𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

48

"We're goin' to the nearest airport in Houston, right?" I confirm with Dieson.

We were almost in the city limits.

"Yes," he answers tersely.

He was so damn confusing. Alternating between acting like nothing happened with us in that motel room this morning, back to being mad.

I had a right to be mad, not him.

"I want Mother to ride in with us," I decide.

"What?" he snaps, "Did you even clear that with M? You only said us two were goin'? Plus, what's an old woman gonna do that we can't? She'll only be a liability. I don't have time to look out for her we're already gonna be outnumbered from the jump."

"I don't need to clear things with her. This is my mission, Dieson. Not everyone is as controlling as you are, Dieson," I argue.

"Why, he asks slowly, "do we need to bring her along?"

"I'm givin' her the honor of killin' my father," I declare. "Of course, I'll tie him up or pin him down or something because she's a bit older and doesn't needa be on the ground tusslin' with him, but I'll let her shoot h-"

"You're gonna kill Cerbey, then you're not! Make up your mind, Courtlynn," he snaps, looking my way, "Are you cut out to run the family or not?"

"I might not be cut out to run the family, but I'll fold the edges until I am," I glare at him.

"You don't wanna really do it. You're afraid," he continues on without a pause, "You've been sayin' all this time that you'll be the one to do it- even insistin' on it, now you wanna change your mind-"

"And it's my right to!" I yell.

"Nobody has a right to kill another person, Courtlynn," he laughs at me, his voice dark, "Let's be for real," his tone is patronizing.

"But I have a right to the decision, because it's in my own damn mind, fool," I say.

He taps his fingers on the wheel.

"So why? Why give up something like that to-to a woman like her? For what?" he asks quietly.

"He killed her daughter," I look at him like he's crazy, "Yeah, he got my aunt killed, or maybe that was Amina, but...nothing surpasses a mother losing her child to a monster. I'll hold him down, whatever I gotta do, and she gets to have at him. I might finish up from there, I may never harm him. Whatever I choose to do though...is my decision, Dieson. No matter what I said in the past. This is the now."

"Could you reach that pen on the floor for me, Court?" he requests, pointing. I frown, unbuckling my seatbelt and looking down on my side for any signs of a pen. Why would he want one right now anyways? It's not like he needed to sign a deal or something.

"You do realize...that if Mr. Cerbey got Zenaida pregnant. If he got," he says even slower as I lift my head up to glare at him, "Mother's daughter pregnant, and somehow that child lives...that kid would be old enough to come and kill you. That kid would be old enough to make a grab for Cerbey's throne. To enter the Cerbey Race, essentially," he states.

I gulp, not having considered that outcome.

"And you readily accept this fact, Courtlynn Cerbey?"

"I do."

"'Til death do us part," Dieson whispers.

He slams on the brakes, my body rocketing forward into the dashboard. My head cracks against the glove compartment with a loud crunch-like sound. I fall against the side of my door, blood leaking down my head as my vision doubles.