While suspicious, he placed it onto my awaiting palm. I cut Mandla free and stepped back to let him crumple to the ground, then knelt and poised the blade against his forehead.
The slice was effortless and easily bone deep. But I didn’t stop at a single line; I made another, and another, until a ragged R marred his skin. I then carved an A, followed by a P and an I. By the time I calmly started working on the S, Mandla began to rouse. I welcomed him into consciousness with a sweet smile.
“Welcome back, Mandla. Although, I’m not quite done.”
He winced and his hand met his forehead to find it slicked with blood. “What the fuck are you doing, bitch!”
He struggled to sit up, but I had him by the collar, my wrists crossed and squeezing his windpipe closed within a single breath.
“I’m marking you for what you are.” I tightened the resistance and welcomed the panic in Mandla’s eyes.
He fruitlessly fought in my hold until his body went slack once more. I worked unhindered under the watchful gaze of my father and Arnauld, finishing the S and adding a T before rising to my feet.
My father was the first to speak. “I must say, you have me surprised yet disappointed, Helga. You show mercy.”
I tossed the bloodied knife on the nearby coffee table and eyed him long and hard. “This isn’t mercy. This is me reclaiming my power. Taking back what he and your other goon took from me. Teaching him that while he beat me in that moment, it was fleeting, and I won’t let it define me. I am not weak, nor am I showing mercy.”
Mandla woke with a gasp and frantically glanced around for me while scrambling backward. I loomed over him as he found his footing and held my glare as he rose to tower above me, wiping blood from his eyes as he did so.
I used my voice to command his attention. “You’ve ten seconds to listen and listen hard. Eight seconds to realize that once you leave this room, I’ll be hunting you until your last breath. Six seconds to understand I’m not one to fuck with, and four seconds to run. Three… Two…
He hesitated briefly and looked to my father for help. When that guidance didn’t come, he backed up and hastened to the door, slinging curses in his native tongue as he disappeared from sight.
“Watch your back, Mandla,” I called before the study door opened, then slammed closed.
My entire body shook from the adrenaline surge. I set my hands on my hips and paced the windowless room. Up and down, prowling, cursing, slowing my breathing… and glaring at my father.
“Where’s Mom?” I demanded, stopping in front of him.
“She’s resting.”
“Bullshit. I want to see her.”
“You can see her at your wedding the day after next.”
I gulped. That didn’t leave me much time to deal with Mandla, find Mom, and escape. “Save your time and money. I’m not marrying Richard.”
“Reinhardt.”
“What the fuck ever. It makes no difference. I refuse to get married, period. Let alone to a stranger.”
My father’s face reddened with rage. “You will do as I tell you to. This has been over three decades in the making, and I will not have your selfish and petty refusal bring shame to our family.”
A dry laugh forced its way from my mouth and my eyebrows shot high.“Myselfishness?Ourfamily? You stopped being my family the day you left me and Mom in Washington.”
“That was your mother’s choice,” he boomed, stabbing a finger at me. “She chose to stay.”
“Because she knew about your arranged marriage plan for me!” I screamed.
He tsked through his teeth. “It was never open for discussion, and I never hid my intentions from her.”
“You’re a fucking liar!”
His backhanded swing came for me again, though this time Arnauld stepped in to deflect it. He caught my father’s wrist and held tight.
“I’ll escort your daughter back to her room now, Johannes,” he hissed, then shoved my father’s arm aside. “Miss van Staden, after you.”
I scoffed at my father, then turned on my heel and nodded to Arnauld when he gestured for me to walk ahead of him into the study. I left without looking back, knowing that he was barely a step behind me as I strode down the long, lavishly carpeted corridor, then up the stairs to the second level.