Page 64 of Toy No More

“Everything’s in place?” Jasper asks Dennis, who sits next to me. If it were someone else, I would find it strange how cold and unbothered his words are, considering he’s alluding to killing his own father. But this is Jasper Zane. He will let no one get in the path of what he thinks is his, or in the path of power he desires. I see that now. The full extent of it.

Dennis has been staring into his phone the whole ride, and it definitely hasn’t been to watch random videos. He sounds concentrated when he speaks. “Yep. All the diversions have been set. No cops or fire brigade till we’re gone.”

They really thought of everything, huh?The talk of the fire brigade makes me even more nervous than I already am. What is it he’s going to do?

Solomon Zane’s home is far away from anyone to hear any commotion if it happens inside, and the perpetrators aren’t too careless. Such a beautiful mansion on top of a hill with lovely tall trees around it.

I have a feeling that they’ll be soaking up the blood from the ground by the end of the night.

As we drive up the windy road towards it, I wonder about stupid things—maybe to stop myself from thinking about worse. Things like if Jasper grew up here? Did he spend years in the halls of the house he is sending his men to desecrate? Is there really nothing at all going on in that dark heart of his? No doubt or pain or regret?

Tentatively, I glance into the mirror and see him look out of the window, with a face as if we’re taking a nice evening ride. I don’t think thereisanything there. And that makes me so worried. For myself, others, even for Apollo. For the future.

He orders me to park near the brick wall running around the mansion’s garden and steps out. So does Dennis. Neither of them tells me to follow, so I stay put, being nothing more than what I am; a driver.

Just a part of this jagged puzzle.

Other cars arrive right outside the entrance gate. Facing the mansion, Jasper is on the phone with someone. Tightening the wheel until the leather squeaks underneath my grip, I watch breathlessly because that’s all I can do. I know things are in motion already.

First, the power goes out inside the house. Jasper’s men move in. I hear the shots, muffled and distant, but they make me jerk all the same.

Time gets twisted. Even when I glance at the digital clock on the car’s dash, I can’t quite comprehend how long it’s been. Jasper sits on the hood of the car, his back to me. His posture is upright, his head held high, and his arm firmly holds the phone to his ear.

Flashes appear in windows every so often, coupled with the indistinct sound of suppressed gunfire and then…the lights come on.

I draw in a sharp breath and look down at my cramping hands. While I rub them together in my lap to make it stop, I notice Jasper’s eyes fixated on me, nearly shining in the darkness with their intense blue color.

He jerks his head to the side, indicating for me to get out and follow.

My first instinct is to shake my head. I don’t want to leave the car and see whatever the fuck happened inside. I don’t want to be a part of it anymore than I already am. To this day l have dreams about that girl. The way she looked at me as they dragged her away to cut her arm, use her, and do god knows what else to her…

I still sometimes think about that guy Gibbs stabbed to death outside the car while I waited.

And only recently have I stopped thinking about the man I killed.

But I don’t have a damn luxury of having a choice.

So I get out and follow him. Men stand by the main door, nodding at Jasper victoriously. They’re smiling. Covered in blood and gore…they’re smiling.

There are corpses in the hallway that we have to step over. Jasper doesn’t even glance down at them. I try not to look at their faces too closely, but I recognize two as people I’ve seen around. The rest of the dead bodies aren’t familiar, so our losses were probably minimal. It was a perfectly executed trap. No one saw it coming at all.

As we make our way through the once beautiful manor that used to smell of cigars and wood and now stinks only of death, I catch the scent of Jasper’s pheromones getting stronger.

We reach the room I’ve been in before. The one Solomon Zane invited me into when I first started. The room where he told me about his son and how restless he was.

I see his father tied up on the floor when we enter. Surrounded by Jasper’s grinning goons, he hangs his head down and wheezes. His expensive suit is all wrong and stained with blood, as is his face. I didn’t know him that much, and yet I hate seeing the old man like this.

This isn’tright. Regardless of what Jasper thinks about his way of running things, that man built the empire he will inherit and this…this is all devoid of honor.

It doesn’t matter, though—Jasper is still the one winning. And as a proper winner, he needs to enjoy the main course in full.

“Evening, father,” he says, voice bursting with satisfaction. His steps slow, hands held behind his back, until he stands above his father with a relishing sigh.

Zane raises his head to him, and even with bruises around his eye and on his cheek, there’s something scarily noble and worthy of respect about him. Another emotion is clearly painted on his face—disappointment. Lazily, he scans the room and people in it. Guilt pings inside me when he briefly meets my eyes, as if I could’ve stopped this. As if I was the one standing between this happening and not.

I didn’t betray him. I never promised him anything in the first place, and yet I know this man and his eyes will be in the line of people haunting me in my dreams. People I feel responsible for.

“You foolish, stupid boy.” His voice carries through the room with weight in it. He might be beaten and tied and on his knees, but there isn’t an ounce of fear in Solomon Zane’s words.

---