Page 72 of King of Cruelty

“I don’t need to hide my daughter from you.” His shiny, cold eyes dragged the room temperature down fifty degrees. “As assuredly as I can see your hand shaking from here, you’re no threat to my child, because if you even thought about hurtingher, I’d rip your head off your shoulders with my bare hands and stomp your worthless skull in until your blood and brain matter stuck to the shit on my shoes.”

Debra was shaking, and truly, so was I. I’d never,never, heard Liam speak this way before. Not just the threats, but the vicious way he delivered them—as if the violence he would visit on her was a fact of life.

Lions eviscerate zebras. Eagles tear the heads off fish. And Liam Hunt brutally murders anyone who threatens his daughter.

These were just the facts of life...

...and it made me love him so much, my knees weakened.

I spent the morning in the presence of the shittiest father to ever walk the earth. How lucky was I to have the love and the heart of the best.

“So as I said,” Liam continued—cool and calm as the two women patted him down and tossed his phone across the room, “Elizabeth is not here, and I can very easily prove that to you, but anymore talk of bringing my child into a hostile situation will cease immediately—for your own sake.”

Living, choking hatred bled from Debra’s pores. “Cold, hard Liam Hunt, so desperate to follow in his daddy’s footsteps—if you could remember which one of your mother’s manwhores he even is.

“You’re not in charge here, you bigamist’s bastard,” she hissed, leveling the knife on him. “I am.”

Liam, Sunny, Bane, and their parents exchanged a look... and burst out laughing.

I gaped at the lot of them.What the hell is funny?!

“What’s funny?” Debra screeched, echoing my thought. “Why are you laugh—? Stop that! I said stop! Wilson!”

Bane’s captor moved so fast, Bane’s laugh was still in the air as the knife slashed across his forearm—tearing through flesh and muscle.

Bane growled, eyes popping and veins thickening on his neck. He clapped his hand on the weeping wound, glaring at Wilson with a venom that would put me on the ground if it ever came my way.

I had no idea how the dick was still standing.

“What happened?” Debra taunted as the room fell silent, leaving only River’s muffled shouts in the background. “Not laughing now, are you?”

“Oh no, we very much are,” Adeline replied. Her smile was wide, even pleasant. “I’m sorry, dear, but it’s quite hilarious that you think you’re being so clever and smart when in fact, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done in what has surely been a pointless, trainwreck of a life.”

Now my bulging eyes were on her. What life were the Merchants living that they could laugh and insult the mad people holding knives to their brother/son and his girlfriend’s throat? This kind of blasé calm in the face of violent madness was just something I could never comprehend.

“How in the world could you ever think you could take charge in our home? On our turf?” Adeline pushed out her lips, gazing at Debra in convincing sympathy. “Has no one ever taught you the first rule of dealing with assassins?

“You never chase a snake into its den.”

I couldn’t see Debra’s face, but I imagined her expression wasn’t too pleased going by her tightening grip on my throat.

“I wouldn’t be too sure of yourself, or the Fairfield’s famed security,” Debra spat. “This isn’t your den anymore. It’s mine.” She flicked the knife in Bane’s direction. “Bring him.”

Debra dragged me out of the security booth so that her buddies could shove Bane in.

“Log in to the building security system and shut it off. All of your door codes, elevator codes, pressure plates—”

Bane’s and Sunny’s heads snapped up, surprise clear in their eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Debra crowed. “I know about those. Just like I know about the poisonous gas, the security for Liam Hunt’s island home where I bet sweet little Lizzie is having her beach vacation, and the hidden tunnel leading to Caddell House.”

The Merchants exchanged looks again, but these weren’t amused.

“What do you say to that, Adeline? Want to lecture me some more on my ignorance?”

Adeline didn’t reply—her pinched expression as deafening as her silence.

“Log in and turn it off,” Debra said, “and don’t try anything, Alexander. I told you, if I’m surprised, my hands will slip.”

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