Deviants (Badlands 2)

Fuck. “Noah?”

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

This wasn’t how I saw this going, but nothing in life was ever guaranteed.

He came back two nights ago and handed me a box. Inside was memorabilia that put mine to shame.

Noah was obsessed with his big brother. So obsessed, he rose his way up the ranks and helped disband The Order from the inside.

He planted his own seeds and then sowed them when he got what he wanted—a reaction from Romero.

He knew he could never take The Order out by himself, so what better way than to get the army and us to do it for him?

He was our third player.

David never would have suspected him. He was his golden child.

We never suspected him.

I couldn’t even wrap my goddamn head around it.

“Are you ready?” Romero asked, slowly opening the door.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

He reached down and took my hand, leading me inside the devil’s playground once again.

I’d pictured this moment countless times.

The anger I’d expected to feel was simmering on low. I hated him, I loathed him with my entire being, and there was no doubt in my mind he would suffer as he died.

/> He deserved that much.

No, he wasn’t my real father, but that was the role he’d been meant to play, and he let me down every day in every way he could.

He hurt the man I loved, his own flesh and blood, because his pride had to come first.

In the end, he did this to himself.

He should have killed me when he had the chance. Instead, he let me go. I recovered and grew stronger. Now, he was fucked. I promised him this day would come.

I thought I’d do it brutal and fast, but like I said, nothing was set in stone. My demons wanted to revel in his sorrow.

Looking into his terrified grey eyes and seeing his tattered robe, I couldn’t believe I’d ever been afraid of him.

“You ready?” Romero asked from across the room.

“Let’s do it.” I stood up and moved to the large Leviathan cross.

Cobra and Grimm helped Romero lift David up and carry him to the metal work table. Luther and Bryce entered the room, jogging over to help. His body was extended to fit the cross. Two people on each side held him in place as we got to work.

Romero placed the first steel stake mid-center of his wrists, right over the median nerve. “Make him bleed, baby.” He gave a devilish smile to egg me on.

Tightening my grip on the metal mallet I’d picked up, I swung it down onto the stake. blood gushed all over the cross bar and onto the floor.

The bone crumbled with swing number two. David screamed until his voice gave out, and his face turned beet red.

“Let’s hear him,” Grimm said, plucking the gag from David’s mouth so his screams filled the room.