Page 77 of Outlaws of Tulsa

We both wince at my pet name.

Fuck.

I let out a deep breath and launch into my story.

“Before I was this”—I wave my bottle of Jack around me, sloshing some out onto my fingers—“I ran an international cyber security threat firm. I was the fucking best.”

Her brows furrow together. “Same as my dad?”

“Same, but better.” I’m not gloating. It’s the goddamn truth. “I made a lot of money because I could break into anything, which meant I wrote programs that could protect against anything.” I take another sip of the Jack. “I was in deep with the NSA. Life was good for me.”

Heaviness settles around us.

Black, cloying, suffocating.

“And then I walked in on the most horrific scene. A couple of fucking bikers had my wife and my daughter tied up. They were hurting them. They…” I choke on my words. “I went crazy and was knocked out. When I woke up, Ellie had been brutally raped and was dying. My sweet…fuck, my sweet baby girl was so upset and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about it.” A tear races down my cheek and I don’t bother wiping it away. “I watched Putnam rape my daughter. And then I watched as he stabbed her to death.”

Hadley’s bottom lip wobbles and her eyes are red as she silently cries. “I’m so sorry.”

Her words are a cold blade cutting through me. I sit up and stare at her with as much hate as I can muster, enjoying the way she flinches.

“Your fuck buddy Putnam was friends with your father. Am I right?”

She nods, her eyes sad with realization.

“I broke into your father’s network. I found everything. He paid Putnam to kill me and my family. To eliminate the competition. All so he could send his pretty little princess to every pageant she could ever want to compete in.” I crack my neck and glare at her. “How does it feel knowing you Genworths won? Was it worth all the fancy shit your daddy gave you?”

“Koyn,” she chokes out. “You’re not being fair. I knew nothing about this or my dad’s business affairs.”

“Business affairs?” I roar, heaving the bottle at the fireplace. It lands in the fire, sending a little burst of flame billowing out. “It was an ambush and cold, blooded murder all for the name of greed.”

She sniffles and sits up, her entire body shaking. “The ‘X’ on your face?”

“‘X’ is where the treasure is located on the map. They branded me. I stare into the mirror every day and am reminded that the shit inside my head is what got my family killed.” I scrub my palm down my face and bark out a sinister laugh. “But they didn’t kill me. I was supposed to die. It was too late for me to save my girls, but I broke free. I killed Putnam’s friend and have been hunting him down ever since.”

She sits up on her knees, her chin quivering. “So now you’re going to hurt me? To make my father pay?”

“It’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“It’s no better than what they did to Blaire!” she accuses. “You’re doing the same thing!”

I shrug. “Casualties of war.”

She shakes her head, her eyes wild. “N-No. You can’t do that. I’m like her. Like Blaire.”

“You’re nothing like her,” I snarl.

Shakily, she crawls toward me. “I am. I’m still a teenager. Before all this, I watched Netflix and obsessed over my hair and loved to shop.”

“Stop.”

“I took more selfies than was humanly possible. I spent a lot of time thinking about my dead mother. Missing her. I was just a lonely girl who was sad.”

“Stop.”

“Did Blaire like school? I hated it. I always wanted to be free because at my house, it felt like a prison.”

“Stop saying her name!”

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