Page 76 of King of Cruelty

“Failed daughter, failed mother, failed thief, failed person.” She spoke like we were having a light, breezy, casual conversation. “So I’m more than a little surprised to find that even though you are all of those things and worse... you’re not stupid. In fact”—her eyes sharpened on me—“you’re surprisingly quick and insightful.”

“Okay...” I edged away from her. “Why are you saying this?”

“Because you figured me and my brother and sisters out while your Merchants were still choking on my lies, and you were spot-on. There is no reason for us to stay in this building. In actuality, sense says we should stuff those shits in the trunk and leave this building immediately.”

I swallowed hard, eyes darting around the room. “Then, why don’t you?”

“Because I can’t,” she said, slowly coming around the desk. “For more than a few reasons, and the first and most important... is the ledger.”

My brow crumpled. “The ledger? You mean the old ledger that Adeline made worthless decades ago? That ledger?”

“No. I mean the one Adeline Redgrave started when she and her husbands took control of the underground. In their little black book are the names of every syndicate, gang, outfit, and criminal family in Cinco—along with all the heaps of dirt they’ve got on them to keep them in line.

“It’s somewhere in this building, and it was heavily protected, until I turned off the security system of course.” Step. And another step—coming closer than I ever wanted to be to this rotted hellwhore. “It would’ve taken long enough even with all of us searching all forty of these fucking floors, but that’s why I needed that little brat, Lizzie Hunt. Adeline wouldn’t have dared dick me around if I had a knife to the throat of those big crying eyes and bouncing blonde curls.”

My jaw dropped, horror leadening my bones.

“Although, I suspect Hunt is lying, and she is somewhere hidden in the Fairfield, because I’ve had people watching this place for the last week, and they would’ve alerted me if the nanny took her away.

“But as it is, even if we don’t find her by auction time, as long as she’s in the building, I have the leverage I need to force Adeline into giving me that flash drive.”

“H-how?” My voice was nothing but a thin croak.

Debra blinked at me. “Why, the bombs, of course. Before Vance Hollywell met with what was no doubt a grisly end—” She winced. “I wasn’t expecting the Merchants to shoot up and bomb the avenue, and I dare say, neither was he. But anyway, before he died, Vance waved in a crate of explosives into Caddell House’s loading dock under the labelfabric.

“Once the Merchants are secure, Maryann and Yumi will bring the bombs in through the tunnel,” she said, plopping herself down on the desk like we were a couple of friends shooting the shit. “Then we’ll blow this shithole to hell.”

“After the auction,” I whispered—understanding hit me like a brick to the face. “After you’ve tricked your rich friends into paying you millions for Merchants that they’ll never get their hands on. You’ll kill the whole family, their gangs, and even your own. Yourinvestorswill think it was an accident gone wrong, because why would you kill your own fucking people, but really, you’re burying the Merchants and the Brotherhood in the same grave—only to run off with the money and the black book to build an empire even bigger and stronger on their ashes.

“And the only hope you’ll give Liam, Adeline, Sunny, Bane, and Elizabeth’s family is that they can save Tricky from their fate.”

She tapped her nose, winking at me. “See? Smart.”

“Yeah,” I gritted, “so smart, I know that you couldn’t give less of a shit that your people will die in the explosion too. I bet you never cared about thelower-tiermembers of your cult. Their revenge means nothing to you. It’s always been about yours.”

“Ours,” she corrected. “Me, Wilson, Maryann, Yumi, Jillian, and Natalya. The children of Donald Seward, Liam James, Adrian Westwood, and Noel Harvey. Our fathers were friends just like we were. And they all died on the same day, destroying our worlds in the time it took St. John to pull the trigger.

“The six of us are the Brotherhood, and we always have been,” she said, rising up. “Waiting, planning, training, and recruiting an army of no-nothing thugs. Those thugs will keep the Sons of Saint, Scourges, and the rest of them in our trap, and if the Merchants sent for backup, when they storm the place, they’ll end up in our trap too.

“Worthless cannon fodder the lower members may be, they’re still vital as a means to this end—the end of the Merchants, and the rise of the Quay Street Boys.” Debra smiled almost tenderly. “That’s what our dads called themselves when they were young.”

“Wow,” I dropped. “That’s a stupid fucking name.”

Debra barked a laugh. “It’s not the best, I admit it, but they were seven. What can you do?”

“Seven, huh? That’s only a year older than Elizabeth.”

She flashed me an irritated look.

“She’s just a little girl,” I burst out. “And if she is hiding somewhere in the building, then she must be terrified. As terrified as you were when your father went out into the night to live the dangerous life that hechose. But Tricky didn’t choose any of this. Leave her out. She’s just a—”

“For fuck’s sake, save your breath,” she snapped. “Of course I’m not leaving her out of this. The girl dies too. She has to. Look what happened when the Merchants got all soft-hearted and left me, Wilson, Maryann, and our friends alive. We grew up, hunted them down, and destroyed them. I can’t have little Elizabeth Hunt doing the same to me one day.”

I looked that beast in the eyes. “Adeline is right. You are worse than she could ever dream of being.”

Debra’s grin melted away. “A man gave her a little boo-boo on her forehead, and she had him brutally murdered. That was all it took for her to leave six innocent children without fathers. Don’t you fucking dare defendSaintAdeline or her partner-in-hell, St. John. Their death toll would put the Civil War to same.

“No matter what I do. No matter how many people I kill, I will always be an angel compared to that demonic bitch, and her loyal hellhounds.”

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