I wanted so much to stay alive. To launch into Jethro’s arms and kiss my father and touch my twin. But no one moved as I remained trapped by the guillotine.
Hope warred with defeat.
Cut could still kill me so easily and no one would be able to stop him. If they shot him and he held the rope in his hand, the guillotine would fall. If he decided to commit suicide and die right alongside me, no one could stop him from releasing the blade.
Only the final shred of decency left in Cut could stop him from doing the unthinkable and stripping me of a future I so desperately wanted.
Do something.
I didn’t know what. My mind was blank.
Play him…
Cut had welcomed me into his home, he’d had moments of civility, of normalness—he was human beneath his devilish ways. Perhaps…perhaps there was some way to cajole him into listening.
I whispered through the hood, “I forgive you.”
It sounded condescending and forced.
Try harder.
“I forgive you for everything you’ve done. What you did to Emma, me, your children. I forgive you. Let me live and break the indebted history.”
Jethro sucked in a breath.
No one else spoke.
Everything hinged on the bond between Cut and me.
I huddled beneath the blade…waiting for his decision. Over the past few months, we’d come to understand one another. I knew he loved his children in his twisted way. And he knew I wouldn’t give up without a fight.
There was hatred between us but respect, too.
If only that respect saved my life.
The whole room paused, watching history unfold.
Feet scuffled and weapons spewed rich-smelling smoke from used gunpowder, but no one moved.
My spine tickled with tears, fearing the worst.
I’d offered my forgiveness, going against everything I’d wanted to say. I’d traded my own morals for the right to keep my life. But what if it wasn’t enough? What if my only value to Cut was in pieces?
“Cut…” I breathed. “Don’t let her win.”
The pulley clanked as Cut flinched. I didn’t need to look into his eyes to know I’d hit home. Watching Bonnie die of her body’s own volition had taught me something. She had been the root of all psychotic and immoral behaviour in her family. She was the one who drove her children to the point of lunacy. She was the seed sprouting such demonic petals.
And now, she was dead.
“You don’t need to obey her anymore.” My voice came out half-prayer, half-beg. “Free me. End this.”
Once again, silence settled like a smothering pillow.
No one moved.
Cut’s body heat branded my thigh, standing, just standing. Deliberating.
Then…finally…the clinking of rope and mechanism sounded again, only this time I didn’t fear it. Cut’s leg nudged me as he secured the rope, staying the blade and my death.
I didn’t breathe as he squatted beside me.
I didn’t flinch as his hands landed on my shoulders, undoing the yoke and helping me to my feet.
I didn’t make a noise as his fingers untied the rope around my wrists and his touch grabbed a handful of hair as he tore off the hood in one swipe.
I didn’t do anything to make him regret his courageous decision.
He’d saved me knowing he was doomed himself.
Was that redemption? Was it enough to be free of everything he’d done?
I trembled as the black material freed my vision, blinking as my eyes accommodated to light.
Cut didn’t smile or grimace, he just stared.
I wanted some time to take stock of how close I’d been to dying. To look my potential murderer in the face and thank him for sparing me even while hexing him to hell.
But the moment our gazes met, Jethro stormed up the podium and yanked Cut’s hands behind his back.
Bryan didn’t say a word, submitting to his son.
I remained locked in the moment, reading so much into Cut’s eyes but not understanding any of it. Rubbing my throat and the phantom slice through my neck, I nodded. “Thank you.”
Cut shrugged in answer to all the questions I wanted to ask, before allowing his eldest to jerk him down the steps and throw him into my father’s control.
The minute Cut looked away, my attention switched to the space around me.
I gasped.
The pristine ballroom had turned into a warzone. Blood spilled and broken men decorated the pretty floor. Men dressed in black and Black Diamond brothers both moaned and held their multiple wounds.
What the hell happened?
Who were these men?
Flaw came forward with Jasmine at his side. He gave me a tight smile as Jethro gripped my upper arms. “Are you okay?”
