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I pause.
Her mask slips back up as a loud cackle roars out of her. I have to fight all that’s inside of me not to kill her right now. “Every step I took was to earn him back. He eventually came to me. Helped me. We kept the lie that you thought he thought I was dead, because it would be easier for me to play the victim if you knew your father tormented me. He put everything in motion the day that girl walked her bright little soul into the darkness of our manor. I walked from you, from him, to fulfill this, and Brantley, it will be fulfilled. Your father was a powerful man in all the right places. While The Kings were playing god, he was getting dirty with scum, but the scum is what made this happen.” She can’t look at me as she speaks. She’s lying.
“Why. What’s it to Lucan?” I start counting in my head. I can’t be standing here for minutes longer. The more she talks, the angrier I become, but I need answers—and I need all of them before I make a move. A move I don’t even know yet.
“Let me ask you something.” Veronica leans forward, gazing up at me. “All those girls he made you have sex with. All the boys. The videos he made. What did you think that was for? Aside from trying to impregnate girls?”
I hear the beating of blood being pumped through my veins. “What?”
Veronica smirks up at me. “The Vatican, Brantley. They were for The Vatican.”
“The fucking orphanage that Saint was in?”
“Yes.”
I pause. “You told me that she was to wear that emblem. That it was to keep her safe.”
“I lied,” she whispers. “That was just a simple step to see if you trusted me. One of the many steps.”
“The fucking Vatican. Wait.” I squeeze the handle of my gun. “Are you saying she was brought to me for fucking that?”
Veronica shrugs. “Hector, in his defense, didn’t know what The Vatican did with your father. He put Saint in when she was a baby, thinking they would keep her safe. The Vatican called Lucan right away to collect her, that she was to be protected. They urged Hector to take her to Lucan, feeding off of the fact Lucan only cared about the continuation of his bloodline. But then you became fierce over her. Like an animal, unhinged. Lucan couldn’t whisper her name without you flipping your shit, so we had to play it safe and allow you both to come together organically. I wanted Saint, Lucan wanted her to be with child.”
I start pacing because if I don’t, I’m going to kill her and everyone in this house. Fuck if my brothers die. “What do they do to them when they’re in The Vatican?”
“Some are sent to covens, but mostly, they all die if they can’t be sold.”
“Virgins are worth more money. Doesn’t make sense why he would make me fuck them before.”
“Not every man wants a virgin, and you didn’t get them all.”
Saint was sent to me from The Vatican without Hector’s knowledge.
To be a recording.
But Lucan knew she was more worthy than that.
I keep my tone neutral. I don’t want her to notice she has thrown me off-balance. If Lucan was sending them to The Vatican, then that means he had his nails deep into witch business way before we even knew about Saint being gifted. “Why did he do this?”
Veronica shrugs. “The Vatican had an agreement with Lucan. It fed his addiction, and The Vatican got paid. Lucan never took money for his dealings, though, and the leader of The Vatican got the one thing they wanted. Power.”
I think over everything she has told me. “You’ve taken over what he did since he died.”
She nods slowly. “But worse.”
“How so?” I snarl, baring my teeth.
She opens her mouth. “I run The Vatican, too. Always have.”
I’ve peaked. Tapping out. I’m done playing this fucking game. “I knew you were full of shit with this cursed shit,” I snap, dropping down to her eye level. “See, I knew everything.”
She pauses but doesn’t offer a fleck of unease at the way I’m moving fluidly without restraint. Good. “I knew you ran The Vatican. I found out the night you tried to say Saint was my sister.” She opens her mouth, but I raise my hand to silence her. “I knew she wasn’t my sister all along. You think I’m stupid? Or even worse, your lack of education when it comes to The Elite Kings is even more humorous than I could give you credit for. I admit, watching this fucker put his hands all over Saint, and having to play along with the brother act was one of the worst fucking things I’ve gone through, but Veronica?” I reach for the knife that’s in my pocket and unclip it. Her eyes fly around the room now. I lower my voice. “Ah, I see it. Now you’re scared, right? Have you finally figured it out?”
Her brows curve in, shading her eyes. I rest the blade in my hand. “This has always been our game, and you played right into our riddle.” I hear the footsteps behind and don’t have to turn over my shoulder to know who are all behind me.
Veronica shakes her head. “No. Impossible. You can’t have known. No way. My plan was flawless! Confusion and knots that not even you could untie!”
I chuckle, ru
Veronica shakes her head. “She didn’t. I would have known.”
I run the pointed tip over the curve of her jaw. She wriggles backward and forward, sweat dripping down the side of her neck. “Because of your gifts? You’ve been living in your bullshit little world of covens, witches, and Elders for so long, you actually believe the shit you talk.” She screams once I get to the end of her chin. Blood trickles down her neck. “Just off subject.” I tilt my head. “Have I ever mentioned to you that I know exactly how to make someone bleed out without killing them?” I smirk.
“Oh, come on,” Samael grunts in the background.
“There’s an art to it. You just—” I lean beneath her chin to see the parting between her skin and her muscle. “Have to make sure you don’t cut too deep. Back to my storytelling…” I stop my cutting, standing straight. “We all knew she wasn’t your daughter, but with her own stubbor