Chapter Sixty-Six
The Past is Present
I knock Mr. Hodge onto his side, feeling like a comic book hero. The beefy man scoots backward on the floor when he sees what’s in my hand. But I just slither on toward him.
“She has a knife,” he yells to Madam Karina.
She doesn’t care.
When he realizes she doesn’t care, and that no one else does, either, he makes this high-pitched cry that’s unnatural for a man his size. I almost laugh. But I shouldn’t laugh, right? I mean, the man’s about to meet his maker. It’d be rude to poke fun.
“You deserve anything she does to you,” Madam Karina shrieks. “You think I didn’t know about your whore? You think I didn’t notice she drove you home? You wanted to get caught!”
“Puppy,” he pleads. The way his mouth downturns, it’s like he’s more concerned about hurting Madam Karina than he is my blade. Seeing him this way, vulnerable, I almost regret having to kill The Neck.
“Say it again,” I snarl, speaking to Madam Karina but keeping my eyes on Mr. Hodge. “Tell me you’ll let us go if I end him.”
“Yes, just do it!”
“Domino.” Cain’s voice breaks through my sniper focus. “Don’t.”
“Shut up,” I snap. “That’s not my name.”
“Listen to him,” Poppet pleads.
“I said shut up!”
Blood pounds at my temples as I crawl toward Mr. Hodge. He tries to retreat, but his back hits the wall.
“I’ll make it quick,” I tell him. “And I’ll carry the ghost of you on my arm, always.”
Sweat drips between his eyes. I watch it slide down his nose and pool at the corner of his right nostril. His eyes dart toward Madam Karina, and then he makes a break for it. I leap onto his back, the knife arched above my head.
Someone behind me closes in. It’s Cain, judging by the heavy footfalls. He doesn’t reach me in time, though. Not before I drive the knife into Mr. Hodge’s side. It’s not enough to kill him. I didn’t go deep enough for that. But it does get him on the floor.
He moans like a rhino taken down in a safari hunt. As if I’m the cruel, advantaged hunter with a scope and camouflage. And here he is—one of God’s innocent creatures. But the truth is, he helped Madam Karina build this empire. Helped seduce girls into selling their bodies and souls so he could lord over this three-story farmhouse. And let’s not forget the way he cupped Poppet’s bottom. Think that’s the first time he’s pulled a stunt like that? Please.
No, I won’t mourn his death.
Mr. Hodge flips onto his back and blocks his face with his arms. As if that’s what I’m going for.
“Don’t take another step,” Eric yells.
I turn to find Cain a hand’s width away from me. He looks like a knight, come to rescue a damsel in distress. But I’m no damsel, and I’m certainly not stressing. Not over someone like Mr. Hodge. One less dirtbag walking the planet, if you ask me.
Eric points his gun at Cain, but Cain doesn’t react. He keeps his gaze on my face, silently imploring me to see reason. To not kill a monster that deserves to die. But it’s men like Mr. Hodge who make me sick. They hurt women, leave them, walk out front doors in the dead of night even though their wife and daughter are asleep down the hall. Doesn’t he know how they’ll grieve the loss of him? Doesn’t he care?
Slowly, Gentle Domino slides her hand over mine. Grips that knife along with me like maybe she wants in on this, too. Is tired of being in the back seat at this midnight matinee.
I stumble to my side, shocked. Domino has never risen while I worked before. She may have whispered in my ear, but I could swat away her presence like a gnat.
I shake my hand once, twice, until I regain full control, and then refocus on my task.
Madam Karina clutches Poppet’s upper arm, rooting her in place, and tears streak down Poppet’s face. I glance at Cain. He’s no longer checked out. Now he’s present and accounted for, and he’s terrified of what I may do. And what about Poppet? Look at that fear. Taste it! Is that what I do? Is that the same look the men I hurt gave me? Yes. Yes, it is. It’s different this time, though. It’s different, and it’s the same.
Domino’s two friends don’t want me to do this thing. But I guarantee what they want more than anything is for us—for all of us—to be safe. To be free. And so I will do this for them. Because it’s people like them I want surrounding my Domino.
I turn back to Mr. Hodge.
He must see the determination in my eyes. He must.
