Malum: Part 2 (The Elite King's Club 5)

“I don’t—”

“You don’t have to watch it all,” Hector interrupts, his eyes cutting to me. “But you will watch enough.”

I gulp, my eyes flicking back to the screen.

“We have to kill her.”

“Her as in Tillie?” Khales asks. “Done. Hate that bitch.”

I snicker.

“No,” Peyton mutters. “Not Tillie. Micaela.”

Khales silences. “I don’t know… are you sure?”

“Yes,” Peyton says. “Go. I’ll meet you in ten at the front of the room.”

“Peyton. I’m not a baby killer. That shit is too dark, even for me.”

“Tough!” Peyton snaps. “You will do as I say, or I will take back that island.”

Khales submits, like the little bitch that she is and ducks away. When the crunching of stones disappears into the distance, the camera turns back around onto Peyton’s ugly face.

“Sorry, Hec. Change of plans. See, your son and his friends killed my lover. They killed him. Does Tillie know how much it hurts to lose the only person she has ever loved? I don’t think my piece of shit sister does and let me tell you.” She chuckles maniacally, her eyes coming to the lens. I can see her looking right at me. “As much as she loves Nate, I know she will never love anyone as much as she does Micaela. So no can do. I won’t be stealing her baby like you asked me to do. I’ll be killing it instead. Peyton fucking Stuprum over and out.”

Nate stands, picking up the coffee table and throwing it against the TV. “Why the fuck did you trust her!”

Hector doesn’t move.

I sit in silence, tears pouring over my face. “What does this mean?”

“Where is she?” Nate’s enmity is reaching new heights, and I don’t want to be the person he takes down with him when he falls.

“Do we understand each other?” Hector throws back, looking at us both.

“Question.” I turn to face Hector. “Why? Why were you going to steal Micaela?”

Hector watches me closely. “I don’t think you’re ready for that answer. Not yet.”

“Enough with the fucking half-truths!” I yell, frustration pouring out of me. “Just tell me!”

Hector shakes his head, placing his glass back on the table and bringing his dead eyes back to me. “I don’t answer to you, Stuprum. I’ll see you on Perdita. She still defied my orders, and that’s punishable, but I am a patient man.” He stands, winking. “I hope you’re not queasy at the sight of blood.”

He exits the room, leaving me and Nate standing in a bubble of mess.

“Nate.” I blink, and he drops down beside me.

“What?”

“What do we do now? Why does he have an infuriating way of not answering questions.”

He chuckles. “What we do for every fucking war. We pile up the jet and fly to fucking Perdita.”

I don’t ask why Perdita. I agree and let him take me back outside.

Bishop is outside, leaning against his car.

Nate flies forward, his fist clenched around his collar. “You knew?”

Bishop doesn’t flinch, and he doesn’t fight Nate off. “Not until after. I overheard him ordering people to find Peyton and the rest of what she did. I was going to tell you. I didn’t find the time to do so. Peyton went ghost and he only just found her.”

“What the fuck do you mean you didn’t have the fucking time?” Nate roars in his face.

“When!” Bishop yells, his hands going up. “When you were both so fucking broken that you had to bury your daughter, or when Tillie was seeing fucking dead people? I didn’t want to fucking open new scars until I fucking had to, Nate!”

“Madison knew…”

Bishop flinched. “She knew when I knew, because she heard too. I kept her quiet. She started to hate me for it. She couldn’t han—Listen! It’s a fucking long story. What we need right now is to get the fuck to Perdita.”

“Why Perdita?” I ask, sick of the fucking fighting. I trust Bishop. I know Nate does too.

“Benny will meet us there,” he says, his eyes going straight to Nate.

Nate laughs, shoving Bishop away. “That’s why Benny was sniffing around? Because you were utilizing him?”

Bishop shrugs. “Of fucking course. But you know Benny doesn’t do anything for anyone. You know that there’s no cost to what he does. He hacks, seduces, and lures in people because he fucking wants to, not for money… he fucking liked Tillie. I mean, shit, it took him the second time seeing her to realize he was going to do it, but he did it, nonetheless.”

“What is going on!” I scream at the two of them. “What has Benny got to do with all of this?!”

Nate’s jaw is working. “Get in the car. Both of you. We will talk on the way to the airport.”

“Good,” Bishop says. “Because the rest of The Kings are meeting us there.”

I slip into the backseat of Bishop’s Maserati and he pulls out of the driveway with Gabe following behind us.