing on zannies, on unnaturals, on making them evil, she can at least believe she’s the better person, even if she’s not good.”
Nita licked her lips. “If she accepts that you’re as human as she, then she loses that slim moral high ground, and she has to face her own monstrosity.” Nita sighed, lost for a moment in her own bloody past. “Losing that moral high ground means taking responsibility for what you’ve done, for what you’ve been avoiding thinking about. And that’s hard.”
Kovit blinked, hesitating a little. “I’ve never thought of it like that.” He considered. “I think . . . I think you’re right. I think she clings to the idea that she’s at least not as bad as me, that in this one thing she’s better, to avoid facing what kind of person she’s become over the years.”
Nita nodded. She could understand that. She had a lot of experience avoiding the truth of her own crimes. Facing her own guilt had been hard, but she didn’t regret it.
“Maybe this rejection will force her to face it,” Nita mused.
“Maybe,” Kovit whispered, but she could tell he was trying not to hope too hard.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts.
By the time they returned to the apartment, it was full-on morning, and Nita and Kovit were both exhausted from all the body dumping and carting crates around. Nita opened the door and was greeted with the buzz of the local news programming. Fabricio had managed to wiggle far enough to reach the television remote and was watching the news.
Nita scowled. “What are you doing?”
Fabricio gave her a steady look. “Watching INHUP defend putting Kovit on the list.”
Kovit darted forward so he could see the screen. “Wait, what?”
The announcer onscreen was speaking in Spanish, and Kovit made a frustrated sound. “What’s he saying?”
Nita closed the door behind her and listened closer.