Page 24 of Divine Violence
“You’re lying,” I hissed. “My dad was the best dad a girl could ever have.”
“You should be thankful that’s the memory you have of him.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I glanced at him.
“I know who you are, Echo. I know who your family was. What I don’t know is how it’s possible that they never found you in the system. I know they’ve looked,” Dominic answered as he strolled toward me. “What I don’t know is why you’re carrying that knife with you.”
“I-I—”
“Tell me, Echo. Did you know who invited you tonight?” Dominic asked, pushing the hair away from my face. “Did you know it would be the three of us here?”
He saw more than he should have. He saw what I didn’t want him to see, and this was a problem.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took a step back, hitting the nightstand with the back of my thighs. “I got an invitation to come here tonight. I can show it to you.”
“I know you did because we sent it to you, but that wasn’t my question.” He smirked as he took off his suit jacket, dropping it onto the bed. “Who was the man you met early this morning?”
Motherfucking son of a bitch.
I thought I could play this game a little longer before revealing all my cards. My employer thought it would be a good thing to take out the three men whose families were responsible for the demise of my own—a poetic justice.
It would seem that the time of pretenses was coming to an end. If only I could shake off the feeling that there was more to all of this than anyone told me.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t know that my father wasn’t a saint. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know that my own mother was a raging bitch, fucking whoever she could, because what waited for her at home wasn’t satisfying enough, driving my father insane.
I just didn’t know what the symbol meant, but now I knew.
I could feel the innocence I’d tried to portray slipping away from me. As I looked at the floor, I knew it was futile pretending anymore. If Dominic could figure out that not everything added up, the others could too.
“You got me, Dom.” I chuckled and looked up at him. “Awww, don’t pout, darling. It doesn’t look very good on you.” Tapping his cheek, I moved toward the middle of the room, feeling all of their eyes on me.
I sat down on the sofa chair in the corner and crossed my legs, pulling out the Swiss pocketknife I carried with me.
“This isn’t going exactly according to my plan, but it’s okay.” I huffed. “I can adjust myself to the new circumstances.”
“Adjust what?” Kairos asked, turning his body toward me, as if he could protect the other two from me. “Talk, dammit!”
“Tsk, Kairos. You are exactly as they said you would be. It truly is a shame that you were the man on the rooftop. I honestly wanted it to be somebody else, but I guess then none of us would get what they truly want tonight.”
“Echo,” Dominic all but growled and stepped between Alexander and Kairos. “What are you hiding from us?”
“Oh, plenty.” I smiled. “I must say, seeing you tonight, Dominic, really threw me off my game. For a moment there, I forgot why I came.” I opened the Swiss pocketknife, pulling out the blade hiding inside. “I didn’t expect you here. These two…” I pointed at Kairos and Alexander. “I knew they would be here. In all honesty, only one of you is why I came tonight, and it isn’t you, Dom.” I glanced at Alexander. “Or you Alex.”
Slowly, I stood up and walked toward Kairos and pressed the knife against his throat. “I came for you, darling.” I snickered. “You know, my last night in Ignis, my official rebirth. The last night where I would carry this fucking last name that didn’t belong to me.”
“So you are Echo Selke, aren’t you?” Dominic asked.
“Guilty.” I shrugged. “I think it sounds much better than Echo Winslow.”
Kairos gulped in front of me, his Adam’s apple pressing against the blade. “So, you came to kill me?”
“I mean, killing you is a bit farfetched, don’t you think?” I walked toward the door, feeling their eyes on my back. “But I must say,” I grinned as I turned around to look at them, “it does give me an idea.”
“Why do you think that we wouldn’t kill you first?” Dominic asked, his eye twitching, his hands shaking. I reveled in the fact that I managed to throw them off. “Who was the man you met this morning, Echo?”
“None of your business,” I sang. “But,” I started, taking a deep breath. “You might want to reconsider trying to kill me tonight.”
“We never wanted to kill you,” Kairos grunted. “We wanted to keep you.”
