“Stop. Wait! Leave her alone.” Vaughn struggled against Marquise, his eyes frantic. “Whatever you’re about to do. Fucking stop it. She’s suffered enough, goddammit!”
Bonnie sighed. “Marquise.”
The big man quirked an eyebrow, holding on to my brother as if he were a fly on a string. “Yes, Madame?”
“Gag him.”
“Of course.” Marquise let V go with one hand and dug into his back pocket. With inhuman strength, he slammed my brother against his mountainous chest and forced the black bandana through his lips.
“Wait!” I launched forward, only to be jerked back by Daniel. “This is between us. Let him go.”
Bonnie sneered, “Oh, he’ll be let go, alright.”
My heart slipped from tar to fossil. “What do you mean?”
Please don’t mean death. Please!
“I mean if you play this game correctly, Vaughn can go home tonight.”
My heart exploded with hope. “Truly?”
Do I dare believe them?
Disbelief shook its head, but the cruel spark of optimism begged it to be true.
Bonnie smiled. “Play correctly, and he goes home, untouched. He returns to his family because of your sacrifice out of love.”
Vaughn mumbled something unintelligible behind the gag.
“However, if you play incorrectly, he’ll stay here. He’ll suffer right along with you and we’ll end his journey the same moment we end yours.”
He’ll die with me.
That could never happen. I couldn’t be responsible for my brother’s death.
“You have my word, I’ll play. Send him home now. You don’t need him to make me behave.” I couldn’t look at Vaughn while I traded my life for his. He’d be full of guilt and rage at not being able to stop me.
Cut rubbed a hand over his mouth. “If you are a good girl, Nila, and he goes home, don’t think he’s untouchable. Don’t think this is mercy or that we’ve overlooked his ability to bring havoc to our world again. This is another checkmate in a game you’re too stupid to understand.”
A question burned in my chest. I needed to know the answer, but at the same time, it led to such confusion. “Why?”
Cut paused. “Why? I just told you why—if you don’t obey—”
“No, not that.” I can’t believe I’m doing this. “Why let him go? I thought you were keeping him until I paid…”
My voice trailed off.
I know why…
Cut chuckled. “Answered your own question, didn’t you?”
My head turned into a bowling ball, sagging on my shoulders.
Vaughn was going home because I wouldn’t be. Whatever Cut’s surprise was…it was the Final Debt. Somehow, he believed he could keep the police at bay. That my brother wouldn’t bring down their empire. That he was safe to continue with his murdering schemes.
Imbecile.
He’s truly slipped from malicious to insane.
Vaughn exploded in Marquise’s grip. He kicked and wriggled, yelling at the top of his voice, nonsense curses spilling from his gagged mouth.
“Shut him up,” Bonnie snapped.
Marquise clamped a hand over Vaughn’s nose and mouth, slowly suffocating him.
“Stop!” I wriggled in Daniel’s arms.
“Don’t make me hurt you before we’ve begun, Weaver.”
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from my brother as his face turned pink and eyes bugged for breath.
Cut checked his gold Rolex. “Right, let’s begin. I have somewhere else to be tonight.”
Daniel let me go, and Marquise dropped his hand. Vaughn sucked in wheezing breaths as Daniel planted himself in the middle of me and Vaughn. “Grandmamma, the dice?”
Bonnie inched forward, her arthritis turning her stiff. Pulling a dice free from her jacket pocket, she handed it to her grandson. With eyes ordering obedience and no room for error, she stepped back.
Daniel puffed out his chest. “As you know, Nila, you’ve paid the debts for the original Hawk family, but you haven’t paid for the glue that held the family together. The mother was the reason we outstripped your family in wealth, power, and rank. However, before you learn what she did to make such a thing happen, you must learn the daily struggle she went through to keep her family alive.”