Page 153 of Depravity

“You want to keep this child?” I say, “Then this is the deal. We have the scans, we ensure it is healthy and if it is, then from that moment on, that child is mine. I put it in you, I am its father.”

“Wwwhat?”

I don’t have to understand the exact words she’s saying to understand the point.

I pick up the cutlery, aware that without her tongue she can’t chew her food, she can’t even swallow decent sized mouthfuls. Silently, I start cutting it all up, making it so tiny she can simply allow it to pass back on the tiny sliver of muscle left.

As I fork up the first miniscule bit, I hold it out for her. She stares at it before opening her lips and for a second, she struggles before she gets it down.

“Do we have a deal, Brynn? You can keep this child but from now on you won’t fight me, you won’t protest, you will do whatever I want. You’ll let me dress you up, let me do your hair, let me parade you about Oblivion as my perfect little wife and you’ll happily take my cock, however I choose to give it because your sole purpose will be to keep me happy?”

She blinks, just for a second, as if she can feel the weight of this moment. As if she knows that this really is a deal with the devil. Her unborn child’s life, for her own.

“Deal,” She says in that strangled, awful voice.

Fucking deal. It’s like a chorus goes off in my head, like the entirety of heaven empties to be right here, celebrating beside me.

She is mine now, in every sense of the word.

It’s been two days. Xavier is dead. The fallout from what I and Antonio did hasn’t even spread wide enough to worry about yet. By all accounts, we’ve been lucky.

But luck will only get you so far, even when you’re a Blake.

The Esau must know we’re coming for them, they have to be planning new moves. Bigger moves. We’re not just going to sit here and let them continue on.

I left Brynn with Liliana. No, I didn’t fucking like it, but I’ve realised now that she is vulnerable. The way her mind works, the way you can manipulate her now, she can’t be left alone for even a second.

And I’ll be damned if we go off tonight and come back to find her taken again.

The sound of the helicopter’s blade makes it near impossible to talk.

Apparently, Magnus got these from some new arms dealer the Brethren have recruited. I’ll admit I’m impressed. They’re new technology, the latest tech, all armoured and state-of-the art equipment. Not even the U.S Airforce has as many of these things as we now do.

We feel invincible. We feel Godlike.

I glance across at my brother, and I can see that deadly look on his face. Is he wondering what it’s going to be like? This time tomorrow he’ll be Chapter Lord, and all this bullshit will be done with.

Because tonight we’re going to take out Titus, we’re going to take out every last member of the Esau faction. To force the Brethren’s hand.

It’s bold, but it’s necessary. For almost the entirety of this fight, they’ve had the upper-hand. Yes, we’ve made a few moves, taking out a few of their significant players, but the time for reservation is over.

We strike now, and we strike fucking hard.

Antonio provided us with a list of Esau strongholds. Again, I wondered how he has such useful information, but when I voiced this to Magnus he just brushed it aside, which makes me think that as usual, he knows something I don’t and doesn’t want to share.

We’ve got men headed to the locations, even as we speak. The skies of Britain haven’t had this much activity since the Blitz.

And it’s us, the Blakes, behind it all.

I glance down at the shining lights of Sheffield. All these people, all tucked up in their beds, all blissfully unaware that right now, a coup is underway. Not that they know that their lives are already controlled by the Brethren, that almost everypolitician, every person of note is within our ranks. That they answer to us.

And from tomorrow, they’ll answer to my brother.

In the distance, I can just about make out the house we’re headed to. It’s a few miles out, in the country, away from the main bustle of the city. Ordinarily we’d be more covert, but there’s no hiding this force, is there?

We land with a thump. Three helicopters have already landed before us and the men are ahead, waiting for us to attack as one. We get out, ducking out heads so we don’t slice them off on the rotor blades.

As we make our way to where everyone is waiting, I can’t help but feel a buzz of excitement. This is everything we’ve been working for. Everything we, the Blake’s, deserve. I may not always get on with my brother, but with him as Chapter Lord, we’re going to live like kings. Literal fucking kings.

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