Crowned by Fate (Crowned 2)

“I—I don’t. Now! I was going to tell you any day!”

Rage and anger swim inside of me. I know there’s a part of me that’s being irrational, considering I’ve known about Harper since day one, but the other half is still furious that she continued to lie to my face about it.

I gave her outs. More than once I asked her if she had anything to tell me, but she constantly said no. She always complained that I was the secret keeper when she fucking held the heaviest load. I didn’t hide Harper from her, she hid her from me, I was just fortunate that Jess made the right decision and came clean.

I lean down until our lips touch. “Not fucking good enough.” Then I push off the wall and head for the door. I don’t know if she’s following, and I don’t fucking care. Going through the long corridor of the abandoned prison, I make my way to the end and push open the doors. Devon and Jer stand beside a bound and cuffed Peter.

A naked Peter.

My eyes fly to Devon. “What the fuck did you do? I was gone for twenty minutes. How did you manage to get him naked, bound, and bleeding in that time?”

Devon grins, licking blood off his military knife. “I only need two.”

Shaking my head, I squeeze Peter’s chin, tilting his head up to mine. When I finally hear Isa’s footsteps patter behind me, I chuckle out. “You gonna tell her, or should I?”

Peter’s eyes stay on mine. Even in the face of death, he remains headstrong.

He’s either dumb or brave. I’ll go for the former.

Isa doesn’t speak.

“He encouraged Brooke. Brooke was daddy’s little toy, wasn’t she?”

“What?” Isa finally cracks, coming up beside me. Devon and Jer both tense.

I turn to face Isa, not wanting to be anywhere near Peter. Aside from my being upset with her about keeping this lie going for the time she has been back, I knew she came from a good place. She never did anything maliciously and would die to protect our daughter. I couldn’t fault her or be upset with her for protecting what’s ours. I would’ve done the same if I thought she was under threat too. Which is why I decide to leave the anger here. “He and Brooke were together two weeks before the wedding. Jer has photos back at the house, but we have enough reason to think that he filled her head with all sorts of shit, only pushing her to breaking point on that day.”

Isa closes her eyes, inhales and exhales, before opening them. “Let him go.”

“What?” Devon snaps.

I don’t answer. I partly knew she was going to do this.

Leaning down in front of her father, she removes the ties around his mouth. “Are you going to hurt me or my family in the future?” she asks, and I watch as her energy turns placid, calm. I don’t know what the fuck she’s playing at because he just ordered a kill on her. He’s dying today whether she fucking agrees or not—period.

Peter spits blood onto the ground and sneers up at her. “I won’t rest until you’re all dead.”

“Hmm, I don’t like that,” she mutters calmly. Too calm.

I shoot a look at Devon, who is already smirking. Squeezing his shoulders, she leans forward, placing a gentle kiss on his head while taking Devon’s blade out of his hands. “You inflicted irreversible damage on my soul all of my life. But it stops now.”

Before she removes her lips from his head, I watch as she slowly sinks the knife into the back of his neck.

“I really didn’t want your blood on my hands, Father, but better your blood on mine than my family’s on yours.”

Blood spills from his mouth and pours down her shirt front. He opens his mouth and gargles incoherent speech that’s muffled between the warm liquid of blood. He grips her shirt and pulls her closer into him and all of us jerk into motion.

He whispers with a snarl, bright red blood smeared over his teeth. “She’s alive, and she’s going to kill you.”

We all stiffen, and I cut a glare to Devon.

Devon shrugs that he doesn’t know.

Isa stands once Peter stops breathing and is hunched over with blood slithering out of his mouth. “Who is he talking about?” She turns to face me. “I know it’s not Brooke. She’s definitely dead.”

You smell it instantly. The stench of metal. “No, it’s not Brooke, we cut her into tiny little pieces and scattered her body all over the golf course.” I shuffle back, unease gripping my throat. He could be bluffing.

I take a step forward, ready to pull her back when she leans farther into him, bringing her face to his. She jerks the knife down his spine, enough to where she can reach. “See you in Hell.” Finally, she pushes his dead corpse away, where it hits the concrete with a splatter.