Fourth Debt (Indebted #5)(7)

Cut sniffed. “I promised nothing. You will still inherit, but as I’m tearing up all the rules lately, there might be a dual inheritance. Primogeniture is over. I’m looking at all bases now.”

“But that’s not fair! There are rules, contracts!”

“Yes, and if I’d followed those rules, you wouldn’t have her either, you f*cking ingrate,” Cut snapped. “I need a few days to unscramble this shit-storm. Then we can proceed correctly once the documents have been amended.”

Wait. Documents? What amendments?

Daniel laughed, slipping beside me and wrapping his hand in my hair. The long strands tangled around his wrist, providing a perfect rope to jerk me away from Jasmine.

Only, she didn’t let go. Her nails dug deeper into my wrist, keeping me pinned between the two fighting siblings.

“Let her go. She’s mine!” Jaz slammed on her brakes.

“You can have her when I’ve taken what I want.” Daniel yanked me toward him.

I cried out, tripping and swaying, two parts of me caught by two Hawks.

Oh, my God.

I was a pi?ata in the middle of a feuding family—tugged and devoured and ultimately beaten until I’d split open and die.

I laughed out loud at the insanity stinking up the room.

Jasmine was as bonkers as the rest of her bloodline. She would have to go, too.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

He was good where they’re all bad.

“Quit it!” Cut roared at the same time as Bonnie screeched, “Behave yourselves!”

The Hawk siblings quit squabbling like brats. We looked at Cut and Bonnie, panting hard, trapped in a cycle of idiocy.

“For f*ck’s sake.” Cut dragged a hand over his face. “You’re acting like two-year olds. I have a good mind to take the strap to both of you.” His gaze fell on his children, searing and intense. “She’ll be locked up until we have a family meeting. Then we can decide who has her first and what punishments shall be divided.”

Jasmine sneered, “See, Dan. Let her go.”

“You let go first.”

“God, you’re such a moron.” Jasmine relinquished her hold. Instantly, blood seeped from the slices she’d given, trickling down my wrist.

“You’re just an invalid who’s never been laid.” Daniel threw me away. “You always had it so easy, sister. Ever since your ‘accident.’”

My ears pricked. The aura of mystery surrounding Jasmine only grew thicker. I wanted to know everything about her before I ended her. Just like I wanted to know everything about Bonnie, Cut, and Daniel. I would wear their history like a talisman. I would be the last person to know their tales before they faded into obscurity.

Jasmine sniffed. “You’re pissed that your worthless invalid sister has won. I’m the eldest now; therefore, my word is law.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jaz,” Cut said.

Daniel ignored him. “That’s not it at all.” Slamming his hands on the handrails of Jasmine’s chair, he hemmed her in. “Now I have two women on my shit list instead of one.” He dragged a finger across his throat. “I’d watch out if I were you.”

Pushing off, he deliberately shouldered Cut out of the way, scowled at Bonnie, and stalked from the room.

The moment he disappeared, my muscles quivered. Somehow, I’d avoided whatever would’ve happened. I’d slipped into shock and come out ready to murder. And I’d been given to yet another Hawk who hated me.

Cut shook his head, looking at his mother. “They never f*cking learn.”

Bonnie laughed. “Neither did you, dear. Not for a long time.”

He wrapped an arm around her brittle shoulders. “I can’t imagine ever being so terrible.”

My fingernails dug into my palm as I witnessed a seemingly normal bond. How could evil have so many layers? How could it be so obvious one moment, then hidden by family ties and hierarchy the next?

Bonnie tapped her cane against Cut’s foot. “You’re not forgetting what you did, are you? Because I have news for you—you were worse. A lot worse.” Moving forward, she dislodged his hold. “But I straightened out the mess you made. I put things right. I have every faith you will, too.”

Cut nodded. “Damn right, I will.” His eyes strained but apart from a few cracks in his smooth veneer, I would never have guessed he’d pulled the trigger on two of his children.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

All because of me.

Inching closer to Jasmine, I whispered so only she would hear. “He tried to shoot you, but Jethro saved you. Do you have no shame?”

Her eyes zeroed in on mine. Thoughts and emotions flickered over her face but she didn’t reply.

Her betrayal hurt. Jethro and Kes had loved her. They’d died for her. Who could claim to love them in return yet continue to be in the same house as the man who’d shot them?

My stomach twisted. “You make me sick.”

Her hands tightened around the rims of her wheels. Shutters slammed over her eyes, but still no response.

Tears stung but I had nothing else to say. Only one promise that she might as well hear, so she’d know who truly loved her brother. “I’ll kill you for this. Just like I’ll kill them.”