Page 87 of Victorious: Part 3

Finally finding my breath, I shake my head and haul myself upright with a guttural cry, fury overriding agony. “Fucking asshole!” I grumble.

She grins at me through her mask. “Hurts like a bitch, don’t it?” she chimes, shooting the final guard at point-blank range as he lunges at her.

“I’m just fucking angry now. You ready to go get this motherfucker?” I growl.

“Oh, yeah,” she roars.

Together, we charge the last few yards, boots thudding over broken glass and spent shells. With all my might, I use my shoulder to ram into the fucking door, the door breaks its hinges, bursting open with a groan, and as a team, we file into the final chamber with weapons hot.

Then everything stops.

The world narrows to a slow, poisoned heartbeat, and at the far end of the red-hued room, framed by polished black stone and decadence, stands Javier.

Untouched by the violence that scorched every inch of this compound.

Untouched by the lives torn apart underhiscommand.

Untouched by the women who bled their way through hell to face him.

His white suit is pressed to perfection.

Not a wrinkle, not a smear.

A pistol rests in his gloved hand like an accessory.

But he doesn’t flinch.

He doesn’t run.

He just…

… smiles.

Like the arrogant fuck he is.

“Bravo,” he says, voice smooth as silk, but laced with venom. “Truly…magnifique.” His gaze glides over the blood-soaked feathers that remain. “You always had talent, my little birds. Though I must say, your entrance was very…theatrical.”

I take a step forward, shoulders heaving. My knife is warm in my hand, slick with blood. My vest is torn, my skin scorched.

But I am still standing.

“You should’ve run,” I rasp.

“Oh no,mi amore. That would ruin the performance.” His smile deepens. “After all, what’s the point of building a kingdom if you can’t watch the soldiers you made, think they can tear it all down?”

Nighthawk cocks her gun, staring him dead-eyed. “Youhonestlythink we’renotgoing to rip you limb from limb. That we’renotgonna burn your empire to the fucking ground?”

Javier lifts his hands, gun dangling loosely from one finger. “Well…” he drawls, spreading his arms wide with a cocky chuckle, “… I knowyoubelieve that you will, but we all know thatdeep down, soldiersalwaysend up obeying their rulers. And I must say, you’ve made all this effort to come see me. Your ruler, your superior, your king…” We all scoff, and I have to physically hold back the bile in my throat as the smug asshole continues, “So why not stay for dinner? Isn’t that how we met the first time, Blue Jay? Over dinner? We had somelooovelyfinger food—”

“On. Your. Knees,” I bark, my anger overwhelming me, as Iraise my gun, aiming dead center at his chest.

He doesnotget to make jokes about Livvy and cutting off her finger.

Not now, not fucking ever!

He chuckles, placing the gun on his desk, and begins pacing the room. “You look positively radiant, Blue Jay. Covered in blood suits you. Livvy would’ve approved.”

My finger tightens on the trigger, my emotions starting to take a chokehold on me.