Final Debt

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?”