Page 149 of Depravity

That my father didn’t see me, not his daughter. That he didn’t see his child, but the manifestation of the girl he loved and groomed years ago. That he was so obsessed with my mother that he couldn’t think beyond his own warped mind.

He stares back at the paper when I give it to him, and I can’t look at him. A voice in my head already tells me that this will be it, the final straw. I’m not just ruined; I’m disgusting on a level I’ll never come back from.

My hands curl into fists. My tears begin to stream down my face again.

The sound of the pad hitting the carpet reaches my ears and I look up to see Conrad staring back down at me.

“No one must know.” He states. “You tell no one else. Do you understand me?”

I nod so quickly that I think it rattles my brain.

But the warning in his voice, the threat, it’s loud enough for me to understand. If I tell anyone, then that will be it. That will be the end.

Apparently, there’s no comeback from that sin.

Ileave her sleeping.

No, I don’t want to. But what choice do I have? I can’t lay here, pretending that I don’t know what I know.

As soon as the door shuts, I pull out my phone and I’m calling Antonio.

The bastard picks up immediately, just like always.

“You can’t change your mind now,” He teases.

“Fat chance of that,” I growl.

“Then what do you want? I expected you to be balls deep now that you have your wife back…”

“Who the fuck is Xavier Heeps?” I growl.

“Ahh,” He sighs, “You mean, who the fuck was he? Because he didn’t make it out of the house.”

“He’s dead?” God, the relief I feel just knowing that fact.

“He is, Conrad, despite what I said. You killed him.”

Me? When the fuck did I? My eyes widen as I realise exactly when. So the man wasn’t bluffing then, he had fucked her. He’d fucked my wife.

“I wanted him alive, Conrad.”

“Too fucking bad,” I sneer.

I hear something crash, something big. Has he really lost his temper? Him, the man who’s always in control?

“You just don’t get it.” Antonio snaps. “You’re still acting like this is some petty rivalry, when it’s far bigger than that.”

“Who the fuck is he?” I ask.

“Wrong question.”

“Fine, what the fuck is going on?” I retort. I’m sick of being kept in the dark, being used as a nice bit of fodder for him and my brother. I said I was in, that means I need to know everything. Every tiny, miniscule detail.

“The Esau don’t just want to take over this Chapter, then want to take over all of it. They want to undo hundreds of years of rule, hundreds of years of stability. They want to create a two-tier system, them versus us. The old blood, versus the new…”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you, your brothers, most of the Brethren you know would be out, would be turned into an army. Only the elite would remain, and they’d get rid of the Chapter Lords as we know it. They’d replace them with Founders.”

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