Page 81 of Black Hearts
As I moved to stand a foot or so before my father, I knew I stared at a dead man. Not quite dead yet, but he would be. The question was: would I be sad? Would I shed a tear for him as I lost him for good, or would I be happy to know he was gone? Not that I had any money to bet, but if I did, I think my money would be on the latter.
I know, I know. How things had changed.
“I can tell by your footsteps that it’s you,” my father’s voice was a bare whisper, dry and hoarse. His eyes were slow to open, and he didn’t stare at the window, at Markus or any of the others who’d crowded around the glass to see in. He stared straight at me, and it was like no one else in the world existed for him. “Hello, Juliet.” He didn’t try to break free; he was motionless in that chair.
And he looked so tired. Giant bags beneath his eyes, his skin a little more sunken in than I remembered it. Not healthy. Like he’d missed nights of sleep trying to outsmart Rave. Obviously, he’d failed.
When I didn’t say anything right away, a half-smirk grew on his face. “What? No hug for daddy?” He laughed at that. Maybe he was remembering sliding that knife into my gut, how easily it had pierced me, how warm my blood had felt on his skin. “I thought I raised you better. I thought I taught you to miss me.”
“You did,” I admitted, but the first instinct of the old Juliet was gone, and now I remained, and I would never, ever hug him or touch him again. “And then you chained me to a bed in the basement, stabbed me, and left me to die.”
He sighed. “Would you believe me if I said that wasn’t my greatest moment?” A pause. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. After all, you’re not dead. You’re here… with them. I’d hoped, when Markus took you, I’d be able to get you back, but deep down I knew you were lost the moment he got his filthy hands on you. You stopped being my little girl when you came to this house.” His voice was laced with venom, as if he really did hate me and what I’d become.
Not shocking, but it still hurt to hear.
“I stopped being your little girl when you killed my mom and started training me to take her place!” I couldn’t help but shout at him. How could he not see how screwed up that was? How could he not realize how insane he was? How could look at me and think, still, he was in the right?
“You weren’t supposed to take her place. To take her place, she would’ve had to be the epitome of women, of wives. But she wasn’t. You were supposed to be better than her,” he corrected me, frowning. “It seems I raised nothing but a whore all the Scott men can take advantage of.”
I wanted to tell him I wasn’t a whore, that I chose to be with them, but he’d never accept that, never understand it. I stared at a man who would never believe he did anything wrong. Like Will, but Will had tried for me. He’d worked on himself for me. I made him want to be better. But my father? He didn’t care enough to change his ways, or even try to. He kept digging the same hole he’d started to dig the moment he’d killed my mother.
So, instead of saying all that, I simply said, “You’re insane. You know that, don’t you? You’re out of your fucking mind.”
“Ooh, look at you, using big girl language now. You’re lucky I can’t get out of here, otherwise—”
“Otherwise nothing! It doesn’t matter what you’d do if you got out, because you’re not getting out! You’re stuck here with me now, Daddy, with me and my Scotts.” I gestured to the window behind me, where I knew they stood, glowering and glaring, listening in to the conversation. “I might belong to them now, but they belong to me, too. It’s something you will never understand.”
“So, what? Are you going to kill me, then?” my father asked, mocking me. “Are you going to be a killer, too? They’re all monsters, Juliet. You think they’re better than me? They’re not. They’ve killed more than I have—”
“No,” I cut in. What he said might be true, but that wasn’t what I took issue with. “I could never be like them… or like you. I’m not a killer. I can’t kill you.” Just the memory of warm, wet blood on my hands made my skin crawl in the worst of ways.
“Then what are we doing here, Juliet?”
I stared at him, took in every flaw on his face. The wrinkles, the graying hair, the bags beneath his eyes. Everything had led to this moment. Everything. Every second of terror, every bit of regret, every last shred of hope. This was it.
“I never said they couldn’t,” I told him in a whisper, the weight of my words final.
My father’s eyes widened. “You’re not… no. Let me out of here, and we can start over. Just you and me, like it used to be—”
“I’ve already started over,” I paused as I glanced over my shoulder, at all of my men, watching in the window, “with them. I have no interest in doing the same with you. I only came to say goodbye.” I breathed in, taking in a lungful of air. Whatever nerves or anxieties I had before were gone now, and I could honestly say I was ready. “Goodbye.” With that, I turned and headed to the door.
“Juliet!” My father’s voice echoed in the room. “Don’t you dare turn your back on me! Come get me out of this—” The door swung shut, stopping me from hearing his voice and any more of his ridiculous demands.
He thought I would help him, free him? Maybe the old me would’ve thrown myself at Markus’s feet and begged for his life, but now…
My father’s lips were still moving, and I could tell by the vein in his forehead he was still yelling for me. Maybe he thought I could hear him out here, but the guys must’ve muted the speaker, for I heard not a single thing.
Theo asked, “Are you sure about this, Juliet?”
I nodded. I’d thought long and hard about it lately. I’d said my piece to him; I was ready to move on from this and put my father in the past for good.
“Very well,” Markus said. “As much as I want to prolong it, I think we should wash our hands of Fred Osborne today.” His dark gaze surveyed each of us. “If you want, I will let you have one turn with him. One blow. Whatever it is, do not make it a killing blow. That job is mine. Who wishes to go first?”
The guys glanced at each other. It was clear they all itched to get in there, but no one wanted to go first. Who offered to go in first surprised me, because the offer came from the good doctor himself: “Me.”
Will smirked. “Gonna let loose a little, Doc?”
Theo glared at him, but he said nothing. He walked into the room, instantly drawing the gaze of my father. Markus went to press the button so we could hear. I… I wasn’t expecting Theo to want to go in at all, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch any of this.
