Page 35 of Broken Queen
I suppressed the smile growing inside of me. Logan was a small time kill compared to my father, but one day, my father would join him too, after I got what I wanted.
Then Hazard could work his magic.
“Don’t know,” I said, keeping my expression neutral. “Why?”
“Board business,” he huffed.
“I can help.”
He scowled, then fiddled with his cufflinks. “Simon is dead. Thought Logan might have a clue about what happened there.”
Ah! The man with white spiked hair who had taken a turn during my guillotine game at the Masquerade. Before Hazard took the remote from everyone else.
Had Hazard seen Simon play, then?
Warmth filled me. I knew what had happened; Hazard had killed him for me. And he hadn’t even bragged about it!
Hazard was such an odd mix of qualities. I couldn’t help but enjoy sifting through those impulses.
“Marc DuBois is missing too. It’s a mess,” my father sighed. I let out a breath. That one was on me. I wasn’t at all remorseful for paying a contract killer to gouge Marc’s eyes and dismember his hands for harassing one of our staff members. My father adjusted his collar, then glanced at me. “You ought to move to your husband’s place now. It’s a bit unfitting for you to be around when I can’t use you anymore.”
I gritted my teeth. So the director didn’t like that he couldn’t screw his only daughter anymore. The fucking pig.
“I can help with the board,” I repeated, letting his ‘unfitting’ comment flutter away from me.
“We don’t need your help, but thank you, Zira,” he said.
I relaxed into my seat as he left the room. It must have been alarming that Simon, Marc, and Logan had suddenly disappeared, especially since Logan was recently promoted to his position on the board. Perhaps his little girlfriend had shown up, begging for answers. I didn’t have anything against her, per se, but I liked the idea of her pitiful desperation.
Hazard’s drill echoed through the corridors, bringing me back to the present. Logan’s disappearance might have been a big deal to my father, but to me, my husband’s death was a small, negligible worry in the grand scheme of things. There were far more intriguing plans ruminating in my mind.
Night fell, and the echoes of the construction had disappeared in the estate, but Hazard’s truck was still in the driveway. He must have been snooping around again, but he didn’t have the key to the room inside of the catacombs, so the information about who had killed his sister was safe.
Like a specter, Hazard appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame, like he didn’t have a care in the world. A black box was in his hand.
“This may come as a shock to you, but I am a bit of a dabbler in metalworking,” he said.
I cocked my head to the side. “Like jewelry or construction?”
“I made this for you.”
He offered the box to me. It was square and deep, big enough to hold a plate, and for a millisecond, I wondered if he’d have another heart on a platter for me.
“You killed Simon,” I said, my tone filled with a sudden wistfulness that shocked me. I didn’t know I was capable of awe. “Didn’t you?”
“Who?” he asked, his eyes practically bulging from his skull.
“He was a member. White hair. He kept it gelled. Played at the guillotine before you did. You must have seen him.”
“Oh!” Hazard said. Glee filled his eyes as he nodded. “Forgot about him. Yeah, I killed Spiky. Didn’t like the way he touched you. But forget about that and stop teasing!” he barked eagerly, motioning at the box. “Open it now.”
I lifted the lid. Inside, a crown of black metal and yellow gold twisted in a circle, reminding me of a wreath of thorns. Sharp edges speared out of the sides, decorated with blood red rubies, and those red stones were circled by pearly white teeth.
“Are those?—”
“Logan’s teeth,” he grinned. “I’ll have to work on finding yours, but for now, his teeth will have to do.” He cracked his knuckles together, almost like he was excited to finally give me this gift. “You deserve it.”
Something inside of me churned, and for once it wasn’t dread or disgust. It was something else. It was almost pleasant.