I flinched, drinking him in.
Was I in shock? A dream?
I couldn’t make sense of how calmly I accepted that I was about to die and now…wasn’t. I’d been granted a second life…and all I could do was nod in a daze and blink in a stupor.
“Fuck, Nila.” Jethro crushed me to him. My broken arm wailed, but I didn’t care at all. All I cared about was him.
I hugged him back, squeezing as hard as I could. “You’re here.”
“I’m here.”
“You saved me.”
“You saved me first.”
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“It’s over.” He pulled back, kissing my lips with the softest flutter.
“Is it truly?”
Jethro smiled with the wattage of a thousand moons. “It’s done.”
My heart unfurled, and for the first time, I believed that.
The Final Debt would never be paid.
The Hawks had lost.
The Weavers were free.
The Debt Inheritance would never claim another victim.
“NO, FOR THE final time, you’re not coming.” I pushed Nila aside. “You’re not going to be there when I do what needs to be done.”
Her mouth opened to argue, her uninjured arm hugging her broken one. “But—”
“No buts. You’re not coming. No matter what you say. You. Are. Not. Coming.” A sliver of the old me—the arsehole who’d collected her that first night—came back. That shell had long since broken, but it rapidly reformed.
And I let it.
I let it because what I was about to do would test every inch of my condition. It would kill me as much as it would kill Cut because I would feel everything my father would go through. I wouldn’t be able to shut off his emotional screams nor freeze myself from ignoring his thoughts.
I would be with him for every lash.
Nila tried to grab my arm. “Jet—”
Dodging her hold, I pointed a finger in her face. “No, Nila. You’re to stay. Obey for once. Don’t make me ask again.”
“You’re not asking, you’re telling.”
“Goddammit.” I swallowed hard, running a hand through my hair. I hadn’t slept in days, my body hurt all over, and my mind barely functioned from dealing with so much death and agony in the ballroom. Seeing her on her knees with the hood on her face and guillotine above her head—it’d fucking crippled me.
I’d hurt so many people for her. I wore their souls like badges of worthless honour. And yet, she still argued.
I can’t do this.
You have to.
I couldn’t falter now. Not when the end was so close.
All I wanted to do was drag Nila to her quarters, tend to her arm, and fall asleep. I wanted today to be over so tomorrow could banish the past.
But I couldn’t.
I had things to do, and I would not—no matter how much she fucking argued—let Nila be a part of them.
I looked at my sister as she wheeled closer. My eyes shot two messages: Help and don’t argue. My voice sounded like I’d been smoking for decades. “Take Nila to her quarters.”
Jasmine nodded slightly, underst
anding better than anyone what I was about to do and why I had to do it. Her fingers slinked around Nila’s unbroken wrist.
Nila jerked, trying to free herself. “What? No way.” Managing to shake Jasmine off, she planted one hand on her hip; the other she let hover by her waist, protected by her body.
Her gaze darted between Cut and me. “He’s not worth it. Can’t you see that? He isn’t worth what you’re about to—”
I grabbed her cheeks, rubbing my thumbs over her face. “Nila…shush. I need you to let me do this.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. The diamond collar he’d almost extracted glittered in the false light of the chandeliers.
I forced myself to hide my nerves, soothing her with whispered confidence. “Don’t ask me to stop. It’s what I need to do to fix my family and yours—our very history.”
Tears trickled over my thumbs as she fought my decision. “But—”
“There are no buts, Needle.” Looking at Cut, I hardened my heart toward him. He’d done the right thing in the end. He’d let her go. Nothing had stopped him from killing Nila in front of me. Only his decency and lingering affection for Emma.
When Nila had forgiven him, I thought for sure he would pull the lever. He’d never been good at accepting charity.
But for once, he went against the actions of the man who’d raised me and became a hero. He deserved a fragment of respect for that gallant move.
