Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Sebastian is going to need me after this, more than ever, probably all of us.
We'll take care of him.
Another cut, another whimper from Tanya. "I want you to say you're sorry and mean it, but even an apology won't save you now."
"I'm sorry," Tanya whispers. "I'm sorry for hurting you, for whatever pain you feel from what happened between us."
I roll my eyes and shake my head but stay quiet. If she thinks saying the words is good enough, then she doesn't understand what she's done, just like Yanov didn't understand what he did either.
Sebastian presses the blade to Tanya's throat, right below the curve of her jaw. The second the blade touches her skin she leans back, toppling over onto her ass, her legs splayed sideways beside her. Sebastian follows until Tanya has scooted all the way to the wall near the door, her chin tilted up as she tries to get her vital arteries away from the razor sharp edge.
"This is your last chance, Tanya. You can give me closure."
"So you can just kill me after? Why should I?"
Sebastian smiles and sighs. "Some part of me was hoping you'd say that. Do you remember the time you gave me a hand job while we were at a business event and it was all I could do to sit there and not react while my insides boiled to cut your hand off at the wrist?'
Tanya blinks. "No. I don't remember that."
Seb shoots forward and nicks her pale neck. Blood pours out immediately.
Tanya reaches up to clamp a hand there. "Oh God, you...you really are going to kill me."
Sebastian nods. "Yes, I really am. No matter what you do or what you say, you will die. I'm just trying to give you a nobler death, maybe. Which is dumb, as you wouldn't know anything about mercy or being noble. You don't know anything but selfishness and greed."
Tanya blinks up at him then over at me. "Help me. We...stop him. He seems to listen to you."
I give her a droll look and glance over my shoulder, "Oh, are you talking to me? Well, let me just get right on that."
I glance up at Sebastian, who flashes me the briefest smirk. It's enough to soothe my raw insides, enough to let me know my Sebastian is still in this cold, unfeeling creature before me.
Tanya looks between us a few times, and her shoulders slump. "I'm done talking. Just kill me."
Sebastian stands and takes a spin around the room like he's trying to hype himself up to do this.
"You don't have to, you know?" I whisper.
He doesn't look at me. "I need to do this. She won't hurt anyone else ever again."
"I could..."I swallow hard, not even sure of what I'm saying. "I could do it for you. Or Aries. He seems like he'd love to rearrange her face with his gun."
Tanya lets out a little sob, dropping her chin to her chest, still holding one hand to her neck.
"No," Sebastian says, shaking his head, his eyes on his prey now, the ultimate predator. "No. It has to be me."
He steps forward again and crouches beside her once more. "You hurt me, and no matter how many times I told you, you didn't care. Even now, you don't see what you did as something awful, something disgusting. I guess you have to go to the grave with that knowledge, and I hope when I see you in hell you'll have a better grasp on the type of monster you’re."
Tanya blinks up at Sebastian as he pulls his gun off the desk nearby and presses it to her forehead until the back of her head is flat against the wall, trapped between the barrel and the wallpaper.
"You are evil, and I hate you," he whispers.
I turn my head as the loud crack of the gun firing cuts through the room.
I don't dare look. I can't.
Until I hear a soft sob. I look then, keeping my eyes trained on Sebastian and off the mess of Tanya in front of him.
He's on his knees, blood pooling around his pants in a slow leak.
I stand, tucking the knife in the sleeve along my forearm and approach him, keeping clear of the growing pool of blood. "It's done. She can’t hurt you anymore. No one can. We’re free Sebastian. Free and together."
He turns enough to press his head into my chest and the heavy sob he releases rattles me to the core.
CHAPTER 26
SEBASTIAN
Even as hot tears wash down my cheeks, I feel empty. Blank and endless in a way I've never felt before. Ely clutches my head to her waist, and I wrap my arms tighter around her, as tight as I can get, so tight I can barely breathe through the tears and the fabric of her shirt.