Fourth Debt
Page 43

My forehead furrowed. Details were often the crux of impending ruin. Flaw and Jaz had freed them, but now Jethro and Kes were in the hands of doctors, nurses, and people who would talk.
“Only what?” Flaw prompted.
“How did you do it?”
He pursed his lips. “Do what?”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Get them to the basement. How—”
“Easy.” He ran a hand through his hair, wincing at memories. “Don’t suppose you know how many secrets live on the estate. How many animals exist—all bred for different purposes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve seen the pheasants for shooting, horses for riding, dogs for hunting. But I doubt you’ll have seen the pigs.”
I took a step back. “Pigs?”
“Pigs are an excellent way to dispose of things you never want found again.”
My mouth hung open. “Excuse me?” In the months I’d lived in Hawksridge, I hadn’t seen a single pig. “Where?”
“They’re hidden over the chase. Having a few pigs and not a pig farm can be suspicious these days, thanks to the recent mobster movies, serving shall we say ‘alternative food.’”
I wrung my hands. “You’re saying Cut feeds his enemies as food to his pigs?” My gullet churned, wanting to evict all knowledge of this conversation. “Shit, he’s barbaric.”
Worse than that—he has sewage for a soul.
Flaw raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying it. “Whatever you think, it’s smart business.” His voice lowered to a sepulchral whisper. “Anyway, Cut asked me to get rid of their bodies. Only, Kes and Jethro had already come to me first. They knew something like this might happen. After all, they’ve been playing with their lives for months. We’d all agreed that I would remain in Cut’s good graces and do what I could to give them a second chance.”
I kept my voice quiet—hidden from microphones trying to record our treason. “But how did he not notice they were still alive?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Pacing away, I scowled. “Didn’t he ask if they were dead? Didn’t he get on his knees and see for himself if he’d killed his sons?” Even asking those questions turned my saliva into a sickly paste. How could a father not even stand over his children and say a prayer or goodbye? How could he just pass off their remains to a servant without a backward glance?
A monster, that’s who.
Flaw grinned, a calculating glint in his eyes. “Aren’t you glad he didn’t? If he had, the outcome of this would’ve been entirely different.”
Ice ran through my blood. He’s right.
In a way, Cut’s cold-heartedness had destroyed Kes and Jethro but saved them, too.
“Once I’d removed them from the lounge, it was a simple matter to take them where I needed. Cut didn’t question me. In fact, I happen to know Jasmine kept him and Bonnie plenty entertained with her screaming about wanting revenge on you.” His eyes warmed. “That girl thinks fast on her feet. It was a good diversion.”
Yes and kept me safe from the full Debt Inheritance.
I ought to be nicer to Jasmine. The risk she’d played would’ve silenced any lesser woman. She truly was Jethro’s sister—strong, formidable, and slightly scary with her temper.
“After I returned from hiding them and setting up the medical equipment, I reported to Cut that it was done.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “All he cared about was if the carpet was cleaned.”
My heart shattered under an anvil of hostility.
Cut was more worried about an object than his sons’ souls.
Utter bastard. Sick, twisted freak.
And who taught him those qualities? His dear old mother.
Bonnie—the female version of the devil.
My hands balled. “I’ve heard enough.”
Bonnie had summoned me. She’d scared and intimidated me but she was no match for my sheer hatred. I wanted to throw her in a cauldron and watch her bones bleach white. I wanted to behead her and witness her body twitch with death throes.
That’ll come true before this is over.
“Take me to her. It’s time we had a little chat.”
“About bloody time.” Bonnie sniffed as Flaw beckoned me over the threshold.
The second my sock-covered feet padded onto the pale pink carpet of Bonnie’s domain, he cocked his chin in goodbye and abandoned me behind the closed door.
All alone.
An opportunity or a disadvantage?
She couldn’t hurt me. Names and slurs weren’t enough to subdue me anymore.
Screw surprise and secrecy.
If I have an opportunity, I’m taking it.
“What do you have to say for yourself, girl? Tardiness is a dirty sin and must be abolished.” Bonnie tapped her cane like a cat flicked its tail.
No matter how much time I spent in the Hall, I doubted I would ever explore all the rooms and levels it offered. Bonnie’s quarters were yet another surprise. Flaw had guided me up the stone staircase where Jasmine and Cut’s study rested, only to pace down a different corridor and up another set of stairs made of winding red carpet and unicorn spindles.
Straightening my shoulders, I looked down my nose at the shrivelled old woman. “I have nothing to say for myself. I was in the middle of something important. I couldn’t let a simple summoning derail me.”
She made a strange wheeze—like wind through wheat or ghosts over a graveyard. “You insolent little—”