She had it pointed straight at him. And just in case he thought she didn’t know how to use it, she reached up and pulled back the slide. The modern equivalent of cocking a gun—one he knew was for sure fully loaded this time.
CHAPTER 22
PERSEPHONE
I thought I had the elephant parable all figured out. But while staring at Hades over the right side of the gun I’d fished out of his overnight bag, a new solution became clear to me—one I’d failed to see before.
The elephant could bide its time as it got stronger. It could go from town to town with the circus, as docile as a lamb, waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself.
Then, when the right time came, it could use its strength. It could trample the circus owner. Kill him before he even had a chance to hunt it down.
Strong Elephant.
That’s what I was as I stared down the barrel of Hades’s Glock at the man who’d held me captive for three years.
He often played it affable. Everyone Hades met got a Cajun smile and the full bon amie treatment. Even his enemies. Especially the ones he was about to kill.
But to his credit, he didn’t play that game with me. His face became a complete blank as he waited to see what I’d do next.
Three years…
Three years of set-piecing in the background of arms deals. Three years of watching that psycho cousin of his shoot men point-blank in the face for reasons both big and small. All the violence and weapons demos had finally paid off.
No more sticking a vintage revolver in my captor’s forehead and hoping for the best when I pulled the trigger with one hand. I knew how to use a gun now.
With my newfound sense of empowerment flowing through me, I braced both feet for the recoil and pulled the slide back on his gun.
Yet, Hades didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink.
“Go’on ahead then,” he said quietly. “Just remember what I said.”
Oh, I remembered all right. It was either him or me.
I had dreamed of this moment. Nightmared it so many times. This was my chance to finally fix the outcome.
And I’d been right when I came in here. This was a terrific place to hide a body. I could shoot this monster dead and drag him out to the swamp.
Here, finally, was my chance to end this living nightmare and take back my life.
All I had to do was end his.
All I had to do…
The last three years suddenly flashed through my head.
Dancing with Hades at the Tessier Balls…giving him my virginity…laughing at silly things the Reapers had said or done, like they were our children…Marvel movie date nights…me crocheting while he read the latest Walking Dead compendium…discovering Stromae together and bingeing all the Belgian singer’s videos…the quiet moments…the fun moments…all the stuff that had made our status quo easier than I expected.
Don’t, a voice whispered somewhere in the distance as the last memory of his holding my hair back for me flitted by.
The voice sounded like Mama Fairgood, and it came from my heart.
Hades was my enemy, but he was also my only friend.
And I really, really shouldn’t have told Wedding Dress Girl my real name. It had reminded me that Stephanie Perreault wasn’t all the way dead after all. And the girl I used to be could never take a human life and then go to Disney World. No matter how much I wanted to make that dream come true.
At the end of the day, I wasn’t a Hades. I was a Mama Fairgood.
I expelled one breath. Two. Then I told him, “This swamp is a good place to hide a body.”
