Page 91 of Unleash Hades
That last bit was the greatest lie of all.
The one that had poisoned me from the inside, rotting my core and breaking me little by little. We were not one. I was not his bride, his partner, his fellow schemer in this chess game. Consent had never played any part of this madness.
“Let the boys go,” I said, as I came to my feet. “Let the darlings go. You know they have nothing to do with this game of ours.”
A game of life and death.
“But then where would my leverage be? Darling, do you think I’m stupid?”
“No! Of course not,” I tried to smile, even as my knees threatened to buckle beneath me. “I had to try.”
A Lion in Winter.
That was his idea of a romance. A woman imprisoned, and a man who cheats. So I channeled my inner Katherine Hepburn, and looked haughty and unaffected.
“Let the boys go,” I scoffed, as I stared at our sons, pathetically on their knees, their hands bound in front of them. “Look at them. They’re not equipped for this battle. It’ll just ruin our fun, darling.”
I saw the twitch in Richard’s mouth. The one that sickened me, because it meant that he was pleased.
“No,” he said, his amused eyes turning back to me. “I have the gun, and all the power, love. As fun as it would be to wrestle you for control, and eventually leave you bleeding on the rug… I just can’t see the point.”
Bright light slanted inward, as a door silently opened.
“I see the point,” another voice called from the shadows, as a gold copper-toned fabric materialized, before the man wearing it could be seen. “I think you should let the boys and the wife come with me.”
Bellamy had a gun in his hand. It was a pistol with a long barrel, though for the life of me, I could not figure out what it was.
The cold metal left my forehead, and pivoted to point at the middle of Bellamy’s chest as the door swung closed behind him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Richard demanded, annoyed that someone was getting in the way of his family fun.
“I’m looking for my story partner, of course,” Bellamy said, tilting his head to the side.
Without his ascot and tuxedo jacket, he was right. He was almost unrecognizable in a somewhat respectable orange-gold shirt. No stitching, no tuxedo, scarf or ascot.
“You know how it is, don't you, Richard? You start an investigation with a partner, and you take responsibility for them.” His nose wrinkled with amusement. “You don’t leave a comrade behind, darling. That’s the Laurent family way.”
That was a bullshit line that we used on new journalists to make them feel safe.Welcome to the Laurent Family.But under Richard, that was an absolute lie.
The two of them pointed a gun at one another, their eyes focused and fingers on the trigger.
“Bellamy,” I whispered, as I fought the urge to run to my boys and shield them with my body.
“Let the three of them come with me,” Bellamy said. “There’s no need for violence, Richard.” He aimed his weapon where Richard’s heart should have been. “And as you know, I hate violence in all its forms. Can’t stand the sight of blood, you see? It makes me positively quake with fear! Look at me, barely holding steady.”
Despite his words, Bellamy showed no signs of instability. His aim was true, and eyes full of certainty. Like his body was possessed by an entirely different being.
“No,” Richard said, and I saw it all happen in slow motion.
The way his mind turned, and his arm tensed. If I did not do anything, then that tension would seep into his forearm, down to his hand, to his finger, and launch a bullet into Bellamy. Bellamy would shoot back, and one, or both, of them would end up dead.
Death was too good for Richard.
Especially an easy death.
“Just let the boys go, Richard,” I said, coming to my feet. “I’ll stay, and we’ll talk.”
I tried to smile, pushing the tension from my shoulders.
