Page 204 of Auctioned

“I’ll go upstairs.” The words are mumbled. I understand him anyway. Loud and clear. “Use my gun to rape your bitch. I bet she’d sing then. She’ll tell me where Dad is. While your brain is splattered on the floor.”

Topher advances on me. Two feet closer, the barrel of his gun still aimed at my chest.

He’s a lousy shot, and we both know that. He’s been to a gun range twice. Even this close, he’s not sure he’ll get me.

He’s terrified he might miss.

That my retribution will cost him his life.

He’s already lost it. He’ll figure it out soon enough.

Once I take out the stumbling drunk. The slurring asshole who dares to threaten Ophelia.

“Come anywhere near her. Go ahead, prick. Try me.” I don’t wait to attack him, moving closer to Topher while keeping my gaze fixed on Camden. “You’ll be begging for death by the time I’m done with you. I’ll feed you your insides. Your fingers. You’ll choke and gag on them, asshole, and you won’t be able to stop thinking of this moment. So please, test me. Be my guest.”

Camden has the sense to shut up. His face pales. Turns a light shade of green. His grip on the gun loosens.

My lips curve up.

I’m not one to smile. To gloat.

This is a different kind of victory. This is the beginning of my new life.

Taking out the trash never felt so good.

My smile twists into a sneer when I feel it.

I feel her.

Ophelia. Again.

Her movement. Her breaths. The cadence of her heartbeats. Slow. Steady.

She better not be outside our room.

She fucking better not be, or so help me…

“Big words for a dead man,” Topher repeats the threat. He could pull the trigger. Put a bullet through me. I could bleed out. But he has to talk. Idiot. “Your reign is over, Father. Give up.”

Camden is a worthless, shivering fool. I fix my attention back on Topher. Tell him the words that will hurt him more than anything. “The only thing I’m giving up on is you. You’ve had plenty of chances to do better. You’ve squandered every single one.”

“I—You—” His chin dimples, finger tightening on the trigger.

“Your mother would’ve been disappointed.”

The air in the house shifts. I sense the blood rushing through Ophelia’s veins.

Impossible. She’s upstairs.

I ordered her to stay there. I?—

“Die!” he shouts through tears when he fires at me.

At the worst possible timing.

My heart stills. Throat locked.

She’s here. She’s here. She’s here.

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