Page 56 of Dominion

“I can’t,” he whined, making me roll my eyes. “He’ll know. He will?—”

“Kill you?” I cackled. “Look around you, Neal. Do you really think that I won’t kill you? Do you think that you’ll get to walk out of here unscathed?”

He shook his head. “No, you won’t kill me. You can’t! We’re a family. We’re?—”

“Sebastian is my family!” I roared. “Not you. You lost that privilege a long time ago. Had I known that you were the one who started this chain of events, I would’ve killed you sooner. Tell me, Neal.” I angled my body closer to him. “How does it feel knowing that you’ve failed?”

His face became red, his eyes narrowed and chest contracted, before he blasted, “He will kill all of you! He will find you and?—”

I was getting tired of the empty threats coming from a man who held no leverage. I was tired of the cat-and-mouse games. He wasn’t going to tell us anything. There was no use of this pathetic man, unless?—

“Oh, Neal.” I straightened up, removing the knife from his throat. “There was one thing that always pissed me off about you.”

“What?” he gritted out.

“You had a tendency to underestimate me.”

He opened his mouth to talk, to, no doubt, blabber more nonsense and more things that would only piss me off. We didn’t have time for all this. There were places we needed to visit. Things we needed to do. We had to lure Judah out.

I lifted the knife in my hand, and without a second thought, I pushed the blade straight through his left eye. His scream echoed around us, shaking the walls, feeding into my desire to end him once and for all.

Crimson ran down his face as he shook, trying to flee from his restraints, but there was no use. With one simple flick of the wrist, I rotated the knife to the right and then to the left, pushing it deeper and deeper. I felt his shuddering breath on my face, the proof that he was losing the battle against death.

I felt the moment his muscles relaxed, and I pulled the knife out, wiping the blood from the blade on my pants.

“Th-that,” Casimir stuttered. “That was something else.”

“I mean…” Hunter shrugged. “I liked it.”

It took me a moment to realize I was breathing heavily, that my chest rose and fell faster than usual. As I took a step backward, looking at the man who was once part of my family, I felt… I felt nothing.

His death couldn’t bring my parents back.

His death didn’t give me Judah.

His fucking death wouldn’t fix anything.

“But it will give you at least a little bit of peace,” Skylar said, wrapping her arms around my middle. I didn’t even realize I’d started talking out loud. I didn’t realize that my entire body shook as the adrenaline rushed through my bloodstream. “You did the right thing.”

“I know.” And I did know. This was inevitable, necessary, but the gaping hole in my chest didn’t become any smaller. The darkness didn’t suddenly shrink, leaving me filled with happiness.

“But he didn’t tell us where Judah is,” Casimir said. “I was counting on it.”

“No.” I shook my head. “He didn’t. But one thing Judah Blackwood hates is failing, and losing Neal is a failure.”

“What do you suggest then?” Hunter asked, still keeping his hands on Neal’s shoulders.

My eyes darted toward the balcony doors, and I felt my lips pulling into a bright smile. “We toss him over the balcony.”

Two sets of eyes widened, Skylar gasped, and Dylan chuckled. Casimir schooled his expression faster than you could say sex and walked toward me. “You want to send him a message.”

“Exactly. And I know just what to write.”

I tightened my hand on the handle of the knife as I stepped away from Skylar and toward Neal’s lifeless body. Even Judah Blackwood wouldn’t be able to stay calm after he received it.

17

SKYLAR

---