Seduce & Destroy - Page 82

“Kil, his presence holds us back from properly starting over. A clean slate. He wouldn’t think twice if it were you.”

“There’s time.” I dismissed.

“He can barely stutter a word. Darling, his condition is worsening by the hour, keeping him alive just means more urine all over the floor. I’d rather we end his miserable life than mother nature be the one.”

“I guess.”

“And I want you to do it.”

My head snapped up. “No!” Death had ruined the innocent more than the guilty, and even then, I wouldn’t take the opportunity away from Laney or my dad. God, he had to hide his family because of him. He deserved this. “I can’t do it. I won’t.”

“This was your one mission. As far as I’m concerned it still hasn’t ended until his elimination.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want another death on my hands.”

“And you think I do? I don’t enjoy this. I didn’t want this. This war started with them. End. It.”

“What about their revenge, Dad?” I burst out. “Did you even think about that? They killed us, so we killed them, is that how it works! Is that justice? We’ll just end up in a cycle of killing and revenge. You taught me to be strong. How to defend myself. But I always end up broken. I don’t want to be a killer. I don’t want to be responsible for it anymore. God, if you only knew the abuse that I’ve suffered for this family.”

Heat rose to the surface of my skin, as I writhed my hands together with such vigour I shook the table.

“Oh, don’t look so guilty now.” He slammed his hand on the table. “What’s changed, huh? You feel sympathy for the poor sod.” His hand waved in the air with heavy strokes. “You lost your strength in this house, girl. Is that it? You lost your heart here?”

“Never.”

“Then end it.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and placed both hands on the table as I stood, but he stood just as fast and grabbed a fistful of my jacket, keeping me in place and far too close.

“This house made you soft, Kil? The Ravencrofts made you weak?” He spat. “Or was it the Ravencroft girl?” I clenched my fist. “Disgusting that you would give her a second glance. You should know better. I could hardly believe your mother when she told me.” He tapped a finger on my chest, over my heart. “Did you spend so much time between the legs of the enemy that you forgot that you have Karstein blood in your veins? Sucked your clit so hard that you screamed ‘Ravencroft’ at your climax?”

My hand covered my mouth to withhold the vomit that sprung up from my stomach. It was mostly stomach acid, and it burned. I’d mostly lost my appetite since the raid and takeover. With his words in my head, I was sure to not eat for the rest of the week.

“Ravencroft pussy clouded your judgement.” He concluded with a sharp nod. “Don’t let her near me when I see her, or she’ll share a fate like her father’s.”

“She’s already gone.”

He seemed surprised but was no less stern. “Good.” I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but I could tell from a glint in his eye that daddy wasn’t finished. “Unless,” he turned to face me, eye to eye, “You kill him. Then I won’t harm a single hair on her head.” He held up his pinky to me.

“Fine.” I stepped away. “But in my own time. Let him suffer.”

“Kilina!” He shouted after me, but I was already back inside.

Later that night, I stood outside the cell where Richard Ravencroft laid. The smell was pungent, and a dampness clung to the walls. Otherwise, there was relative quiet in the dungeon. This was the first time I’d been down here.

My back slid down the wall opposite his room until it met the cold concrete, and I moved a gun from hand to hand across my lap. It wasn’t like I was fighting some moral battle in my mind, more so, I was juggling a sense of justice. For both my family and my– Laney.

She was gone. I didn’t need to factor her into the goings on in the house anymore, but I felt I owed her. There was an innocence to her presence here, as if she was a prisoner in this place. Her existence was tied to this house. I wanted her to experience life outside of it.

But really, I needed her safe. Daddy had made it clear that there was no place in this house for a Ravencroft. Her home wasn’t hers anymore. Her existence couldn’t be defined by it. God, I missed her.

Now that the ultimate goal of the Karstein mission had been fulfilled, it was like something in me was left unsatisfied. A pit in my gut that I thought would rejoice at our victory, but it was an incomplete circle, the pit floor descending lower than rock bottom.

An hour passed before I came out of my thoughts, Malachi stood light on his toes looking through the small window of the cell door. When he fell back on his heel, he noticed me waking from my mind.

“Isn’t it cool?”

My eyebrows tightened inward.