Page 53 of Dreadful

“It seems my nephew has started to put things together. Severino, should we tell him what you know?”

“What?Him? What could he know? He was a child back then,” the judge hisses. “Has he seen the photos?”

“He didn’t have to see the photos. He was there.”

My heart thunders in my ears, a drumbeat before an execution. The rest of the world stills around me, and my mind is slow to process his words as he continues.

“I locked him in the room beside hers so that I’d have a backup plan if the day came when you’d be reluctant to play your part. I couldn’t have anticipated how attached he would get to her memory, but he’ll give me no trouble when I sic him on you. It’s been a long con, but those are the most satisfying don’t you think? He’s the only one who would willingly testify about what happened to his little friend. I’ll warn you, though, if I unleash him, you probably won’t make it to a trial. Not after what you did to Chiara.”

“Chiara?” I breathe life into the name, and I instantly know. “That was…that was her name?”

The girl who saved me.

I finally know her name.

The knowledge cracks through me like lightning.

I break.

“You motherfucker.” I lunge from the table with my steak knife in hand before I can think. Judge Dickie scrambles up in alarm, and his chair clatters to the floor behind him.

“No! This is a nice dinner!” my mother gasps as three sets of arms grab me mid-leap. Whoever snuck in while I was distracted can barely hold me back. I slice the air rabidly until someone snatches my arm and bends it back at an odd angle, forcing the knife to fall from my hand.

“Nowthisis the show I’ve been waiting for.” My uncle chuckles before snapping his fingers. “Take away his cane, too. The man is brutal with it if he can get his hands on it.”

They do as he orders, but I still fight back. I’ve lost my sense of reason to the wave of rage that I’m submerged in. The man who hurt Chiara is right in front of me.

Claudio bangs his fist on the table. “Everyone else out! For Christ’s sake,idiota,don’t you realize when you’re not wanted?”

I’m still fighting with my captors, but out of the corner of my eye, I see the butler flee through the door. The maid hesitates to follow.

“Here, dear, let me help you.” My mother jumps from her seat and puts her arm around the maid. She cringes away, making it impossible to see her expression. I don’t know why she gives a shit about me, and I don’t care. There can’t be witnesses to what I’m about to do.

“Go. Get out of here! Now!”

She jolts, but she listens to me and leaves with my mother. My mind clears again, and all I can focus on is my sniveling target in front of me and the arms and hands keeping me from slicing him to ribbons.

“Lasciatemi andare!Let go of me!”

“Think about this, Sever. Rein those emotions in,” Raze grunts under his breath.

I glance back to see him, Roman, and Tiero grappling with me. Betrayal burns like acid in my chest, and I throw punches where I can. They must have slipped in while my head was ringing with Chiara’s name.

“Fuck you! Get off of me. I’ll fucking kill him.”

The judge steps closer to me, but I can’t attack him because my cousins push me chest first into the table’s edge, knocking the wind out of me. One of them shoves my shoulders down, wrenching my arms back and forcing me to collapse to my knees. Pain shoots up my leg, but my adrenaline is too high to let that stop me. I glare up at them and meet their grimacing faces.

“I’ll kill all of you if you don’t fucking let me go—”

“Now, now, Severino. This might be fun and games for me, but I need you to settle down. There’s still business to discuss—”

A sharp pain slices into my chest, and I gasp. I turn around in slow motion to see the judge with a crazed look on his face and a bloody steak knife in his hand.

“Oh,shit,” one of my cousins curses.

“Huh, well, that was unexpected,” Claudio mutters. “One of you, please restrain our guest.”

Roman has already released his grip on me before Claudio makes his order. He grabs Dickie by the collar of his suit jacket, easily subduing him. His weapon drops to the ground, and manic laughter wheezes from him.