Page 55 of Dominion

“You were planning to overthrow him, weren’t you? You were using us, blaming Judah for everything, trying to set us on the path of self-destruction.” There was no question about that. It was as clear as day that his plans were completely different fromJudah’s, but the motherfucking coward didn’t have the guts to do it himself.

He’d been training me to take Judah down.

I mistook control for love, but I knew I would never make the same mistake again.

“Where. Is. He?” I dragged the knife slowly down his face, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. Some sick, twisted part of me loved seeing him squirm, trying to get away from the sharp blade. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, pressing him into the knife until the tip disappeared under his skin, earning a scream that almost shook the walls. “I’m not gonna stop, Neal. You took everything from me, and now…” I laughed. “Now, I’m just going to return the favor.”

This was exactly what he had trained me for—to be ruthless, to forget about emotions when faced with my greatest enemy. Only he failed to tell me that he was training me to destroy him one day.

“Ash… Please,” he whimpered. “You don’t have to do this. You are not?—”

“What?” I laughed. “A murderer? But I am, old man. I am exactly that.” I leaned down, bringing my lips close to his ear. “You’re just lucky that there are two people here today that I care about. Two people I would destroy the world for, and I don’t want them to see that side. I don’t want them to realize what a monster I am.”

I dragged the blade down his cheek, over his chin and right toward his Adam’s apple. Darkness slid in, clouding my vision, and he was the only thing I could focus on.

I often hid my emotions because they weren’t something others needed to see. They weren’t something I was proud of.

All this anger.

All this anguish.

This pain.

All of it was going to swallow me whole one day if I kept trying to shove it into the little box somewhere deep inside my mind. But I didn’t want to hide it today. I wanted him to see. I wanted him to remember my face as the last thing he would ever see in his life.

I wanted him to know that his fucking plan failed, that I wasn’t just some puppet he could control. I wasn’t a lost boy anymore, trying to earn his love, his attention.

I was so starved for love, for happiness, that I failed to see who the real monster was.

“This is your last chance, Neal,” I said, watching as the tip of the blade pressed deeper into his throat. One small push would’ve been enough to end him right here, right now.

There was no one to save him. No one was coming to aid him in his moment of need, and the knowledge filled me with renewed energy. He was all alone in this world. Just another pathetic little man who’d burned all his bridges, destroyed all his friendships. And me… I turned for a moment to look at the two people who held my heart. Seeing them standing there, without an ounce of disgust on their faces, gave me the fuel I needed to finish this.

Skylar was gripping Dylan’s hand, but the determined look on her face told me everything I needed to know. She wasn’t judging me for the things I was doing right now. She wasn’t stepping away or refusing to meet my gaze. She smiled, her eyes sparkling underneath the soft overhead light, and the little nod that came along filled my chest with pride. With so much love, I felt I was going to burst.

Dylan’s eyes were narrowed, his face betraying the worry he felt for me, because he knew better than anyone else what it was like to take another’s life. But the judgment I expected to see wasn’t there.

That was all I needed.

I found love in the most unusual place. In the place that was reserved for nothing more but misery, but I found it, nevertheless. I found my soulmates in a life filled with vengeance and rage, when I thought that I would never be able to care for another human being as much as I care for them.

Sebastian was my blood, my responsibility, and the love I felt for him was a different kind of love from the one I felt for them.

They fulfilled me. They were the missing pieces of the puzzle, and I’d be damned if I let anyone harm them. For as long as I lived, they would be my priorities. They would be the people I would always protect.

I swiveled my head back toward Neal, my eyes tracing the tiny trail of blood running down his throat, satisfying the bloodthirsty monster living inside of me. “I’m not going to ask again, Neal.” His eyes betrayed the realization that was slowly dawning on him—this was his end. This was the end of the road, the end of the fucking game he’d been playing for so long, and it was only fitting that the son of the two people he betrayed would be the one to destroy him. “Where is he? Where is he hiding?”

“Ash—”

“I don’t want to hear another word from your mouth unless it’s the information on his whereabouts. I don’t want to hear your excuses or your apologies. I. Don’t. Want. To. Know. Do you understand me?” He nodded swiftly. “Good. Now.” I tightened my hand in his hair, eliciting another yelp from him. “Are you going to tell me? I mean…” I chuckled. “You’re about to die anyway, but if there was ever at least a tiny part of you that actually cared for us, you will tell me. If there was ever any humanity in that fucking body of yours, you will tell me. You owe me that much.”

He owed me much more, but I would be happy with the knowledge of Judah’s whereabouts. Sometimes it felt as if we’dbeen in this mess for years and not months. Time dragged slowly when you felt that everything around you was falling apart.

Every plan.

The knowledge I’d had.

All of it fell into the water the moment I fell for Skylar and then Dylan.

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