Page 50 of His Beautiful Revenge
Norah cried out, but Lucian, half-crazed with rage, didn’t stop. He beat her to the floor, punching her in the temple and kicking her viciously in the stomach. “Fucking bitch whore!You ruined my life!”
Blood poured from the cuts and gashes on Norah’s body, but it only spurred Lucian to greater violence. Only when he noticed that Norah had stopped moving did he step back, breathing heavily.God…was she dead? He dropped to his knees and felt her throat, searching for a pulse.
“Norah?”
Alive. Her breathing was ragged, hitching. Suddenly sense flooded back into Lucian’s fevered mind and he reeled away from her.What have I done?
Breathing deeply, he pulled his phone out, finding it slipped through his fingers. He saw the blood on his hands. “Oh god … Tara? Tara,god, I’m at the bookstore …I think … I think I fucked up.Help me.”
“What do you want me to do?”
She sounded bored and Lucian lost it. “I just beat the crap out of my ex-girlfriend! Help me, you nasty little cunt! You wanted me to come see her. You must have known what would happen.”
Tara sighed. “Is she dead?”
“No, she’s not fuckingdead.” Lucian was screaming now.
“Calm down, Lucian. It’s obvious what you need to do. You can’t leave her like that; she’ll lead the police right to you.”
“What are you telling me to do?”
“Kill her.” Tara’s voice was cold and flat. Lucian couldn’t help but groan.
“Ican’tkill her, Tara. ?For fuck’s sake.”
“Yes, you can. There’s a kitchen in that hole of a bookstore, right? Find a knife and cut her throat. Or, if it’s blunt, stick it in her gut a few times. That should do it. Make it look like a robbery.”
Lucian felt the sweat begin to pool on the back of his neck. Could he? Could he kill Norah in cold blood like that? His legs were moving as of their own accord. He walked into the kitchen and pulled open some drawers. “There’s a knife.”
“Do it. Then this is all over for everyone.”
Lucian took up the blade, barely registering what he was doing, and went back out to his unconscious ex-girlfriend. The knife was a dinner knife, almost blunt, so he pushed up Norah’s top and pressed the tip against her skin. His hand tightened around the handle and he jabbed it once, quickly. It didn’t even break the skin.
“It’s too blunt.”
“Do it from a height. Really slam it into her.”Jesus.Tara was psychotic. Lucian dropped the blade. If only he hadn’t waited …he could have killed Norah that day when she used her knee on him. That day he was angry enough. That day he had had a sharp enough weapon with him. Except …could he really go through with it? Kill another person? Kill his Norah? After all he had threatened and had imagined doing—he couldn’t go through with it.
“Is it done? Is she dead?”
Lucian said nothing for a moment, then he gritted his teeth. “She’s dead. I did what you said.”
He heard Tara heave a sigh of relief. “Thank fuck. Now get out of there and don’t contact me for a few days. I’ll call you.”
Lucian hung up the phone, then stared down at his very much alive ex-lover. She was drenched in blood, with cuts from the window and his fist, her lips split, and a wide gash at her hairline. Blood was pooling beneath her. He knew what he had to do now …it was just a matter of how.
Giacomo, having done no work all afternoon, was still smiling from their lunchtime escapade together as he pulled up at the bookstore. He got out, knowing she might be upstairs working, and went around the back.
He stopped. The back door was ajar; Norah would never,everleave it like that. The window was smashed.No, god, no, please …
Taking out his handkerchief, he used it to push the door open and saw the devastation inside. Broken glass, smashed furniture, and blood everywhere.
Giacomo couldn’t breathe. Something bad had happened here. Something very bad and the worst of it was obvious.
Norah was gone …
Zulika shot an agonized glance at Orlando, who himself looked pale and shocked. Giacomo sat with his head in his hands as the police moved around them, gathering evidence and studying the chaos of the Anthology’s back room. Zulika kept seeing the blood, the smashed glass, and the debris of what had to be a violent and brutal fight.
Norah was gone. Was she dead? Zulika had no doubt that Lucian was behind this horror; Giacomo had told the police as much. He looked broken. “I should never have let her out of my sight.”
