Page 177 of Dance of Devils

“I’m not interested in explanations,” I say quietly. “I’m not actually interested inanythingyou might feel compelled to say. Shut your fucking mouth and listen to me.” I level a cold look at him. “Ripping off military widows and retirees is pretty low, Derrick. But scamming your own fuckingstepdaughter?” I shake my head. “Do you have any idea what she’s done just to survive over the last year or so? How hard she’s been treading water, just to keep her nose barely above it? All soyoucould rip her off month after month for…what,coke money?” I snarl.

Derrick starts to cry. I don’t give a single flying fuck.

“Stop fucking sniveling, asshole,” I hiss. When he keeps at it, I pound my fist on the table. “You don’t get to be sad, motherfucker!!” I roar. He chokes, trying to hold back the tears with a terrified look on his face.

“Please,” he whimpers. “If…just…” He glances at the gun in my hand. “Just make it fast?”

I chuckle. “Oh,this? No no no, Derrick,” I sigh. “I’m not going to kill you. For a start, although you were terrible at it, I’m giving you asmallfucking pass for at least trying with Brooklyn when she was a kid, after her mother died. You were a shitty caregiver, but you at least kept a roof over her head, andsomefood in her mouth.” I shake my head. “But also, I won’t kill you simply because you’re the only family she has left. I won’t take that from her.”

He starts to relax until I use the gun to push the little pad of paper and pen across the table to him.

“Youwill.”

He blinks in stunned, scared confusion.

“You’re going to disappear, Derrick,” I growl quietly. “For good. But before that, you’re going to write Brooklyn a letter.”

He starts to nod eagerly, but I hold up a hand. “Let me finish, or I’ll blow off one of your testicles.”

He freezes.

“In this letter, you’re going to tell her that your crimes were far worse than you said. That you hadn't been charged with grandlarceny, but with sexual assault on a child. Let's make that several children, actually.”

He looks at me in horror. “W-what?! I wouldnever?—”

I cock the gun, making him jump.

“What you are, in fact,nevergoing to do,” I growl, “is let that poor girl know that she’s been lowering herself to levels she never imagined she’d have to, just so you couldscamher. Because it would break her.” I grit my teeth and lean forward. “Disgusting her is the lesser of two evils for you here, Derrick. If you break her…” I shake my head. “Well, there’s no hell I could threaten you with that would even comecloseto what I’d put you through.”

I nod at the paper and pen. “So: you’ll tell her you’re a disgusting child abusing piece of shit. You’ve been hiding your true crimes from her, and Diego has been a part of that at your request. You’ll tell her you’re sorry for doing what you did and being what you are, and that you hate yourself. You’ll say that you have made bail, but your intentions are to go on the run, because you’re terrified to face prison after everything you’ve done.”

Derrick crumples, his face gaunt as he stares at the piece of paper.

“What happens after I write the letter?” he chokes.

“Youdisappear,” I growl. “And I do mean disappear. You find the most remote place on Earth, you dig yourself a nice little hole there, and you fuckingstayin that hole until you die. Because if I ever hear about you, evenknowanyone who hears about you, there is no length to which I won’t go to drag you through a hell you cannot even imagine. Is that clear enough even for you?”

He nods pitifully, not meeting my eyes.

“Good. Now write the fucking letter. Don’t leave anything out.”

He swallows as he picks up the pen. Then he glances up at me. “How is she?” he murmurs quietly. “I mean, is she?—”

“She’s no longer someone you're allowed to think about. You forfeited that privilege when you put her through hell just to scam her.” I level a dark look at him as I tap the table with the gun. “Write, motherfucker.”

It’slike a knife to my chest when I see her crumple a week later, reading the letter mailed to our house from Florida.

If she hurts, I hurt, even though I know this is a pain I’m technically behind.

But honestly, there was no option here thatdidn’thurt her. Behind door number one, Derrick disappoints herandmakes her a victim yet again. One more instance of a man using her innate desire to see the best in the world to hurt her. Door number two, he just…disappoints her.

Picking that lie over the truth is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. But my priority now isher, and her safety.

And again, that includes her heart and spirit. There was no way I was going to let that motherfucker rip her off for a year andalsocrush both those things.

All that matters is that she knows Derrick is a piece of shit, and that he’s out of her life for good.

A few days after the letter, she slowly starts becoming an even brighter version of herself. It’s like a final weight has been lifted from her chest or the last shadowy cloud has been cleared from the sky, and she can finally turn the page on that black chapter of her life, and our new one together can truly begin.