Page 99 of Victorious: Part 3

He shakes his head in annoyance anyway. “We’re back on Olivia? Everyone is so fucking caught up on this bitch.I didn’t kill her. Sure, I gave the order, but I didn’t shove a fucking blade into her organs.” He turns to look at Nighthawk, who wracks her jaw from side to side like she’s ready to jab a blade into his vital organs right about now.

Black Swan chuckles, tilting her head, waving a scalpel in her hand. “You’re right. And I gave you the information on Livvy’s whereabouts and her schedules, so technically, I killed her too. But then, Alpha married her and put her in the line of fire, so he killed her as well, right?”

Javier smiles, nodding his head. “Now you’re getting it. I alwaysknewyou were the smart one, Black Swan—”

She steps forward dramatically, sliding the scalpel into his abdomen with the precision of a surgeon, then twists. Javier’s eyes widen, a gargled sound escaping his mouth as his body jerks with the movement. The rest of us are shocked by the sudden, brutal action.

She leans in beside his ear and growls, “You died the day you let your mother rot in a cell. You wanted to be a man she would be proud of, well, she wouldspiton your unmarked grave.” She leans back, twisting the blade in his gut and then spits in his face for good measure. His chin drops to his chest, his breathinglabored, his body a mass of blood, cuts, and wounds as he fights to stay breathing.

Black Swan twists to look at Haven, something unspoken being said between them, then the two of them turn to look at Poppy.

My heart stops, understanding what is happening.

They’re letting her step up to her full potential—to finally be Hummingbird.

Fuck!

This time, I don’t let Loki stop me, and I step forward, my heart hammering out of my chest as I rush for the other side of the room to stand next to my daughter. “Baby girl, you don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do,” she says, her voice harder than I’ve ever heard it. “He took my mom. His Cartel tried to take me. Daddy, I know you don’t understand any of this. I know Haven and I scare you, but this is a part of me, and I need to do this. Otherwise, I’ll never be free of it.”

I glance at Haven, who nods.

She trusts her.

And fuck, I want to protect my daughter.

To shield her from what this means.

But I also know this is her closure.

Running my hands through my hair as fear courses through my veins, I step back. Haven slides her arm around me, giving me the support I clearly need right now as I watch my daughter step up to the man I despise.

The man I have been fighting for what feels like a lifetime.

Poppy pulls out a small dagger, another one she was hiding down the back of her pants. It shakes in her grip, but only slightly. She walks up to Javier and stares him down. His barely open eyes glance back at her as blood covers his face like some impressionist painting.

“You killed my mom,” Poppy whispers.

He tries to smirk, but his face is a mess, and his lip is so swollen it’s hard to tell where his lip ends and his nose begins. “Her screams were like music to my ears.”

Poppy doesn’t falter. She brings the blade up, shining it in the light. “Do you know howyourmother died, Javier?” Poppy asks, tilting her head almost maniacally.

Javier coughs. “We’re not talking aboutmy mother, little bird—”

She presses the tip of her blade into his chest, the tip drawing a line of blood. “She died in your prison, but the guards told you she died of natural causes,right?”she states, toying with him.

He sits taller, opening his eyes wider, though still not wide with how swollen they are. “Shediddie of natural causes.”

“Did she?”Poppy answers coyly, bringing the tip of her blade to her finger, playing with it. “Because the warden is my dad’s friend, remember? So, when we learned that there was a member of the Cartel in there, let alone such a pivotal maternal role. Well, they’ll let anyone into prisons, to you know, take care of business.”

Javier jerks in the chair, finding a new wave of strength. “You’re lying!”

Poppy turns around to face me. “Am I?” she asks me, and I simply shrug in response, looking smug, following her lead, because we most definitely did not order a hit on his mother.

“You fuckingcoños!You killed my mother,” he screams, almost belligerent as he thrashes about in the chair.

Poppy leans in, her face right in front of his, my heart racing as she brings the blade up with a smirk. “Now you know what it feels like when someone kills your mother,” she growls. Then she brings her blade up, and Javier flinches, clenching his eyes, and Poppy chuckles as she drops it to the Chapel table. The blade wobbles to-and-fro with her deception. Then she turns back toface me, a smile on her face.