Playette

He’s right, my parents are dead and it’s all because of who they are and what they are. I loved them without a shadow of a doubt, and because of them I’m here in this very moment right now. Or, correction, I am here because Jasper chose not to kill me. I shake my head, not wanting to think of that.

“He could try to kill me, but I don’t think he will. Maybe I’ll find a way for him to kill all of you first. What do you think he would say if I told him you touched me?”

“Clever. Clever girl.” Ace shakes his head. “I can see why he likes you. But remember, pink, a zebra can’t change their stripes.”

I slide back into the car and we start driving back to the mansion. Ace’s phone, which is next to me, starts ringing. Jasper’s face appears, so I answer it.

“They’ll kill you, Isadora, the minute you step out of that car.”

“You better hope they don’t then because I’m pulling up into your driveway right now. Goodbye, lover.” I hang up the phone, and as I pull up closer to the house, I notice Carter standing on the front steps with the phone to his ear.

Stepping out of the car, I shut the door with a knife in one hand and the gun in the other.

Carter hangs up, shakes his head as he slides his hands into his pockets.

“Who would have thought, a girl with pink hair would make my boss lose all train of logical thought.”

“Must be some magical pussy, right?” I joke with him, but my hands never leave either of my weapons.

“Must be,” he murmurs. “If you come in here, Isadora, I will prevent you from leaving. And you will not be taking your uncle with you.”

“I came for him. I will be taking him.”

“Why so selfless with him? He doesn’t give two shits about you.”

“You don’t know that.”

I take the first step, then the second, until I’m standing in front of Carter. “He gave you orders not to kill me, correct?”

“Correct.” I step past him and inside the mansion. Shit, it stinks. It didn’t smell like this when I left. I scrunch up my nose and screw my eyebrows together. “Oh, that smell… that’s your uncle’s skin. Stinks, right?” He chuckles.

I turn fast and shoot, Carter drops to the floor hard and fast, his hands clutching at his leg where the bullet went through.

“Hurts, right?” I laugh while walking past him. My uncle’s tied to a black chair, his eyes are shut and his hands are badly burned.

“Uncle.”

He lifts his head and looks at me, shakes it, and pulls on his restraints. I still hear Carter whinging and swearing from where I left him in the main entryway.

“Untie me. Fast.”

I slide the gun into my skirt and start to untie my uncle. He smells, bad. Burned skin and body flesh is an acrid smell, one I honestly don’t want to have to encounter again. I have to remember to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose as I move to the other side untying him.

“Did they do anything else to you?”

He shakes his head as footsteps come into view.

Jasper’s standing there with a hard look on his face, as he looks from me to my uncle.

“That’s two men you’ve injured today, Isadora.”

I shrug.

Jasper wipes at his lips. “I’ll have to kill him now. You’ve brought this on yourself.”

“No, you won’t. And if you do, Jasper… I will kill you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

I stand in front of my uncle as he stands. “I would with no hesitation. Make no mistake, I will be saving the last standing member of my family, if I have to.”

“Who do you think took your parents in the first place?” Jasper asks, his head dropping to the side.

“You and your people.”

Jasper chuckles. “You really did brainwash her, didn’t you? Does it make you happy to make her your little combat toy?” Jasper questions, looking behind me. I’m confused by his words and what they mean.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” my uncle says from behind me.

“Oh, but I do. I remember it all, Max.”

I turn to my uncle.

How could Jasper know his name?

“What’s he talking about?”

“Nothing. Remember, they’re all liars. You know better than to trust them.”

“I don’t,” I say.

“You shouldn’t trust him either, Isadora.”

I turn back to Jasper, who pulls out a photograph and turns it around to show me. Stepping one step closer, but not close enough to touch it, but close enough so I can see the picture, I gasp.

That’s my uncle.

And that’s his mother.

Jasper’s mother.

Turning around, my uncle looks angry. Extremely angry. “How dare you.”

“Was she a whore for you, too?” Jasper teases.

“You don’t get to speak of her, you evil spawn,” my uncle yells.

“But I do. Just because you were fucking her, don’t think you were the only man who was at the time.”