Page 38 of Dreadful

My heart stutters.

My Tallie…

“Yes! She asked for it, dude, I swear.”

Please don’t believe him. Please, please, please—

Sev busts into an outright laugh.

“You’re either delusional, a pathological liar, or both. Wait…did you think she wanted it all those other times, too? Is that why you never said yes?”

“I-it’s true—”

Sev grabs his cane and Percy’s lapels at the same time. “There’s no fucking way that littleviperahas ever touched you on her own. You’re not worth the privilege.”

He lets Percy go to grab his hand again. The razor slices off the pinkie finger like butter.

“Ten. That’s how many times you assaulted her, motherfucker.”

Percy’s piercing scream trails off as he passes out. His head lolls to his chest while his hands fall to his sides. Blood glistens in the freezing puddles on the pavement, and I wish I could see the crimson color melt down the alley’s storm drain.

Sev gathers the eight severed fingers, and curiosity furrows my brow as he wraps them up with his tie. I rack my brain to try to figure out what he’ll do next, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight of Sev opening Percy’s mouth and stuffing the bundle down the unconscious man’s throat. Percy wakes instantly, and I watch in pure shock as my tormentor squirms and chokes to death on his own lies.

Meanwhile, Sev leans on his cane to stand, seemingly unbothered by the man dying in front of him. He calmly sets his cane against the wall, and his grip tightens on the razor in his hand. Just as casually, he gathers Percy’s thick head of hair and tilts his neck at an odd angle.

“The moment you touched my woman, your life was over. I warned you about lying to me, Percy.La verità è bella. Truth is beautiful. This was always going to be your fate, but at least you wouldn’t have died a liar.”

With that, Sev stabs his razor deep into Percy’s neck and wrenches the blade to the other side with a grunt. Blood sprays out laterally as my assaulter dies instantly, and Sev drops him with a thud before wiping his razor on his victim’s shirt. When he’s finished, Percy’s neck is left dangling from his shoulders, his head nearly torn all the way off.

The finality of the moment rings like a bell in the alley’s quiet emptiness. I’m stunned into stillness, but inside, I’m dying to run to the man who just killed for me. My core throbs and my nipples tingle for his deadly touch.

I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me, but I back away before I do something incredibly stupid, like jump into a murderer’s arms and beg him to soothe this ache inside me.

No one has ever stuck up for me. I was a pawn before I was kidnapped, and after, I had to hide to stay safe. Mynonnidid their best to love me through that trauma, but it was retribution that I needed, and that was impossible. No one takes on the Mafia and survives. For years, I’ve suffered in silence with my nightmares and no hope for justice. Not unless I fight for it myself.

And yet, Sev has just fought this battle for me.

“Raze, I’ve got a clean up.”

I shuffle closer to the alleyway entrance again and strain to hear.

“Che cazzo,” Raze curses so loudly I can hear him over the phone speaker, making Sev wince. He presses a button that decreases the volume as his cousin complains. “Sever, I thought you were going to a play or some shit. Now I’ve got to leave…”

Sever.

I glance at the corpse by his feet.

Yup, that tracks.

“There was a change of plans…yeah, yeah, yeah, but do we everreallyget a ‘night off?’… Then bring Tiero and Roman with you. I need someone to come take thisfiglio di puttanaoff my hands. Gertrude thinks I just stepped out to get her coat. She doesn’t need to know I got sidetracked, andIneed that plausible deniability…why? Well, he…he wasn’t a target exactly.”

Raze lets out a groan that’s loud enough for me to hear even at this distance.

“Yeah, I let my emotions get the best of me this time, but thebastardodeserved it…of course, I’ll help next time. You know I live for this shit.”

So, do I.

Damn, Sever may be more fucked up than I am. I hate that I love that.