Page 91 of Cruel Love
He stormed toward me, a snarl twist on his face.“What gives youthe right to barge into my home and disrespect me like this?”
I stood to my full height, holding the gun out at arm’s length andmaking him pause.“I think it’s time you ladies left,”I said, not taking my eyes off my father.
In my periphery, the women scrambled to put their clothes on asquickly as possible before rushing past us, both of them wearing the same terrified look.
“How fucking dare you!”my father sneered.“You better start talking.”
“What happened to Helen Somersby?”
He held my gaze, the cogs in his head whirling before a grin spreadover his lips.“Your little whore remembered her mom’s namethen? I always told Welch his whipping technique wouldn’t keep the memories away forever.”
A muscle in my jaw twitched at his insult, and the hand holding thegun tightened.“No, she didn’t. Mom gave me the name.”
His brows rose.“Did she now? She never did like Helen. Wasalways jealous when I’d go down to the basement to fuck Helen.”
The bragging smilethatcrept over his face made me feel sick. Myfinger twitched with the need to blow his fucking brains out as it hovered over the trigger.
“I’m assuming you killed Helen?”
“Of course,”he said, shrugging.“She was good for a while, but shewasn’t as compliant as your little whore. She always fought back no matter what I did to her.”
I figured he’d killed her, but I wanted to hear it directly from hismouth.
“So you admit to killing a Legion memberthen?”I replied, my tonecalm.
He glared at me, his eyes darting between mine.“I don’t know whatyou’re talking about. Helen wasn’t Legion,”he said, and I’ll admit, he sounded convincing. If it wasn’t for the fact I knew my father was a lying asshole, I could have believed him.
“You and I both knowthatshe was. Along with her husband, Daniel.Remember him?”I took a step forward, pressing the gun against his chest.“You convinced the board he was planning on exposing Legion, andthenyou ordered me to kill him. And I did. Without questioning you.”
“Because he was threatening to expose Legion!”my father shrieked,a hint of panic in his tone.
I released a humorless chuckle.“I’m guessing Welch never told youthatthere was someone aside from the two of you who knew what you did? You know, where he wrote a fake news article, and you presented it to the board, and convinced them to kill Daniel Somersby so you could claim his wife, and Welch could claim his daughter?”
His entire body froze.“Wh…what?”
“You heard. This whole time Ann Milligan knew about your littlesecret. And now, it isn’tjustme who knows what you did, but the rest of the board knows too.” His eyes widened, fear mixed with surprise flooding them. He openedhis mouth to reply, no doubt to spew more bullshit, but I cut him off.“Eric Carter, you have been found guilty of breaching rule five set by our founding fathers. You are now released from your Legion duties.”
I lowered the gun and squeezed the trigger, the gunshotreverberating off every surface of the living room as the bullet embedded into his stomach. He gasped, and stumbled backward, his hands flying to the wound, and blood instantly beginning to seep through his fingers.
“You…you shot me,”he whined, disbelief in his voice.“You’re doingthis for Legion over me? Your father!”
“No,”I said, cocking the gun again, and this time pointing it at hishead.“I’m doing this for Willow.”
I squeezed the trigger again.
He was dead before he hit the floor.
By the following afternoon, the house was sparkling clean. You’dnever have guessedthata man’s brains were splattered over the furniturejusthours before.
As my father’s body was wrapped up in tarpaulin and loaded into theback of a van, confirmation reached methatWelch had met the same fate.
I’d also been appointed by the board as the new head of Legion,something I’d wanted all my life. Only, when Ethan congratulated me, I felt nothing.
I never thought there would be something in my lifethatI wantedmore than Legion.
How wrong I was.
Jackson arrived at my father’s house in the early afternoon. I didn’task him if Willow took the money and ran. I didn’t need to ask. I already knew.
