Page 100 of The Hitman's Prince

“Get on your fucking knees, Orion.”

It was easy. It was expected.

It was home.

I sank down before him, resting my ass on my heels and keeping my eyes downcast as to not enrage him further. I knew it had been a risk to sneak out, even worse to do what I’d done, but it was more than necessary.

“Where did you go?” he asked again.

“I paid a visit to Caspian’s father.”

Vince cursed out loud and moved fast as lightning. He fisted my hair and pulled, hard enough to make my scalp burn. I didn’t have a chance to get my footing, so instead he dragged me through the townhouse and up the stairs to his bedroom. My knees banged on each stair, one of my fingers twisting as I tried—and failed—to find some balance.

Caspian let out a startled noise when Vince hauled me into the room, and I hoped he would ignore the tears welling in the corners of my eyes. Vince was very close to pulling my hair out of my scalp, but even with me on my knees in front of the three of them now, he showed no signs of releasing me.

“Tell them where you went,” he demanded, twisting my hair so I had to look Caspian in the eye.

“I went to see your father,” I said.

Emotion flashed across his face and I could see his throat contract as he swallowed. Jacob wrapped an arm around him, offering him comfort.

“And what?” Vince prompted.

“I cut off his hand,” I admitted.

Caspian gasped, hands flying up to cover his mouth. He leaned halfway into Jacob’s arms, but stopped short of turning away from me entirely.

“I should fucking crate you,” Vince seethed, jerking me to face him instead of Caspian. He slapped me across the face with enough to knock loose the tears I’d been holding back.His hand in my hair meant I had nowhere to go, nothing to do except feel the brunt of his palm against my cheek. He slapped me a second time and a third, and I knew he was mad because he was scared. He’d done so much work to build a safe life for us and he was scared I’d gone rogue and ruined it, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Why?” Caspian’s question was hard to hear over the brutal and repeated crack of Vince’s hand against my face. He’d definitely bruised my cheekbone, maybe even my jaw. Caspian cleared his throat and asked again, “Why did you cut off his hand?”

“He offered yours when it wasn’t his to give.” I spit blood out of my mouth and onto the floor, thankful no teeth came with it. “So I took his to remind him of his place.”

Vince shoved me away with so much force I had nowhere to go besides down. I landed on the floor in a heap, cheek hurting more now that he’d stopped hitting me. I covered the side of my face with my own hand, the heat of his strikes burning my palm like a brand.

“Orion,” Caspian said my name like an apology, pulling himself away from Jacob and sinking to his knees in front of me. He took my face into his hands, coming forward and kissing my cheek, his soft lips somehow taking away all of the pain Vince had made with his hand.

“It was nothing,” I said roughly. I wanted to pull away from him, the kindness making my stomach turn, but…Caspian needed it.

“Liar.”

I shook my head and dared a glance in Vince’s direction. He had his arms folded in front of his chest, his features stern but less dangerous than when I’d walked back into the house.

“Did you open me up for retaliation?” he asked.

“No, Sir.”

“How do you know?”

I had no secrets from Vince, but I didn’t want to tell him this. I didn’t want him to know I’d learned things from his father that I hoped I’d never have to use again, and yet…

“I incentivized him,” I said instead of offering a direct answer.

“If you think I won’t tie you to a bed and exact my own kind of punishment on you, dog, you have another thing coming,” he warned.

“I told him if he acted out of turn that I would come for his cock,” I answered. “I explained to him, in detail, how I would take the skin from it and what I would do with it before I cut it off of him entirely.”

Caspian swore and then dry-heaved, turning away from me in disgust.