Page 111 of Uprising

He smirks more. “Have you not been paying attention Rose? I don’t give a fuck about other people.”

“You’re the Governor of this city. You’re meant to protect it.”

He shakes his head. “I protect those who deserve it. These people…” He jerks his head at the TV. “These people deserve everything they get for coming up against me.”

“You like some despot. Some sort of dictator.” I spit.

He doesn’t reply. He just fixes his gaze on the screen and with a horrible sinking feeling I watch as it plays out. As slowly, minute by minute the Militia gain the upper hand and this tiny part of the protest is extinguished.

“You can’t beat me Rose.” He states. “You can’t stop me. I have too much power to simply be overthrown in such a manner as this.”

I shut my eyes. I don’t want to believe him. I don’t want to see that this is true but with every image it’s showing the same thing.

The riot is dying out.

The Militia have control.

Roman hasn’t won this.

Rose

He forces me to watch, forces me to sit here, and witness as what feels like another bitter defeat is played out.

Carter comes in, glances at me, then whispers something in Darius’s ear.

He grins then. His eyes sparkling.

He turns to me and I brace myself for whatever horror he’s about to announce but the voice from the TV gets all our attention.

“…We’re getting reports that Otto Montague has been killed in the riots. That his body has…” The reporter pauses, looking at her notes then at the screen, her face looking like she can’t quite believe the words in front of her.

“What the fuck is this?” Darius growls picking up the remote, switching channel.

My stomach flips at the new, more horrific image now displayed in full HD. Otto hasn’t just been killed. He’s not simply been caught in the crossfire. The footage is clearly amateur. But the image is as clear as day.

Otto is hanging from a balcony, like he’s been crucified.

His body has been stripped. He looks like he took one hell of a beating before he was finally offed. And though they’ve tried to blur the offending part, it’s more than obvious that someone cut his dick off. That he was castrated. Tortured too.

I smirk before I can stop myself. I don’t know if Roman did this, or whether it was some other person working for him but it gives me some satisfaction that the bastard suffered before he met his end.

A fist to the side of my head knocks the smile right off my face.

Darius stands over me and then his head turns back to the screen. My eyes dart to it barely believing what they’re now saying. That the protestors are back. That there are more now than ever, and that they’re marching on the Governor’s House.

My eyes meet Darius’s and I can see it, the uncertainty of what next steps to take.

“They’re coming for you.” I taunt.

“Shut the fuck up.” Carter snarls.

I glance at him grinning more. “You think they’ll leave you alone Carter? You think they won’t get their revenge on you too? Roman knows everything you’ve done, and he’s going to make you pay…”

Carter steps into no doubt hit me and Darius blocks him. “That’s enough.” He says. “We don’t have time for this shit.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Carter snaps.

“Get the chopper. Get it ready to go. We leave now.”