Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“That’s why Lazar tried to take Ainsey.”
“The daughter?”
“Yeah. Cort killed Pavo and then… Udulf owed him or something. And Lazar wanted Ainsey as payment because he must’ve known that she was Cort’s daughter and it would hurt Cort to know…” She glances at the envelope on the coffee table. Then she looks up at me. “They were gonna do that kind of stuff to Ainsey, weren’t they? To keep Cort in line.”
“Well, I don’t think they thought that far ahead, to be honest. I wasn’t there, obviously, but I’ve heard that there was a fight scheduled that day between Maart and Cort. I think they assumed he would die.”
Irina nods. “Yeah. I think they did too.”
“But they never saw you comin’. Did they? They never thought those kids would rise up and kill them. I doubt they’ll make that mistake again. So as far as your Ainsey goes, I don’t know. But no matter. They were gonna do something evil to her, that’s for sure.”
Irina begins shaking her head, hugging her knees tightly. “Why? Why would anyone want to do that to a little kid?”
“Because they’re not like us, Irina. They’re the Devil. And like I said, they don’t even know it. It’s just… part of them.”
“Why are you even telling me all this?”
“You wanted to know.”
“I wanted to know about you. You didn’t tell me anything about you!”
“I was getting there.”
“Well, here we are. Tell me. You went to Dublin to kill your father because—” Her eyes get a little glassy. “Is… is your little brother on that tape?”
“No.” She lets out a quick breath of relief. And I hate to do this to her, I really do. But she asked. “I burned that tape. The one with Eoin on it? I burned it.”
“What?” She gets up. Begins to pace the room. “What the fuck?” She whirls around and looks at me. “Why! Why would they do that?”
“Because I didn’t have an owner. And the entire ward was dead. And all the other fighters in all the other camps weren’t just out in the world like I was. They were in the jungle like you. Tucked away in camps, sold off before the blood even stopped flowing. And Wade took the envelope. We had the envelope. And yeah, everyone was dead. So you think… Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. The men who did those things are dead. But if there’s one group of men doing these things, might there be more?
“And there are, Irina. Men who look people in the eye every day and proclaim themselves to be honest and trustworthy. Benny acted like a stupid player, but he wasn’t stupid. He was rather cunning, actually. Because there are more men inside that envelope than should be in there. There’s more insurance than he should’ve had. And now Wade, Davis and I have…” I shrug. “Our own insurance. You asked why they let me live. Why I’m not dead. Well, now you know.”
She’s got her back to me at this moment, and she’s looking out the window towards the sea. She drops her head and sighs. “And you killed your father because he’s one of them now.”
“Well, not anymore.”
She scoffs. Then turns to face me. “How do you wake up in the mornings?”
“As you now know, it’s not easy.”
“Why am I here, Eason?”
“I already told ya. Because I didn’t know that Cort was buying his way out. I thought… I was told, by Benny, that Cort was going to be the start of my initiation. And if I did it just the way they told me, then Eoin would be just fine. But there was never going to be another Sick Heart fight. Benny lied to me. Eoin was already dead. And once he was gone, there was no other way to control me.”
She points to the envelope. “Were they gonna make you do stuff like that to Cort?”
It’s a question that doesn’t need an answer. So I take a new direction. “Did you know that Cort won that last fight with Pavo’s own knife?”
Irina nods. “I heard.”
“Do you think that knife was put on the platform by accident?”
She shakes her head no.
“Pavo was gonna torture him if he got the chance. He was gonna put on a big show on that platform. And then he was gonna be the big winner. He would have to keep fighting, of course, but he was gonna live with a lot of freedom, and money, and everything he desired. He and I probably had the same offer. Just kill the fuckin’ Sick Heart and everything gets better from there.”
She sits back down on the couch and just stares at me. “What were they holding over Pavo?”
“Who knows. Who cares? The point is, Benny died that day in your village and I was out of control. They knew we had the envelope, so that helped us all stay alive. We took his money too.” I pause here to smile. Not because of the money. Just the thought of some royal prince, or King or whatever the fuck Benny’s father was—just the thought of him being told we took all that money kept me going for months after it all went down.