Page 30 of Reign of the Queen
Footsteps echo across the hard packed dirt floor in our direction. Two large, imposing frames, rapidly move toward us. Lifting my chin, I see it’s my dad and Carter's.
The Baron approaches a bloodied Blair, his brows drawn together. "Is this the piece of shit?" he inquires with malice.
Nodding, I step back, the other kings doing the same. Carter watches his dad warily from his position. Mack has a look of psychotic glee across his large face. He’s the vision of a charging bull in that suit he's wearing. The seams look ready to pop with any sudden aggressive move from his massive frame.
"You took something from me, Mr. Ecks." My dad moves closer, squeezing Blair's face with his large hand.
Blair lets out a whimper, terrified at my dad's appearance. Can’t blame him, it’s like Lucifer has appeared before him. Except that my dad makes the devil seem tame by comparison.
"I don't let anyone touch what is mine without permission. You hurt her without my permission." Slamming his fist into Blair's mouth, the crunch of a tooth snapping is loud in the room, blood rushes out of Blair’s mouth. "You took something from me, and I don't appreciate it, Mr. Ecks." Blair gurgles loudly, choking on the blood in his mouth and spits out a tooth.
Mack strolls forward, raising his large, booted foot and kicking Blair in the stomach, all the air leaves Blair’s body in a whoosh and his face and neck flush red.
"You see, Mr. Ecks, it's not about the whore…it's about the disrespect you paid me by taking her without my permission." Grabbing a fist full of Blair's hair and pulling his head back, so Blair has no choice but to look him in the eye.
“How are you going to repay me Mr. Ecks?” An evil grin tilts his lips up and his eyes shine with enjoyment.
“I…I don’t know, please. Please let me go, I’ll find a way to repay you.” Whimpers leave Blair.
Mack releases a chuckle, the corners of his mouth turned up.
"You have a younger sister in her first year of college, don’t you Mr. Ecks? A pretty little blonde thing.” Vincent leans forward his breath skating across Blairs face. Blairs eyes open wide, fear across his battered features. “Your father was kind enough to give her to me in repayment for what you took from me. Your sister will now replace my broken anddeadwhore." Vincent smirks.
"Dead... no, I... I left her alive." Blair groans out.
"Dead Mr. Ecks, you see, a broken whore is of no use to me. Once you broke her the way you did and left her mangled body tied to that tree for days, there was no point in her existing any longer. Before she met her maker, she was able to tell us what you did to her. Now your sister will suffer a worse fate than you gave that whore if you ever come near anything of mine again. Do you understand?" Vincent questions.
Mack grabs Blair's neck and squeezes tightly until he almost passes out. Releasing him at the last moment, Blair takes a ragged breath, his head dropping to his chest.
"Theo, make sure that Mr. Ecks here leaves with physical reminders not to look or touch things that aren't his." Vincent turns to me. Disgust makes my stomach drop at what he’s asking me to do, my heart rate speeds up and my fists become clammy.
Carter grins manically at my father's statement, walking over to the table we have in the room laid with tools. He grabs a small battery-powered saw and brings it over to me. Taking the saw from him, masking my thoughts from everyone watching and stealing my resolve not to show any weakness.
Finn moves behind Blair once again, yanking his head with a fistful of hair. I move toward Blair's right hand, which is strapped down to the chair with chains. Turning the saw on, the loud sound vibrating through the space, I start with his pinkie finger, slicing through at his first knuckle with the saw. Blair screams and tries to fight the hold Finn and the chains have on him, but it's no use.
Sawing through his other three fingers, I leave him with only his thumb unharmed on that hand. The floor's a blood-soaked mess around the chair, bloods splattered on my clothes and face. I grimace but take the knife once again into my hand, passing the blood-coated saw back to Carter.
Finn puts Blair into a headlock, gripping him tight, arms straining, and muscles bunching, his jaw clenched tight. Using my tight grip on the blade, I press the tip into Blair's right eye, blinding him permanently. My stomach threatens to upchuck everything I’ve eaten in the last couple of hours at the sickening sound the blade makes. Clenching my jaw tightly and grinding my teeth together to push the bile back down, swallowing hard, I feel a cold sweat break out all over my body.
Stepping back, my gaze turns to my father and Mack, both of them are grinning at the mess I've made of Blair, satisfaction on their evil faces. Screams leave Blair as blood gushes down his pale face. Finn releases his hold, stepping back, a spray of Blair's red blood coating his arms.
"Boys, make sure you release him into the same woods he left the whore. His dad will be looking for him," Vincent commands, turning and walking out of the room with Mack on his heels. The minute we hear the door slam close, Mateo retches in the corner of the room.
I look from Finn to Carter. Both are somber, but Carter's still radiating anger. He walks up to Blair and grabs his face in a tight grasp. Blair is non-coherent at this point, I don’t think he can even acknowledge where he is anymore. The pain must be excruciating and overwhelming his senses. His body is in full shock and shutting down. It’ll be a miracle if he survives what we just put him through.
"You stupid son of a bitch, you just damned your sister to a short lifetime of misery and pain. He will torture her, and she'll wish for death every day. Hope it was worth it." Carter headbutts him hard and then steps back. A gash opens on Blair's forehead, and he immediately passes out.
"Let's get this over with and get out of here." Mateo walks over, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, looking pale as fuck. This for sure is going to haunt him later and cause him to have a panic attack. I wish I could have kept him out of here, but my psychotic sadist father demanded all of our participation. What Vincent Saint-Lambert wants, he unfortunately gets.
We work together to get Blair unchained from the chair, dragging his dead weight out to the waiting cargo van and throwing his body inside like the sack of shit he is. Mateo stays behind to clean up the blood and evidence while the three of us ride into the woods to dispose of the garbage. Just another day in Casbury fucking paradise.
A short weekend trip home to Manhattan to see my grandmother and stepsister has me returning to Casbury energized and with new resolve. The much-needed support of my family, sans my mom, and a few days to decompress away from Casbury and the kings, has helped with some much-needed clarity, renewing my faith in my game plan. As my grandmother has spent the weekend reminding me, there are Stratford's, and then there is everyone else. We bow to no one.
Time with Isabella has also helped with my anxiety. My stepsister has always been my biggest supporter outside of Raegan. She helps to ground my anxiety, appealing to the part of myself that still hopes I can move past all the trauma from my past. Isabella wasn’t in agreement with me returning to Casbury, fearing that revenge would destroy me rather than free me. I’m starting to think she may have been right.What’s that Douglas Horton saying? “While seeking revenge, dig two graves—one for yourself.”
It's been over a week since the showdown in the hallway with the kings and my weekend with my family. This last week has tried my patience and control over my temper, with my peers giving me a wide berth. Some of them actually trembling in fear at my appearance and behaving in general, like I am the antichrist.Not to say I'm not, but do they have to act like I might smite them any minute?
To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. I'm barely eating or sleeping, and my back and neck feel like they could snap at any point with the constant strain of holding myself rigid(I must remind myself to see a chiropractor). The amount of caffeine I'm consuming on the regular could land me in the hospital or in a mental ward.Whoever said putting fear in people was easy fucking lied.
