It was the only time Easy’s real name was ever used, but he had no fucking clue that Shade’s birth name had been Julian.
“So, now you remember me. I got that right?”
“I’m sorry, Julian. I’m sorry. Please… let me make it up to you.” The man’s face was now flushed, tears streamed down his cheeks and snot ran from his nose.
And this was only the beginning.
“You could never make up for what you fuckin’ did to me. What you did to my mother. Not ever. Even if they hadn’t taken me, you woulda left me an orphan. ‘Cause it’s clear, Dad, that you wanted nothin’ to do with me. So, fuck you. You could never make it up to me. Not in this lifetime. Not in a million lifetimes.”
Shade’s past had shaped his future, right down to this very minute.
“I…”
“Lift him higher,” Shade ordered.
Easy pushed the button with the “up” arrow until Oliveira dangled in the air.
“Stop.”
Easy released the button. The fucker’s weight was now solely being supported by his hyperextended arms. That had to hurt like fuck.
Good. Fuck that selfish bastard.
“She threatened to go to my wife! I couldn’t have that. My life would’ve been destroyed.”
Easy didn’t think Shade gave a fuck. Because his life was destroyed. His mother’s life was destroyed. While the cheating fucker hanging before him sat down for dinner every night with his wife and kids, they were suffering.
Tears were now dripping off the man’s chin. “Clearly, you survived just fine without her—”
Shade’s low, dry laugh cut Oliveira off and also made all the hairs on the back of Easy’s neck stand straight. “Survived?”
“Yes, obviously you found a place, Julian. Look at you now. All grown up—” An ear-piercing scream ripped through the room and a few seconds later another chunk of flesh dropped to the plastic sheeting at Shade’s feet with a stomach-churning wet plop.
“The only place I found was on an auction block. Not once, Dad, not even fuckin’ twice. I was sold or traded a half dozen times.”
Going into this, Easy had expected Shade to lose his shit and scream at his father. He didn’t and, fuuuuuck, it made the whole thing even scarier. He was calm. Way too fucking calm.
“Six fuckin’ owners I had. Six. For that alone, I’m takin’ six pieces of flesh as payment.”
“Please, no. No more,” Oliveira blubbered with his eyes closed and his head hanging forward. His chest was pumping and he was probably about to hyperventilate. The pain had to be excruciating.
“I said that myself too many times to count.”
Easy could not make himself move around to where Shade stood, but he could picture what Oliveira’s back looked like right now in his mind and that was bad enough. He might have nightmares for a long time because of this.
Shade took his time, carving long strips of flesh from his father’s back. Dropping piece after piece to the floor. The pile of bloody skin grew at his feet while Oliveira screamed, cried and begged for mercy.
It all fell on deaf ears.
“Please! Please! Please! Either let me go or just… just end it.”
“You know how many times I asked for the same fuckin’ thing?”
“I had no idea, I swear!”
“You ever look for me? Wonder where I ended up? Did you have no concern for what happened to your own fuckin’ son?”
“She wasn’t supposed to get pregnant! I warned her not to.”
From where Easy stood, he could see Shade’s spine snap straight and he paused with what he was doing, the knife dripping with blood clenched in his hand. “You warned her.”
Icicles hung from each of those words.
Fuuuuck. Easy fought a shiver.
“I swear she got pregnant on purpose.”
Oh shit. Didn’t the dumb fucker know that now was not the time to make excuses or pass the blame? It would only make things worse.
Another strip of flesh slipped from Shade’s blood-slick fingers and landed on the pile. Then, like a panther stalking its prey, he moved around Oliveira until they faced each other.
With a muscle popping in his jaw, Shade said in his deliberate way, “Even if she did, it didn’t give you the fuckin’ right to destroy her life. To destroy your family’s life. ‘Cause no matter what you think, we were a family. You were my fuckin’ father. She was my mother. How the fuck is a young boy supposed to see it any differently? You didn’t disappear when she got knocked up. You didn’t disappear after she had me. It wasn’t ’til she began to demand you leave your wife that you disappeared. And then you were so fuckin’ cold-hearted, so goddamn selfish, that you did what you did. You fuckin’ disposed of us in the worst possible way. It woulda been better if you had walked into our house and shot us both in the head. Then we wouldn’t have suffered like we did. But you were a goddamn coward. You couldn’t even do your own dirty work. You got someone else to do it for you.”