Page 59 of The Forgotten

The four of us break loudly into the lyrics ofShort Dick Man, making Reynard’s men heckle Dad’s dick when I spear it with the poker and force it into his mouth while he screams. At least I won’t have to hear his bullshit now that the poker is searing his tongue.

Once his mouth is ruined, I hand it back to Cai. He cleans off the poker, reheats it, and shoves it into Dad’s ribs, grinning as our father screams wordlessly. I can’t be bothered to wince, knowing as Dad wheezes that it probably punctured his lung. Aled takes the poker and methodically decides to shove it up the gaping hole between Dad’s legs.

“A little late on cauterizing the wound,” Raynard smirks as Aled barks out a laugh. We’ve fallen into solemnity towards the end, and the levity is welcomed.

“Let’s wrap this up so we can take our girl home,” Gareth says. Glancing out the window, I see that she has a blanket thrown over her and she’s sleeping. I don’t know where the hell they found it, but it’s clear that she’s been looked after.

I can feel the weight of the day begin to pull at me, and I have to admit that I’m exhausted.

“Have at it,” I tell Gareth. We agreed that he would take the kill.

Changing his weapon for a knife, he scratches out the wordTRAITORfrom one of Dad’s cheeks, over his forehead, and then down to his other cheek. The word stands out starkly, while Gareth holds on tightly to Dad’s hair to keep him in place as he moves to slit his throat.

“Let us drop him for you, sir,” one of the guards says politely as they ensure that Gareth can stand comfortably behind Dad.

“What’s your plan?” Raynard asks curiously.

“Knife to slit, hatchet to remove the head,” Gareth grunts.

Dad attempts to kick at Gareth, but isn’t able to since we broke all the bones in his legs while whaling on him with the steel bat. Sucks for him.

Gareth shoves the knife into Dad’s throat while we watch, pulling it across to spill his blood. Cai, Aled, and I all flick Dad off as the light disappears from his eyes. I’m glad he died knowing that everything he built was taken from him.

He died helpless, dickless, and mocked by the people he wanted to hold him in the highest esteem.

The guards lower dad from his chains so that he drops to the ground on his face, undignified and haphazardly. Gareth reaches for the hatchet to hack off Dad’s head, and then Raynard steps forward.

“Go clean up. We'll take it from here,” he says.

Nodding, we walk out of the room and head to the office. While it’s a back up plan, it’s also a safe house my father never knew about. There are clean men’s clothes in the office, and the bathroom is set up like a locker room. Showering quickly, the four of us clean up so that we look less like serial killers and more like the businessmen that the world thinks we are.

If it was my choice, we’d throw on joggers and hoodies to call it a day, but unfortunately all we have are full suits. Gareth rolls his eyes as he fixes his tie, before striding out of the room with us behind him.

“Let’s go home,” he tells Balthazar, grinning as the dog sits up and licks carefully at Olivia’s face to wake her up.

“What?” she asks sleepily.

“She’s not walking, big guy,” Gareth chuckles. “She doesn’t have shoes.”

Wrapping the blanket around her since it’s cold out, he picks her up into his arms.

“We’re done here,” he murmurs. Walking out the side door, we leave Uncle Raynard to clean up the mess we left.

“Good,” she sighs, her lashes fluttering as she begins to fall asleep again.

It’s only as we’re on our way home that I get a call I regret picking up.

Chapter

Thirteen

OLIVIA

Maddox’sworried voice pulls me out of my sleep as I listen to him, and I gaze up at Gareth with a frown.

“Cian, do you really need proof of life right now?” Maddox growls. There’s silence as he listens to the call before blowing out a breath. “We’ve had a rough few days, Cian. There hasn’t been a chance for her to call.”

His words ring true to me, but those will sound like excuses for Cian. Sighing, I groan softly in annoyance.