Page 111 of Pretty Lethal
Although why Wilder was cast out with him is beyond me. Did they think his father’s perversions would rub off on Wilder?
The muscle ticks in Wilder’s jaw, and I can tell it’s a question he’s dying to ask, only his pride won’t let him.
“Let me get this straight,” Kai snarls, pushing off from the wall he’d been leaning against to stand beside Wilder, arms folded across the front of his chest. “Your husband gets kicked out for touching children, and yet you let them send his own kid out with him? Where is the fucking logic in that, and why the hell, as his fucking mother, would you allow that to happen?!”
My heart melts into a puddle at my feet as I watch Kai get incensed on Wilder’s behalf.
The bitch shrugs her shoulders. “We couldn’t run the risk that he’d have the same proclivities as his father. I figured it was best to wash my hands of them both and start fresh.”
“You’re a fucking bitch,” Kai snarls, his cheeks reddening with anger as he gets all up in Carrie’s face. I don’t know how Wilder maintains his composure after his mom’s confession. Although, his body is wound tight, taut like a bow on the verge of fraying and snapping. “I’d say I’m disgusted, but I get the impression Wilder would have been far worse off if he’d been left in your care.”
Straightening to his full height, Kai stares down his nose at Carrie with abject apathy. “All I feel is sorry for you. You’ll never know the truly genuine man your son turned into. You’ll never be his family. Never see him get married and have kids. Never fully understand the lengths he’ll go to for those he loves.”
I’m sure I have hearts in my eyes at Kai’s little speech. Hawk’s eyebrows have hit his hairline in surprise, and even Wilder has taken his fixated glare off his mother to gape at Kai.
Kai simply claps Wilder on the shoulder before standing behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my head. I rest my forearms against his larger, muscular ones.
“That will have meant a lot to him,” I tell him quietly.
“I meant every word, sweetheart.”
Smiling and feeling way more content than I probably should, I lean against him as Wilder picks up his line of questioning.
“Back to grandfather,” he growls, any traces of softness from a moment ago hidden behind his cold, ruthless expression.
Carrie sighs. “Robbie has been drugging the old man for years. When the memory impairment started to become problematic, he handed over most of the reins to Robbie, not realizing that Robbie, in turn, was givingmeall that power.”
“But…” Wilder begins, brows furrowed in confusion. “He seemed fine when I met him, except for today.”
“Robbie keeps a close eye on him. A few days before any meetings your grandfather must attend, or seeing family, he stops the drugs so your grandfather is more lucid. Then before he can start asking questions or demanding an Elite meeting, Robbie shoves some pills down his throat.”
Delightful.I’m definitely not sad about Robbie’s death now. How could he do that to his own flesh and blood?
Although, he was a Clearwater. With the exception of Wilder, I’m beginning to think turning on their own is a family tradition.
Wilder sneers before glancing our way. “Anything else we need to know?”
After thinking about it for a moment, both Kai and Hawk shake their heads.
“Excellent.” Wilder practically purrs the word as he slowly turns around to face his mother with a predatory look in his eye.
His knife, Marie, which he had been absently twirling while he asked her questions, presses against his mother’s throat.
“Now to decide what to do with you,” he says, almost to himself.
Carrie’s eyes go wide. “W-Wilder. I’m your mother. You wouldn’t kill me.”
His head tilts eerily to the side. “Wouldn’t I? You’ve proven you're my mother in blood only, and from what I’ve learned, blood means jackshit in the Clearwater family.”
Trembling now, tears shine in Carrie’s eyes and she shakes her head, even though the movement causes the blade to nick her skin, a bead of blood trickling down the column of her neck.
“P-please.”
Wilder snarls like a rabid animal. “Where was your sympathy when you were having my girl chased through the forest? When you were ordering her to climb into her own fucking grave?”
Untangling myself from Kai, I walk forward and slip my hand beneath Wilder’s t-shirt, pressing my palm against his back. Instantly, I feel the tension loosen in his muscles and he leans into my touch, taking strength from it.
“The truth is,mother”—he spits out the word—“you signed your own death warrant the day you hurt my girl, because you see, wearea fucking family. A real one, the likes of which your twisted brain could never comprehend or appreciate. And as much as I’d love to chase your petrified ass through the woods before shoving you into a dirt hole and listening while you slowly suffocate to death, I’d rather just be done with you.” He glances my way, and I reach up a hand to stroke my thumb over the hard lines of his face. His eyes soften, shining with love and affection. One side of his lips twitch as though he’s about to smile, but he turns around to face his mother, gaze instantly hardening again. “Besides, my Angel wants a bubble bath, and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
