Carver’s fingers tighten on my waist and I step out of his hold, wanting to stand on my own two feet, especially now as Preston watches me. Nothing is more important at this very moment than proving that I am the leader of Dynasty. I make the calls. No one else.
“I don’t really know much about human anatomy, but I don’t think that’s going to kill you,” I explain, watching as his face begins to drain of all color. “You might pass out for a while, but I can wait. I have nothing but time, seeing as though I’m going to be living a long life as the leader of Dynasty. Don’t worry though, once you’re gone, I’m going to turn it around and undo everything that you have ever put your filthy paws on.”
“You’re all talk,” Preston scoffs.
I just smile and walk across the kitchen, scooping a spoon out of the sink and studying it closely, spinning it between my fingers. “Maybe I’m a little messed up, but I’ve always wondered what it would be like to gouge out someone’s eyes,” I mutter, turning to Grayson. “Could he survive that?”
Grayson just shrugs his shoulders. “Not sure. I’ve never done it.”
I turn back to Preston and place the spoon down on the counter right before him and watch as his gaze sweeps over the innocent utensil, now seeing it as much more than just a spoon. “You see, here’s the deal, Preston,” I say, leaning onto the counter and meeting him eye to eye. “This whole time, you’ve been here thinking that you had the upper hand, that if you just keep your mouth shut, you might be able to walk away from this, but you’re wrong. Yes, I need to know what you know, but you’re not the only way I can get it.”
Preston’s eyes narrow and true fear begins sweeping through his gaze. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that once I finish gouging your eyes out and brutally ending your life, I’m going to take my special little movie and visit your wife,” I whisper, leaning closer and allowing him to see just how screwed up I really am. “I wonder how quickly she’s going to talk when I tell her that in order to get you back, all she has to do is spill all your dirty little secrets? Little does she know that there would be nothing left to save.” I let out a heavy breath. “Damn. If only there were a way to save her from that agony. The blood, the sounds you make, that's going to haunt her for the rest of her life.”
Preston straightens and nervously flicks his eyes around the room, realizing just how fucked he really is. He takes a step back and then another until his back slams against the opposite counter by the stove, once again leaving a trail of blood behind him.
The boys begin moving in, slowly stalking him as we each watch his eyes growing wider with desperation, until they come back to mine. “Joke’s on you,” he tells me, quickly whipping around and grabbing the meat cleaver out of the knife block.
The boys run.
“My wife is a fucking whore just like you,” Preston rushes out with a sickening gleam in his eyes. “She doesn't know shit.”
Then in one lightning-fast move, Preston brings his hand down in a rapid arc and slices a viciously deep cut straight across his throat just moments before the boys reach him.
I scream as blood spurts across the room and with a smile on his deranged face, Preston Scardoni collapses to the ground and joins Royston Carver, Sam Delacourt, and his bastard of a son in hell.
CHAPTER 9
Cruz’s stare settles on the side of my face as Carver drives through the streets of Ravenwood Heights, dragging my ass back to school despite my endless protests.
It’s been three weeks since getting shot, and since having to spend an entire night helping the boys scrub bloodstains from the grout, pretending my stomach wasn’t turning, I’ve been in a mood. A fucking shitty mood.
Preston Scardoni is dead, and now we’re all out of options. I pushed him too far—showed him my crazy too soon. I told him exactly what I planned to do, and maybe I exaggerated a bit, but regardless, I handed my game plan to him on a silver platter. Instead of sitting back and allowing me to play out my twisted little game, he took himself out of the picture. He was the last hand I had to play, and now I’ve got nothing.
Fucking nothing.
There are still too many questions I need answered.
Who was Royston working with? Who has been hiding my mother? Who was conspiring with Preston to kill me? And who the fuck killed Tobias King under my roof and under all of our noses?