Page 74 of King of Cruelty

“No,” she shrieked, stumbling back. “You’re trying to provoke me. You want me to throw myself at you with a weapon you can easily get off me, and then it’ll be hostage against hostage. Threaten to cut my throat too, and Wilson will let your little boy go.”

Saint hummed. “You’re not completely stupid after all.”

“You think you understand that now, but trust me,” Debra said, moving well back from the family of assassins. “You’ll underestimate me again, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

“We don’t underestimate you,” Adeline broke in, “and we do remember you.Ido. Your fathers were Merchants who attacked me and Saint, and tried to hand him over to the Kings to be tortured and murdered. During this attack, your father, Racer, put hands on me, and Saint found that...” She stroked her husband’s cheek. “Hard to forgive.

“But none of that excuses the pain and grief you all feel at losing your fathers. You have every right to be angry and hurt, and to even want some semblance of justice, but whatever you think you’re going to do here today won’t give you that. The only thing that will happen is that you’ll become even worse monsters than we could ever be,” she dropped, the motherly tenderness leaving her voice as quickly as the chill set in. “And your fathers will still be dead.”

“We could never be as vile as you,” Debra forced through gritted teeth. “Never.”

“No? Then why is that innocent girl who has nothing to do with this and never hurt you, or anyone, in her life bleeding and terrified in the grip of that brute?” she flung, pointing at me and Wilson. “Why is my daughter, who risked her life to save yours, being treated as your enemy? Why was my son, who wasborn after your father met his end, and has never even met you, attacked just for the crime of being my son? And why are you, Little Debbie, the girl who stands here today because we never visited your father’s sins upon you... so desperate to lay hands on a six-year-old girl?

“Tell me how in your sick little mind you justified bringing a child into your vendetta, and then tell me how you think that makes you better than me?”

“We wouldn’t have hurt her,” Wilson blurted. “We’re not monsters! We just want you to pay for—”

“Shut up, Wilson!” Debra barked.

“But, Deb, they—”

“I said be quiet! Don’t you dare justify yourself to that scum-trash viper. Adeline Redgrave can fancy herself all she wants on her imaginary high horse, but someone started this fight, and it sure as fuck wasn’t us.

“What happens to little Lizzie Hunt is not the Merchants’ concern anymore,” she dropped, turning away, “because you’ll all be dead.”

Debra snatched a paper tray off the desk and threw it on the floor. “Now, enough chat. Get all the phones into the basket. Get the unlock codes for them while you’re at it.

“Wilson, bring everyone up to the thirty-fifth floor—including the girl and the other Redgrave.” I assumed she meant me and River. “That’s Sole and the nanny’s floor. Tie them all up in the living room, I want them where I can see them at all times. Then, search the nanny’s apartment and make sure he’s not lying about her and the kid being here.

“If the nanny is here, kill her,” Debra commanded without a trace of feeling. “We don’t need her for the auction.”

“Auction?” I croaked.

“Oh, that’s right, didn’t I say?” Debra spun on me with a bright smile. “Adeline is quite right about our beef being withonly her and Saint. The others did nothing to us. They didn’t kill our fathers.But,” she stressed, “this little family of soulless criminals have done plenty of horrible things to plenty of other people, so, we’re going to keep Adeline and Saint, and auction the rest of you off.”

Blood drained out of my face with every word. “You’re insane. No wonder you were best friends with that disgusting shitstain Luca.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I was far from that scum’sfriend. Luca Adams was the lowest form of trash, but he was a necessary evil to get us this far. He hid the scale of his trafficking operation from the Merchants so impressively, Sunny boy here thought he was nothing more than a lowlife, and low-level, pimp.

“We needed his many boltholes, and the victims chained within, so that we could hide among them and get here. But you can trust this, girl, I did not mourn his death.”

“Oh, well, that makes it okay, then,” I chirped, sarcasm dripping from my lips. “You just sat back and did shit all to help dozens of women forced into sexual slavery while their children were sold to the highest bidder, but at least youdidn’t approve.”

Her eyes flashed. “You mean like you sat back and watched your father abuse and subjugate your mother until she was forced to shoot him in the face?”

I blew back, eyes wide.

“That’s what I thought,” she taunted. “There’s plenty of hypocritical bitch to go around, so I suggest you shut your mouth.”

I breathed hard, chest heaving against the arm locked around my chest... but I shut my mouth.

“Good.” She turned her back on me. “Now, as I was saying, the auction begins tonight at seven o’clock on the dot. It took many years, countless fortunes, and endless recruitment to get where we are now. My financial backers required proof that wecould achieve our goal of dismantling the biggest, and deadliest, criminal syndicate in history.

“And for a long time, we couldn’t provide that proof... until Sacred Heart Charities erupted into flames.” She grinned at Adeline’s narrowing eyes. “Even though none of you were inside, unfortunately, the fact that we were able to unearth one of your money-laundering operations, burn it to the ground, and get away with it—proved we were a serious threat.

“The money started rolling in.”

I gaped at her. “But— You didn’t unearth anything! You badgered some poor woman into joining your deluded revenge plot until she was forced to spill about the charity to get you to leave her alone. Oh, and don’t forget the bitch slap!”

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