Page 82 of Midnight Salvation

“Fuck off!” Lucas snapped. “You don’t get to play hero all by yourself.”

The tips of my mouth twitched into a small smile. “Maybe not, but tonight I got to play executioner.” The bodies out in front were testimony to that. I would have wielded the scythe for Dad as well, only Lucrezia got there first.

Jordan wandered into the conservatory. “What the fuck did I miss? I get stuck in the boring meeting from hell and come back to find a battle raged here.”

Lucrezia started to stir in my arms and I glared at him. “Ash?” She sounded lost.

I still remembered my first kill. Something that profound never left you and left an impermeable mark on your soul.

She sat up and looked around her. She reminded me of a warrior, still clothed in the blood of her enemies. “Papa?”

Lucas’ expression softened. “You did well tonight, little one. The world will not mourn the loss of Matteus Blackwood.”

I felt her tremble against me. “He wanted to… He said…” She hiccupped and my hand rested on her leg. She straightened when she felt my touch. “I refused to let that man touch me.”

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I said, standing and keeping her connected to me. “Jay, Karl is sorting a clean-up, but I’d appreciate your expertise.”

Now that it was getting light outside, the full horror of the situation was setting in. I stopped for a moment in the kitchen to take one last look at Dad. When Jordan was finished, there would be nothing left of him, not even a body. Matteus Blackwood would be another of life’s mysteries.

“I’m sorry, Ash,” Lucrezia whispered.

“No, Angel, I’m sorry. You should never have had to face him. I should have had the courage to send him to Hell a long time ago.”

I put our clothes into a black plastic bag before I stepped into the shower and started to wash her clean of blood. As red swirled around our feet, the bruises on her body became visible. She’d put up one hell of a fight and every one of those marks sat heavily on me. I didn’t deserve her.

She winced when I washed her hair, and I knew he must have used it as a weapon against her. I wanted to resuscitate him and kill him all over again. To make him pay for every one of those marks on her body.

When all trace of him was gone, I wrapped her in one of those ridiculously fluffy bright pink towels that she loved and tucked her into bed, holding her impossibly tightly against me. She was exhausted and barely able to hold her eyes open.

“Are the police coming?” she whispered.

“No, Angel. By the time you wake up, there will be no trace that Dad was ever here. He’ll have disappeared, along with Malcolm.”

“Who’s Malcolm?”

A smile touched my lips. “Exactly.”

I didn’t pay attention to the noise downstairs as the cleaning crews came in to remove the last traces of Dad from the world. One of his journals contained a list of his illegitimate children. He had been experimenting on them for years to determine what instilled loyalty in them. He never realised that the missing component was love.

The reign of Matteus Blackwood was over, all that was left to do was dismantle his empire. The old king was dead. Long live the new king.

***

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lucrezia

Now that they were sitting beside each other, you could see the similarity between the two women. We were in Ash’s hideaway from the world on the edge of the forest, where he’d put his mum to keep his father away from her.

“What do you mean you’re my brother?” Nicole asked, her brow furrowing.

Marigold looked shellshocked, her gaze trained on her daughter’s face. “He tried to marry you to your sister,” Marigold whispered in disbelief. “He was more evil that I ever gave him credit for.”

“Dad took you when you were a baby because Mum intended to take us and leave him. None of us boys knew about you since we were at school, and you were the constant threat hanging over Mum’s head. She never knew where you were or who you were, but her compliance kept you alive.” Ash’s jaw was tight as he revealed the full extent of his father’s deception.

Nicole turned wide, disbelieving eyes to Mum. “I never fitted in at home, I just never knew why. Mum rarely ever looked at me and Dad enjoyed tormenting me.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand this.”

“Your birth certificate proves your existence. Dad had had it altered but the original still existed in his private papers.” Ash handed it to Nicole. “You are in his family tree that I found in his safe. Mum named you Willow when you were born.”

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