Of course Arthur would kill any spies he found within the Cavalieri Della Morte, but no one would need to spy on us because Arthur never goes back on his fucking word.
Lange gazes thoughtfully at his daughter as she makes a right-hand turn and we head down a deserted narrow road. “You could have killed her. You could have raped her and sent her back to me in pieces.”
He talks as if he’s offering her to me so I can do just that. Take my revenge on his daughter so I don’t harm him. Fucking asshole.
“But you’ve already sampled her, haven’t you? I guess you got a taste for pathetic little bitch after you got your dick wet. Blood is thicker than water, girl. Or maybe it doesn’t matter to a slut.”
I turn the gun around and slam the hilt of it into Lange’s face. Blood spurts from his nose and he doubles over, cursing.
Desperate, Branwen looks around at me and shakes her head. Don’t what? Don’t hurt him? Don’t listen to him? I don’t know what she means but right now, I don’t care. All I care about smashing in this fucker’s face.
A moment later, Lange sits up, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Nothing to say about this, Branwen?” he seethes. “No loyalty for your father? You’re not as chatty as you used to be.”
“She’s taken a vow of silence,” I say through gritted teeth. “Won’t speak because of something you did.”
Lange thinks for a moment, then shakes his head, as dismissive about this as he was about Trefor. “Is that all? For heaven’s sake, girl. We’ve all got to make sacrifices for the family. No one understands loyalty anymore.” He turns to me. “I thought you would, being Arthur’s man. I thought Arthur vetted his men more carefully, but apparently not.”
“Shut up.”
“Maybe he’s losing his touch in his old age. That brother of yours gave himself away after just a few weeks. Couldn’t keep his poker face on, just like you. You’re not going to kill me…what was your name again?” Lange says this with the manners of a man making small talk at a cocktail party, despite the blood on his face. “You’re not going to kill me, young man, because that little girl isn’t going to let you.”
He nods at Branwen, a smile that’s almost proud touching his lips. He’s not proud of her, though, he’s proud of whatever he thinks he can expect from her.
But Lange doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t know shit about his daughter and what we’ve been through together. I clasp my hand around the gun, feeling how sweaty my palm is. “Branwen isn’t going to lift a fucking finger to help you.”
Lange laughs, and then winks at Branwen in the rearview mirror. Her hands on the wheel are trembling.
“She’ll help her daddy. You’ll see. Now, where were we? Oh yes, your brother. He was alive when I sawed off that finger. Screamed like a little bitch and gave up who he was in a matter of minutes. Pathetic.”
“Here,” I snap to Branwen, because I need to get out of this fucking car. “Pull over.”
There are a lot of dense trees by the road and I march Lange into them, holding a fistful of his shirt collar and pressing my gun into his back. Lange’s put terrible images into my head and I can’t stop seeing my brother screaming in pain.
“Kneel.” Before I kill him, I want to know one last thing. Not about Trefor, but about Branwen. “What did you do to your daughter? Why is she so fucking terrified?”
Lange stays silent until I threaten to clock him with the gun again. He stares straight ahead, stubborn and resentful. “One of my former associates was arrested and he gave evidence about some business we’d done together. The charges didn’t stick to me, but I needed to teach him a lesson. His daughter used to be friends with Branwen but he’d forbidden the two to see each other. I suggested to Branwen that while Cora’s father was in prison, she renew her friendship with the girl and like a dutiful daughter, she did. I followed Branwen to where Cora was staying, and I killed her.”
Behind me, I hear a sob, and I know Lange killed this girl right in front of Branwen. Maybe she knew in the back of her mind that her daddy hadn’t suggested she renew the friendship with this girl out of the kindness of his heart, but Branwen never would have imagined he’d do something so cruel. She led her friend to her death.
All I want to do is go to her and put my arms around her, but I can’t let this fucker out of my sight. “You used your own daughter like that?”
“We all have to make sacrifices for our family,” he replies stonily. “Branwen understands that, even if she’s needed some time to think about it.”
“Family shouldn’t have to pay in blood,” I growl, thinking of what Trefor did for me. How he paid with his own life to prove he didn’t need to be left behind anymore. That he was worthy to be among the Cavalieri. I could have talked to him and made him see he didn’t need to do anything so dangerous. That I already believed in him.
That I loved him.
My hand shakes as I point the gun at him. “All she’s wanted all these months is forgiveness for something you did. She thinks it’s all her fault, you fucking monster.”
“Then I don’t know where I went wrong. I thought I raised her better than that.” Lange sighs, exasperated. “Look. Here’s what’s going to happen, young man. You’re not going to kill me. I could see it in your eyes earlier. You don’t have it in you. You’ve hit me and defiled my daughter, so let’s just call it square. I’ll even give Arthur a good deal on any business we do, to show there’s no hard feelings.”
He killed Trefor, and I broke his nose and slept with his daughter. We’re even?
I don’t feel angry anymore. I just feel sick. I press the heels of my hands into my eyes and grind them so hard, I see stars. I don’t know where my anger has gone but it’s like it has been sapped from my soul. Lange’s an asswipe of a human being but the more poison that pours from his mouth, the less I want to kill him.
What’s happening to me?
I can feel Trefor standing beside me, as I did last night when Branwen and I prayed. He’s not angry with Lange either. He and Branwen have sapped my fury and now I don’t know what to do anymore. I look out across the rolling hills of Napa, despairing.