Chapter 7

The bodyguard slammed Alistair hard onto the ground. Geri spat, "You never learn, do you?"

Alistair curled up on the ground, unable to recover for a long time.

A flicker of surprise flashed through Geri's eyes. She wondered why he looked like he was in so much pain. She'd clearly instructed the bodyguard not to use much force.

Just as she was about to step forward, Jonah said, "Geri, he must've wanted to hurt me because he's jealous that I'm your boyfriend. What if he ends up smashing me into a coma, too?"

Darkness clouded Geri's face. The hand she had been about to extend to help Alistair up froze midair. A moment later, she withdrew it and signaled for a bodyguard to haul him to his feet.

"Quit playing dead and apologize to Jonah!" she snapped.

Alistair just looked at her numbly. "Geri, you hate me, right?"

His voice was very soft, almost weightless. "Then just kill me."

Corey was gone. Alistair didn't think there was a point in living anymore. For an instant, the whole world seemed to go dark.

A storm of rage, mixed with emotions too complicated to understand, rose inside Geri.

She couldn't believe his audacity. A sinner like him had lived perfectly well all this time. What right did he have to ask for death now?

Geri dragged Alistair along and forced him into the car. Inside, she bound him with restraints.

The moment he saw the toys she and Jonah had used before, humiliation and fury flooded his chest.

"Geri Winslow! What are you going to do to me? Let me go! Take those dirty things you and Jonah used away from me! Take them away! You're a joke. Aren't I your sworn enemy? Is this how you treat all your enemies?" he shouted.

Geri suddenly dropped a kiss on his neck. His eyes flew open, and he struggled even more frantically..

She slapped him across the face, her tone icy and detached as she said, "What? Seven years ago, you hurt my mother. Seven years later, you hurt my boyfriend. Wasn't it all because you wanted me? I'm giving myself to you now. Why are you acting all shy?"

The slap itself hadn't been hard, but Alistair felt as if his bones had shattered. "I don't want you anymore, Geri. I stopped wanting you a long time ago."

He no longer dared to want her, nor did he wish to want her.

Alistair went still, as calm and empty as dead water. It only made the weight in Geri's chest grow heavier.

She reminded herself again that no matter how pitiful he seemed, it was nothing but the retribution he deserved. He was unworthy of her pity.

So, she twisted the knife again. "What do you mean you don't want me anymore? Is it because you don't want to be a side piece? But with how vicious you are, calling you a side piece is a compliment."

She continued her advance, but Alistair turned his head away, dodging her kisses. "No."

He turned back and fixed his gaze on her, enunciating, "Anyone else can sleep with me. Anyone but you."

The temperature in the car plummeted. Geri froze like an ice sculpture, then let out a short, disbelieving laugh, followed by a wave of murderous fury.

"Take us to the slums."

The car quickly headed toward the slums. Trash was scattered everywhere. The streets were filthy and chaotic, and vagrants and beggars huddled on every corner.

Geri's voice was terrifyingly calm. "Alistair, I'll give you one last chance. Take back what you just said—"

He cut her off, saying, "What, have you gone deaf, too? Then I'll say it again. Any man can use me, and any woman can have me. You're the only person who can't."

Alistair shrank against the car window, with both hands clamped over his abdomen as he tried to ease the stabbing pain. "You disgust me."

Geri's chest rose and fell violently. Anger shot straight to her head.

"Fine," she bit out.

Then, she dragged Alistair out of the car and shoved him toward a blind woman who had been begging on the sidewalk. "From now on, you're going to spend the rest of your life with her. Don't let me see you anywhere outside the slums. If I do, your brother will suffer an even worse fate than you!"

His brother?

A bitter smile tugged at Alistair's lips. He no longer had a brother.

The car door slammed shut with a heavy thud. Geri snapped, "Guard this place. Don't let him take a single step out of this area. And I don't ever want any updates on him again!"

She'd been such a fool, pining all these years for a vile bastard like Alistair. She never wanted to see a wretch like him again!

She left, ruthless and resolute. She had no idea that the moment she was gone, Alistair—whose body had already been pushed past its limits—hacked up a mouthful of blood.

The one-eyed homeless woman panicked and tried to wipe it away for him.

In his daze, Alistair let out a self-deprecating laugh. He never would've imagined that, in the very last moments of his life, the only bit of warmth he would feel would come from a beggar.

"D-Don't die. I'll take you to the hospital," the woman said, her words slurred.

Alistair pulled out a bank card and said, "No need. The PIN is the last six digits of the card number. There's 30,000 dollars in here—enough for you to live on for a while. All I ask is that you buy a cheap urn.

"Then, go to the reform school and claim my brother's body. His name was Corey York. He loved being clean, so make sure his urn looks nice."

His voice grew softer and weaker until it faded into silence. Right before everything went black, he hoped that Geri would never find out the truth.