Page 49 of Goldflame
My stomach lurches like I’m going to puke as red blooms on Lucy’s pale skin. Lucy bites her lip to keep from crying out. I see the exact moment she decides not to alert her kids—a choice to protect them rather than herself.
Mom smiles as if satisfied with her handiwork. “Are you ready to tell the truth now? Or should I slice the other arm?”
Lucy gasps, holding her wound as blood drips to the floor. “Please. Lucas doesn’t tell me anything.”
“She doesn’t know,” I say, but my words are so weak even I can’t hear them.
Mom glances over her shoulder. “When they don’t cooperate, you must show them you’ll take it as far as necessary.”
A dark foreboding slithers up my spine as I try to process how this is my mother. Is she suggesting we kill Lucy? I want the fucking truth, not blood on my hands.
Mom flips the knife around so she’s holding the blade. She offers it to Lucy. “Use it.”
Lucy’s eyes are weary. “Use… the knife?”
“Yes, dear. Get on the floor and use it. Pretend you’re a whore your husband actually wants. My son would like a show.”
I swallow.No, I don’t want any fucking show like this.
Lucy must see the menace in my mother’s eyes, because she lowers herself to the loveseat and spreads her legs. A sharp intake of breath echoes in the room as her pale and trembling fingers clench tighter around the hilt of the knife. She slides it in.
For a heartbeat, she stares at me. Then she starts moving. It’s a slow, deliberate motion as she tries to fulfill my mother’s commands in what she thinks is a pleasing way. The handle of the knife becomes an extension of herself as she guides it, and she’s careful not to let the blade bite into her skin.
I look away, my heart pounding an erratic rhythm. There’s a sickening twist in my gut, a warning to stop this, but I can’t be weak. I can’t be weaker than Adrian.
Still, my hand rests on my gun tucked beneath my jacket.
Mother leans over Lucy like a demonic shadow. “Where’s your husband, dear?”
Lucy trembles. “I don’t know! Please. He’s just out of town.”
“Did he kill Theodore Martinelli?”
Lucy gasps for breath, tears wetting her cheeks. “Who’s that?”
Mother’s hand fists Lucy’s hair, holding her in place like some feral animal. “Tell us the truth and this will end. You don’t want to be so stubborn you die, do you?”
Desperation has Lucy shaking uncontrollably. She stops moving the knife and sobs openly. “You have to believe me! He… he just leaves and I don’t know where he goes. He fucks other women and I…” Her voice breaks on a sob. “I don’t care about him enough to know. I swear.” She struggles for air between words.
Mother only smiles. “Don’t you know how to use a knife correctly?” She pulls the handle out of Lucy then flips it. The blade is now pointing at Lucy’s opening.
My grip tightens around my gun, and I’m on the verge of puking.How far will she really take this?
Lucy’s eyes widen in horror and she looks like she’s holding back a scream. “Please don’t. I swear. I swear. I don’t know what my husband does. He’s either off with whores or working. I don’t know his business. If he did something to you, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry he’s an asshole, but I’m not involved.”
“I told you to fuck yourself with the knife, didn’t I?” Mom says, wrapping Lucy’s fingers around it and pushing the blade closer.
“Please,” Lucy cries, voice cracking with each word. “I wouldn’t lie to you. I’m only a mother. I want to raise my kids and stay out of my husband’s life. I never wanted to marry him, but it was arranged. His family forced me. I don’t… I don’t want this life. But my babies. I live for them. That’s all. I’m nobody. Please, don’t…” Her pleading turns desperate. “Please…”
The sounds tearing from Lucy unleash something feral in my heart, bringing everything back in a rush. Mom on the floor. Lucian towering over her, fists clenched. The way she’d cry out, first defiant and then broken. The screams blending together, a sick symphony of pain and powerlessness.
Lucy is only a mother. A woman forced into this life trying to survive.
She’s not a player in this game, yet I’m watching her get treated like one.
My mother is treating her the way Lucian did all women.
And I’m watching?
