Despite preferring to work alone, I had no choice in the matter now. I needed him – I needed his army. God, I needed him to leave the ones I refused to kill, all alone. John was a necessary evil that I could handle.
“Shannon lives in London now.” I said, as we made our way outside. “She’s there with her husband and…”
I had to tread carefully; to reveal that which was necessary, but nothing else. And though it may have been silly to lie, and hope John could not remember, I had no choice. Truthfully, I knew deep in my bones that the words about to slip from my lips were the only way the innocent pair of children might be safe.
They were innocents, and I didn’t harm innocents when I could help it. It was only sinners I went after.
“Shannon ran away with her daughter.” I lied, without a flicker of remorse as I shared the information my little puppet had unwillingly given me already, thanks to his friend being far too smart for his own good. “Andyourson. She uses the name Cassidy Cardinal-Fineman, and she teaches mythology at a fancy rich school. She specialized in the Greeks, and even named your son Ares.”
Sexism, a stupid thing. A thing so pointless and ridiculous that only those of a lower IQ could take part in it. John would have been mean to hisdaughter– he would have seen her as just another good-for-nothing whore like his first wife and second. I knew that because he had felt the same way about his first daughter, Silver. He’d sent her away the moment he could and hadn’t lost a night of sleep over it. If he knew he had another girl, the poor thing would be ruined too. So for the sake of his innocent daughter, I lied. I lied and claimed her Shannon’s, and pretended that Shannon’s son was actually his.
I would lie about the children and keep them safe because children didn’t deserve pain. Well, the Montana children did. But that was different. They were evil. But the O’Malley children? They were good, for the most part. All the ones I knew were good inside. Because of that, I could speak my lies to my brother, knowing that John would leave his false son alive to cause havoc and he would not care to intervene until the boy was old enough to play monster with him. And by that time, I had no doubts John would be dead, either through Maggie seeking revenge, or one of his many other enemies growing bored with his behavior. Like the Cartel that had been sneaking around lately. The ones who thought he had been responsible for ruining parts of their businesses, just like Maggie wanted them to think. She was such a smart woman. I was so proud of how well she had done in her life, considering she had been raised in the home of sinners and fools.
“My son?” John frowned, a small crease appearing on his forehead that I wanted to poke and poke and poke and… “Yes, okay, yeah. I have another son. A boy.” He burst out laughing. “My heir, named so fittingly after the God of War.”
“Yes.” My head cocked to the side, a smile twisting up my lips that was not friendly. “Now promise – promise or I’ll find your son and pull his spine out.”
The boy was thirteen, if I was correct. It would be easy to peel apart his flesh. Not that I would do it yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. He was innocent. And we didn’t hurt innocents. The cursed woman didn’t like it, and that was the one concession I had made for her.
John saluted me, two fingers against his head, as he unlocked one of the large vans that sat on his drive with a click of his keys and whistled for his soldiers. The ones who would go with him today, like Elaina, to collect what I was owed and take out a minor threat.
Widow Smyth was a minor threat. He was too close to everything. Knew too much.
He was such a smart boy, and his mother was proud of him for it. But I wasn’t.
I didn’t need him to be smart; I needed him to mind his own business and stay away from mine.
I needed him to do as he was told by those who knew better, and stop trying to prove himself as a better monster than his father.
“I won’t kill them, okay. I won’t ruin your little toys or do anything you don’t want me to do.” John smirked at me. “The Leroux boys shouldn’t be on your list, though, Cass. Their daddy is our enemy, and he’s dangerous. His boys will be the same.”
There was no hesitation in my reply. “No.”
“Not even one? The scrawny one wouldn’t be missed. He doesn’t look much use, anyway.” John yawned. “Or that little Jester punk. What’s his name? Meadow or something stupid. He would be fun to string up on the ceiling.”
“Ares Cardinal-Fineman.” My voice was lifeless as I spoke. “A name you seem to like for its power being linked to a God. But tell me, John, would our God care for his life? Would our God see to it that your son survived a handful of hours in my care?” I stepped closer to my brother, staring up at him and letting him see the monster under my flesh. “I think he would scream rather beautifully – better than our father ever did. And if you think of killing a single name on my list, then I will ensure that Ares screams loud enough that you hear him from the other side of the world.”
“You said only one name was a hard no – that’s why I’m checking.” John grinned. “But fine. I can make each name on your list a hard no; I’ll just take ‘em out of your way then let them free.”
“Not free.” I corrected. “They’re in the way – they need to be held but not harmed until Maggie is fine for them to die.”
“But not Misha.” He said. “You won’t kill Misha though will you.”
Misha was the only hard no on my list. The only one I couldn’t bring myself to slaughter. Even if the others had been innocent enough to warrant sparing until Maggie was done with them, even after I had debated killing them all, Misha was the only true one I didn’t want to touch. He was innocent even if he was a sinner – even if he had touched what was mine in the worst sort of ways, just like all the others. Nobody else was safe after today. The hesitance I had towards killing certain people was almost all gone, and I was only holding back for Maggie’s sake and because the cursed woman kept prodding her claws into me.
But even without that interference, I just couldn’t bring myself to harm the baby boy with the big hazel eyes and wavy blonde hair. The one who’d grabbed my hand the first time I’d met him and stared at me with such innocence that I almost forgot who he was. I’d almost forgotten that he was a man, and men were the worst sorts of monsters.
That light had never faded. That speck of brightness in his stare had never once dulled whenever he had looked at me. It had done nothing at all but remain, regardless of what he went through in his life or the fact he had turned into a sinner himself. He was like Maggie – he was an angel. And I didn’t kill angels. Not anymore. Not when they were kind to me and always did good, even when they didn’t need to do so.
John squeezed my shoulder before he unlocked the van door, jumping inside the driver’s seat, ready for his mission.
“Don’t look so worried, lass. I won’t touch what’s yours – I know the rules.” His laughter echoing around the air didn’t help my confidence, but knowing he feared me did something.Enough for me to step back and watch as he and his soldiers drove away in big vans, finally ready to collect what was mine and bring her to me.
So I could keep her safe and show her just how happy we could be.
Chapter Two, The Day Of The Crash
There was a red haired stripper dancing on my boyfriend’s lap and as much as I wanted to throttle her for touching what was mine, I couldn’t bring myself to move. Technically, she was an ex-stripper. Even more technically, she was my boyfriend’s girlfriend, so had every right to touch him when he wanted her to. Worse; Ienjoyedwatching her dance on him. She was fucking beautiful, and all those years of her previous employment had given her a hell of a lot of skills at making even the hardiest of men crumble.
