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She laughs again. "Are you really waiting until after the baby is born to get married?"
"Yes. William and I have rushed so much in the past, skipped so many steps. Now we both know what we want. There’s no need to hurry. This will be the only wedding I’ll ever have. I want to remember the day I become the wife of the man I love, every detail."
“L”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Past
SOMEWHERE IN SOUTH AMERICA
"I can payyou anything you want!" William Marshall III yells, hanging by a hook, naked and about to meet his fate.
After two days of fun, unfortunately, I have to go. I have a contract in Egypt in less than a week.
"Don’t worry about that. You’ve already paid. If it weren’t necessary for me to remove my gloves, I’d show you the transfer I made from your account to mine in Mauritius?1. But I’m methodical. If I take them off now, I’ll have to wash my hands before grabbing my phone, and then I’d only kill you tomorrow. I planned to wrap up our business today."
He starts to cry, then hurls insults and threats at me. He begs for mercy, then immediately tells me to go to hell.
Damn, they’re never original when they’re about to die, but those born with a silver spoon are the worst. In a way, this bastard and I almost became friends. We’ve spent many hours interacting.
During our time together, I uncovered all the missing pieces of Taylor’s story. Nothing too exciting. He really didn’t do anything to her because he believed the redhead would love him one day. However, after they set off on that cruise and he realized he wasn’t making any progress with Taylor, he planned to start drugging her so he could rape her. They’re secrets that, for the sake of Jackie’s friend’s boyfriend, I’ll take to my grave.?2Either way, William the father is already a dead man, and his son doesn’t need to be haunted by his father’s sick plans.
With only a little coaxing—just a few hours of torture—he told me that Curtis was the product of a rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. She wasn’t a prostitute the way everyone, even Curtis, believed. She became one only after her parents kicked her out when she showed up pregnant. I don’t like family dramas, but if there’s ever a situation where you can say “like father, like son,” this is it. The girl’s story is sad, but that’s not what made me decide to torture him instead of putting a bullet between his eyes—my usualmodus operandi.It was finding out that this son of a bitch had decided to go after Jackie.
William put two and two together and realized it was her who’d planned Taylor’s rescue. He wanted to punish her for messing up his life, and in doing so, he signed his own death warrant.
"I don’t want to die."
I place one hand on my hip—just the back of it, so I don’t get blood on it—and look at the man who’s already dead but doesn’t know it yet.
"We’re at an impasse, then," I say, choosing the perfect knife for what I’m about to do. "Because I really want to kill you. You could have spared yourself all this pain. I’m a good guy . . .No, scratch that. I’m not a good guy, but I consider myself fair. I’d have shot you. You wouldn’t even have known what had happened. You’d have gone to sleep and woken up in hell."
"I accept!"
"You missed your chance."
"Who the hell are you?"
"I don’t have just one name. I’ve been called a lot of things, but since we’re saying goodbye, it would be rude for you to leave without a proper introduction. My given name is Lucifer."
"What?"
"Enough talk, William. Give my regards when you arrive in hell. I’ve got several friends down there."
"Why do I have to die? Taylor is safe."
"This has nothing to do with Taylor anymore; it’s about Jackie. She’s mine. Nobody touches what’s mine."
"You can have her. I don’t want that bitc?—"
A clean slash, ear to ear, and then my favorite color emerges: red.
I drop the knife and peel off my gloves. I stretch, my body aching a bit from too much enthusiasm.
Finally, I can take a shower and then have dinner.
Tax Haven