Page 66 of Broken Queen
I picked up my father’s chin, forcing him to meet my eyes. I had never had the chance at another life. I only had this violence. That was how he chose to nurture me.
But that didn’t mean that I wanted to change the violence; I simply wanted my own part in it. And right then, I wanted my father’s death more than I wanted the Marked Blooms Syndicate.
Hazard took my hand, pulling me up to my feet. A dreaminess swelled in my chest. Family didn’t mean blood, and Hazard had finally helped me understand that.
“Please don’t do this to me,” my father whimpered.
There was a sweetness to his words, not because I had any sympathy for him, but because of the irony of it all. He had treated me like dirt since the day I was born, and all I wanted was for him to experience how I felt for so many years: powerless.
But it was time that those feelings finally ended.
I clicked the black and red button on the back of the sex machine. “Let’s go, my king,” I said to Hazard. He smacked my ass, and we both headed toward the door.
“Don’t leave me here,” my father cried.
I locked the door from the inside, then closed it behind us.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Hazard asked.
My father was crying far more than I thought he would. I had expected more anger. More passion.
“The remote,” I said calmly. Hazard nodded, and I held his hand, weathered and calloused, just like him. A member waiting in the corridor stared at us, about to call someone else for help, but Hazard knocked the back of his gun into the member’s face, letting him fall to the ground. We took the side exit, and Hazard never let go of his grip on my fingers.
“I’m guessing you planted the explosives all over the building?” Hazard asked.
“You saw them?”
“Everyone did. They think it’s part of some ritualistic sacrifice.”
I laughed. Of course they did. Even with plenty of board members and regular members dead, they still thought they were invincible.
“I had a feeling it was you, though,” Hazard said. “Even hid some of my own. Wanted to make sure everything was ready for you, love.”
I squeezed his hand. “Then why did you stay in that building? You should have killed my father and gotten the hell out!”
“Change of heart, I guess,” he said, and I knew it had to do with me, making sure I got to kill my father. “If I have one, that is.”
We automatically headed to the top of the supplies shed, and Hazard marveled at my setup. My father’s handgun, and a sniper rifle similar to Hazard’s, were posted next to a small black device that would ignite the explosives.
“You could’ve shot us both if you wanted,” Hazard said.
“Could have. Didn’t. Don’t know. Something stopped me,” I said.
“What was it?”
“You. I couldn’t kill you.” I nodded toward his pocket. “Do you have that phone that my father gave you?”
He pulled it out, and I coached him on how to walk through the apps and find the intercom.
“What do I say?” he asked.
“Tell the sacrifices and staff members to come to the supplies shed to get ready for the ritual performance.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You’re saving them?”
I lifted my shoulders. “I must have a heart too.”
Hazard spoke through the phone, and his voice echoed, slightly delayed, through the building. A quiet procession of women made their way to the supplies shed. As the last woman left the doors of the banquet hall, I directed Hazard through some more apps, until we finally got to the right one.
