Page 16 of King of Cruelty

Abraham snatched his gun from his waistband, aiming it at my head. “You think this is a joke, bitch?” he hissed. “What the fuck about anything of this makes you think I’m in a joking mood?”

I smiled. “Actually, everything about that stupid, fake, gentleman act made me think this was all a fucking joke. Finally, you’re letting your real violent, women-hating, psychopath flag fly. It’s about time.”

“I don’t hate women.” His words were half snarl. “I didn’t hate my mother who was forced to give me up. She was a sex worker, but it was the money Dad made that kept a roof over our heads and food on the table. After Adelinekilledhim, it all went away.

“We were evicted from our apartment and kicked out onto the streets. When I was twelve, Mom surrendered me to the state to save me from a life eating out of the trash.” The gun shook in his hands. “A year later, she was dead.”

“That’s a sad story.” I inched closer and he subconsciously took a step back, getting closer to that root. “Almost as sad astory dozens of children told the cops after my mother rescued them from Corbin’s hotel of horrors.”

“Never happened.”

“Corbin Dumont bought and trafficked innocent children.”

“No!”

“On the weekends, he auctioned them off to wealthy pedophiles, and let those rapist monsters do whatever they wanted to them!” I didn’t start the sentence shouting, but I was when I finished. Abraham shook his head the whole way through.

“More poisonous lies,” he forced through gritted teeth.

“It’s not a lie. These are plain facts that everyone in the fucking world knows except for your ignorant, head-in-the-sand ass!” I clapped, making him jerk. “Wake the fuck up, Brammy! Your father was the lowest form of trash—exploiting children to make a quick buck. Even the Kings were so disgusted with him, his own boss killed him!” I scoffed. “But that was only after Corbin Dumont sexually assaulted my mother.

“Face it. My mother didn’t kill him, but even if she had, she would’ve been doing you a favor—”

Abraham backhanded me across the face, cutting my inner cheek on my teeth and filling my mouth with blood.

“Not another fucking word.” His gun pressed to my temple. “You’re no better than the whore who spawned you, spreading your fucking lies and filth to tear down good men, and raise yourself up on their ashes.

“Want to know the truth about what happened between Adeline and my father? The truth my mother told me, but yours couldn’t be bothered to tell you? Huh?!” He shook the gun, digging it deeper into my skin.

I spat blood on his shoe by way of answer.

“It was the Merchants who were in the child-sex-trafficking business,” he growled. “Yeah, that’s right. Your fucking parentswere the ones buying and selling children to the richest pedophiles. But the money they were making from that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted to take over the Kings’ territory, and their rackets, so they came up with a little plan.

“They’d frame a King for the whole thing, and then abduct and lock him up. Word spread that the Merchants were out cleaning up the Kings’ dirty laundry, and Angelo was forced to deal with it.” He grabbed my chin, wrenching me up to meet his glinting eyes. “That day, they purposely left the door to theirtortureroom open so that my dad would escape and call for help.

“It was a trick. A trap!” Spittle coated my cheek. “When the Kings rushed in to help him, the Merchants slaughtered them all.” He shoved his face in mine. “So what do you have to say now, bitch? Still laughing.”

“No, Brammy, I’m not laughing.” Slowly, deliberately, I grasped his fingers and pried them off of me. “I’m not laughing because I feel sorry for you. Genuinely. You want so badly to believe your father was a good man—”

“He was!”

“—so you’ve deluded yourself into believing he was.” I tsked. “Because if he wasn’t a monster, then you’re not one either. Both of those beliefs are false.”

Abraham cocked the gun. “You think I won’t kill you.” The malice in his eyes said he absolutely fucking would. “Your whore of a mother spat out half a dozen of you bigamist bastards. I’m going to put a bullet through all of your heads soon enough, so it makes no difference to me if I start n—”

I heaved a yawn, slapping his gun hand away.

He snapped it back, growling as he gripped it with both hands.

“Enough of your threats and tough-guy face,” I said. “If you were going to kill me, you would’ve done it already. You didn’thesitate or waffle on with Madison. You wouldn’t be doing it with me if you were actually going to use that gun.”

His eyes flashed. “Your usefulness is rapidly fading. Disparage my father’s name again and you’re right. I won’t hesitate or waffle on.” Abraham said that, but he lowered his gun.

“I don’t need to disparage your father’s name.” My lips twisted at the vile man he was. “The dozens of children, now adults, who suffered at his hands can do that just fine. Did you ever bother to talk to them?” I asked as his grip tightened on the gun. “While you were so busy calling my dads and my mother a liar? Did you ever take five fucking minutes out of your day to talk to the survivors of the auctions andaskthem what’s true?”

“They were children, as you just said. Frightened and traumatized. They would’ve repeated whatever they were ordered to say as long as it meant the nightmare ended.” He shook his head. “Your parents confused them. Threatened them into spreading their lies. No doubt they’re still bribing them to lie to this day.

“No,” Abraham said, the finality in his voice ringing clear. “I don’t need to speak to a bunch of liars so they can drip the same poison into my ear that you’ve been sipping on your whole life. Your parents are filthy, monstrous beasts that care for nothing and no one but themselves and their empire of blood. They prove that fact every day, and as they say, when someone tells you who they are—believe them.”

---