Final Debt (Indebted #6)(83)

“Answer me!” Cut’s hand shot to his back waistband, pulling free a pistol.

I froze, staring down the black muzzle, expecting any moment a flash of gunpowder and a cold kiss of lead. Cut bounced between so many emotions, I couldn’t keep track.

Was it the pistol he’d shot Jethro and Kes with? He didn’t have it with him when we cleared customs at the airport. What outstanding matters had he attended to once we returned to Hawksridge?

Despite facing a grave, I kept the truth hidden. Jethro was trapped in Africa subjected to survival only if I obeyed Cut and gave up my life. I couldn’t help him. But I could help Kes by staying silent. Kestrel was safe. I wouldn’t tattle on his whereabouts, and I definitely wouldn’t tell Cut that both lives had been saved thanks to Flaw and Jasmine.

Flaw!

He’s on my side.

The tentative friendship we’d sparked when Kes let me into his chambers at the start. The jokes and conversation around late afternoon snacks when Jethro avoided me after the First Debt was paid. Flaw had come through for me, for Kes.

Could he help me now?

Where is he?

My heart thundered with despair. Even if Flaw was close by, it wouldn’t be a simple matter of screeching for help. Hawksridge Hall swallowed men whole, disappearing for days in its cavernous corridors.

He’d never hear me.

Cut suddenly stopped, leaving a few metres between us. His eyes narrowed as sorrow, anguish, and loathing crossed his face. The hand holding his gun lowered until the nose threatened the carpet and not my life. “I underestimated you, Nila.”

My lungs siphoned oxygen faster. My spine wanted to roll, to give in to the sudden ceasefire, but I knew the armistice wouldn’t last long.

His mother had just died in his arms. His mourning and rage fought to take ownership of what his next move would be. He was as unpredictable as a penny in the air.

“That’s the first compliment you’ve given me.”

He looked over his shoulder at the cooling, decaying body of Bonnie. “Emma was right.”

I flinched. “Don’t talk about my mother. You have no right to mention her name.”

His eyes landed on mine with ferocity. “I have no right? I have every f*cking right. Did you think I didn’t see her playing me? Pretending to love me while all along I knew her love was for her wretched family left behind. Even when she was nice to me, she warned me what would happen if Jethro claimed you.”

Chills darted over my skin. “What did she say?” As much as I hated discussing my mother with Cut, I wouldn’t stop him sharing more of his weaknesses. Because Emma was definitely his biggest weakness.

His shoulders sagged as he swiped a hand over his face. For a short second, he looked defeated. As if without Bonnie, the drive to be the worst, the most despicable overlord had vanished. “She said you’d finish us.”

An icy smile lit my face. “I guess you should’ve listened to her.”

His lips spread in a snarl. “Want to know what else she was right about?”

The atmosphere switched. Cut shed his melancholy, gathering the storm of venom he so often carried. “She said you would steal the heart of my oldest and the Debt Inheritance would end with your generation.”

I gasped. How had she known how the future would unfold? How much time had she spent with Jethro to understand that my soul and his would find peace with one another?

Cut chuckled. The sound sliced through the envelope of death, fast-forwarding through his grief. “I’d wipe that smug smile off your face, Nila. Because that wasn’t all she told me.”

Throwing the gun to the floor, his hands fisted as he pushed off the thick carpet to charge toward me.

I squeaked, stumbling back. My broken arm bounced against my body, dragging a sharp cry of pain.

My eyes flew to the door; my legs prepared to bolt.

But I’d made a vow not to run.

Besides, Cut was too fast.

His arms wrapped around me, clamping in a hellish hug. “She also told me that while your generation would be the last, you wouldn’t find a happy ever after. You share the same fate as her.”

I stopped breathing as Cut grabbed my cheeks. “Her fate has always been your fate, Nila. No matter what you did, who you corrupted, or how many conspiracies you planned, your fate was unavoidable.”

Kissing the tip of my nose, turning something so sweet into something so sinister, he murmured, “You’ve taken from me and I’ve taken from you. Now, it’s time to end this so I can repair the damage you’ve caused.”

Slipping his fingers from my cheeks to my hand, he snatched away the scissors and carted me from Bonnie’s quarters. He left his mother decomposing; surrounded by bushels of her favourite blooms, already in a tomb with flowers.

Without my cast or sling, my broken arm twinged with pain. The wooze and wash of imbalance toyed with my vision as Cut carted me down the stairs.

“I’d planned on giving you a final night of pleasure, Nila. You deserved a shower, a good meal, a good f*ck before your final breath. You’ve robbed me, not only of being generous for your good performance smuggling my diamonds but also of my opportunity to claim the Third Debt.”

The Third Debt.

I’d been granted my wish, after all.

Hadn’t I whispered I would rather pay with death than rape if I had a choice?