But he also deserved to pay a very painful toll for every other sin he’d committed.
That was his fate.
And it was my fate to deliver it.
Nila pressed her cheek into my palm, her skin warm beneath my touch. “Kite…I—”
I understood her knotted thoughts and scrambled conclusions. “I know.” My voice was a breath as I kissed her. “I understand your fear, but you have to trust me.”
How many times had I asked her to trust me, only to shatter the trust she bestowed?
I won’t shatter it this time.
I knew what I was doing.
Don’t I?
Nila’s onyx eyes glowed with rebellion, and I steeled myself against yet another argument. I sensed she only wanted to support me. For me to lean on her while I did something so heinous. But I didn’t want to lean on her. I had to do this for me, my siblings, my past and present.
I couldn’t have her there because I didn’t know if I’d be able to carry out the punishment he deserved. I didn’t know if I’d break and crumble and submit to his power like I’d done all my life.
It would be my biggest trial. But I’d try my fucking hardest to make Cut pay.
Dropping my hands from Nila’s cheeks, I stepped back. “Just trust me, okay?”
Kill morphed from the men checking on the wounded, coming toward our tight-knit gathering.
Flaw had fetched his medical equipment and put his healing knowledge to work on those needing immediate attention. I trusted him to arrange help and take those who required more than he was capable of to the hospital without alerting a massacre had just taken place.
Killian had come through for me. He’d waited outside the ballroom where Tex, V, and our team of mercenaries poured in. He had his gun pinpointed on Cut and would’ve pulled the trigger if we hadn’t arrived at that exact moment.
He would’ve saved Nila without a bloodbath, but by doing so, he would’ve stripped me of the right to make my father pay. It’d been risky, barging in and giving Cut the opportunity to murder Nila right before my eyes, but Cut didn’t know everything that I did.
He slipped.
In Africa, I’d felt a slight thawing in him. And today, as we barged in and brought death on our heels, he looked almost…relieved. As if he expected me to show up and was grateful it was over.
I couldn’t understand it. But he couldn’t keep it hidden any longer. He’d finally shown the truth of how tired he was. How tired we all were.
All my life, he’d been a controlling bastard with unattainable ideals and strict rules. I’d maintained my belief that he never liked us, let alone loved us. But there was something more to him. Something I never let myself focus on as it only confused my conclusion of my father.
But I sensed it now. A deeper facet poured from Cut as Kill jerked him from Textile’s arms and pinched his shoulders. My father held a lot of hate and delivered many ruthless requests, but he also held compassion and guilt.
And that guilt had steadily grown more and more dominant the longer Nila lived with us.
That was another reason why I wanted to be alone with him. I wanted to look him in the eye, drop my defences, and truly strip my father of his secrets so I could understand him for the first time in my life.
And that was why I didn’t know if I’d be able to go ahead with what he deserved. because what if I found his secrets redeemed him? What if I felt something that changed twenty-nine years of believing a lie?
“Jethro…” Nila’s voice dragged me back from thoughts and tiredness. My vision wavered, dancing with figments of hallucinations from lack of sleep and stress overload. The hallucinations weren’t anything major, just the odd flutter of a curtain looking like a blackbird or a ripple of sunshine resembling a bumblebee or butterfly.
Innocuous things but non-existent things nevertheless.
Sleep.
I could sleep soon.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I inhaled deeply. Keep it together. A few more hours and I’ll be free. We’d all be fucking free, and I could rest safely for the first time since I could remember.
The minute this was over, I would visit my brother. I would tell him things were taken care of and it was safe to come home.
I missed him so fucking much.
Time to return, baby brother.
Time for me to show him I had his back like he’d had mine all my life.
“Kite…I do trust you. But you need to rest.” Nila’s fingers landed on my hand. “Please, whatever you’re thinking of doing, it’s already eating you alive.” Pointing at Cut imprisoned in Kill’s arms, she murmured, “You’ve won. The Debt Inheritance is over. Let the authorities deal with him.”