Mr. Hodge screams, and I crawl on top of him like I’m scaling Mt. Everest. I hold my knife above my head, ready to plunge it like a flag into uncharted land. My fingers twitch as I eye the soft spot below his chin. It’s funny, really, that the fastest way to kill this man is in the one place he’s largely missing. But in all seriousness, there’s enough neck there for me to work with.
Wilson, Domino whispers. Wilson, I was wrong. I am strong enough to handle this.
Nope, I tell her. Go away!
The knife in my hand lifts a fraction higher, and Mr. Hodge fights to get my weight off him. I avoid his flailing and zone in on his jugular. My heart stills. My pulse slows. I am calm in this moment. My name is Wilson, and this is what I do.
I kill.
I kill so Domino doesn’t have to.
“Do it,” Madam Karina says from behind me. “Do it for both of us.”
Her words spill over me like heated oil, tangling in my hair, sticking to my skin. It’s dangerously similar to something Mother would have said. Mother didn’t want to be alone in her hatred, and so her baby girl helped torture her victims. Madam Karina’s own hate stretches from her to Domino, an invisible thread binding them. When I assisted Mother, she gave to Domino freely—affection. And Madam Karina will give to her, too—freedom.
Domino hesitates. She hesitates, but I won’t.
My hand quivers above Mr. Hodge’s body as he writhes side to side. I lose my hold on him once, but regain my place on his chest quickly enough.
Why am I shaking? I don’t have a care in the world for this man. I am fearless and emotionless and made of gears and glass.
Because you are me, Wilson. And I am you.
My body freezes. Why won’t she just shut up? I asked for complete control, and she gave it to me. So why is she here?
Go back to sleep! I growl.
No, she responds firmly. I won’t turn away this time.
“What are you waiting for?” Madam Karina barks. “Do it!”
At the same time, Poppet and Cain yell for me to stop. To put down the knife.
But it’s Domino’s voice that stills my arm. I’ve closed my eyes to the things I’ve done for too long. I want to see it now, all of it.
I spot it then. The dark room. The girl. My girl. She has a chain tied around her ankle. Rusted links that stretch from her to me. She’s bound to me the same way Madam Karina binds herself to Domino. But it’s not the same.
IT’S NOT THE SAME!
Mr. Hodge breaks away and races up the stairs. I can get to him again. That’s not my concern. My worry now is Domino and her insistent fingers digging into my mind.
Domino produces something from behind her back. An axe. She has an axe!
“What are you doing with that?” I yell aloud. “You shouldn’t be here!”
“Who’s she talking to?” Eric mutters.
These are my memories! Domino says, lifting the weapon. This is my anger. I want it back. All of it.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper.
“Enough!” Madam Karina snatches the gun from Eric and points it at me. I lunge at the madam, no longer sure who I am. The gun goes off at the exact moment that Cain slams into her. I’m stunned silent for only a fraction of a second, the bullet lodged into the drywall behind me.
Cain pins Madam Karina to the floor, yelling as if he’ll never stop. Eric fumbles across the room for something, and Poppet grabs him about the waist, trying to stop him. It isn’t until I see the gun in Eric’s hand that I understand what he intends to do.
Let me in let me in let me in! Domino screams, bringing the axe down.
Eric takes aim at Cain.
A gun.
My Cain.
I dive across the space between us and sink my teeth into Eric’s arm.
He elbows me off and swings the gun wildly. A second shot is fired, but this time it doesn’t lodge in the drywall.
It buries itself into my body instead.
Domino hacks at the chains over and over as I scream in anguish, in desperation.
Pain sears through me, and Cain turns his attention to Eric. He rises to his feet and transforms into a battering ram, a plague, a stone giant come to life—and he uses every ounce of his pent-up resentment to take Eric down. Eric’s face becomes a blood-soaked sphere as Madam Karina scrambles back toward the wall in horror. Poppet is next to me, putting pressure on my arm and telling me it isn’t so bad. But all I can think about is the gun. Where it is? Who has it?
Then I see it in Eric’s hand. It’s stretched forward and kissing Cain’s gut. Eric smiles, white against red, and his finger moves to pull the trigger.
I scream for Eric to stop.
Domino screams, too. Brings her axe down one more time and severs the chain.
Wilson gone.
Domino here, here, here.