I chuckled darkly. “Authorities? Nila, we own the authorities. No one would dare testify or incarcerate him. If you want justice, this is the only way.” Cupping her chin, I smeared a strand of cotton from the hood away from her skin. “Trust me when I say this is what needs to happen. Don’t try to stop me again.”
Nila dropped her gaze. Her heart raced, her emotions bubbling like the hot springs beneath the Hall, but she obeyed me. She stepped back, giving me the freedom to leave.
I sighed, thanking her silently.
Cut didn’t say a word—not that he could. The minute he’d submitted to my custody, I’d returned the favour of a reeking rancid gag and duct-taped his mouth closed. His nostrils flared, white hair cascading over his forehead in a tumbled mess.
Daniel was dead. Bonnie would be soon. Cut would be the next to expire.
Nila stepped back as Jasmine wheeled closer to me and grabbed my hand. “I won’t try to stop you, but don’t feel like you have to—”
“Don’t you start, Jaz.”
“I’m only worried about what—”
I laughed coldly. “What it will do to me? Jaz, you know yourself what will happen if I don’t do this. I’ll never forgive myself. He’s delivered enough agony to those we love. Don’t you think it’s time he felt his own medicine?”
Kill didn’t say a word, gripping my father tighter in his arms.
Nila bit her lip, looking down at Jasmine, waiting for her reply.
Jaz sat stiffly in her chair. I let my condition fan stronger, singling her out in the crowd. She felt the same fear Nila did. Fear that I’d never be the same if I did this. Fear that it would forever haunt me.
That might be the case, but I owed this debt. To the miners who’d helped free me. To Kill who’d had my back. To Textile for the death of his wife. To everyone involved in the Debt Inheritance.
I wasn�
�t doing this for me. I was doing this for them. And it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Jaz smiled softly as my eyes met hers. Her emotions quieted, fading into one singular calling: closure.
I nodded, letting her know I understood her conclusion. “Thank you.”
She smoothed the blanket over her useless legs. Legs that’d been payment for me. Disability given by our father who would now answer for his crimes.
Tonight was the night everything ended.
Cut’s life was the full stop on his terrible reign.
Jaz nodded, too. Wordlessly giving me permission and strength. Her eyes narrowed on Cut. “I tried to be the daughter you wanted, but I was never good enough. I hope that thought alone haunts you for eternity.”
Cut’s chest rose with an influx of breath, repentance bright in his gaze.
She didn’t give him forgiveness like Nila had. She’d suffered too much at his hand to be so selfless.
Her switch of fear for me and need for retribution drenched her. She wanted me to do this. She urged me to do this.
Good enough for me.
Cut swallowed, his face glowing, filling with things addressed to his daughter. The scramble of emotions from him smothered me and I deliberated removing his gag to say farewell to Jasmine.
However, my sister decided for me. Her fists wrapped around her wheels, shoving backward and granting space for Killian to move forward.
“Take him.” Her voice hissed. “I don’t want to see him anymore.” Grabbing Nila’s hand, she kept her anchored as Kill stormed forward, carting Cut toward the exit.
Nila’s gaze met mine. I sent a silent message. You understand why?
Her lips twisted, but she nodded. Yes.
“I’ll come find you when it’s done.” Turning my back on Nila’s family and a room full of carnage, I stalked past Kill and snapped my fingers for him to follow.
I didn’t stop to give directions. I trusted the biker president of Pure Corruption would obey. Whatever hierarchy existed, we were on equal footing. Kill knew the terms when he came to help me. I would pay him back for his help. I would honour the agreement we’d made.
Besides, his task was almost over.
While mine is just beginning.
Leaving the room of men, I sucked in a breath. The oxygen helped cleanse my system of thoughts and pain. I did my best to shut out Cut, but I couldn’t completely ignore him.