Page 213 of I’m The Worst

She gurgles, eyes wide with shock, blood pouring down her front in a bright red sheet. Her hands twitch uselessly behind her back as she collapses forward onto the concrete.

Harrington screams. It’s a raw, animal sound that echoes off the walls.

“Now it’s your turn,” Weston says to Harrington. He takes a knife from Graves and steps closer. “I’m going to take my time with you.”

He starts cutting.

First the fingers. Then the ears. Then deeper, carving into Harrington’s chest while the man screams and begs. Weston works methodically, like a man who has imagined this moment.

Gage stands frozen a few feet away, face pale, eyes wide. Weston glances at him mid-cut.

“This is a lesson for you, Gage. There are some things even bigger than the Sovereign. When they come for your blood, you don’t negotiate.”

When it’s finally over, Weston stands in the middle of the blood-soaked warehouse, breathing hard. For several long seconds, he doesn’t move.

Then he walks to a rusted metal chair and drops onto it, the knife slipping from his hand and clattering across the concrete.

“Fuck.” He drags a shaking hand down his face, leaving another streak of blood behind. “I haven’t done that in years.”

Graves wanders over, fishing a cigarette from his pocket before holding it out. Weston takes it without a word. The warehouse falls quiet, the rain against the roof the only sound. Finally, Weston looks at me.

“Two down.” He exhales a stream of smoke. “One’s still breathing.”

Akim.

I’ve spent the last month tracking him down through every contact I could shake loose. AJ’s in rehab. Safe. Making progress. The best facility I could find.

I stare at the blood drying across my knuckles. Now it’s time to finish this.

Weston crushes the cigarette beneath his boot. “Whatever resources you need…they’re yours, K9. You find that fucking bastard and you rip him apart. I want him to understand exactly why he’s dying.”

He doesn’t need to tell me. I’ve got a plan for that motherfucker. For every scar he left on her body. Every nightmare he put into her head.

I’m going to make him pay for all of it.

“And David?” My eyes cut to Weston.

He goes still, staring at the blood pooling across the concrete. “I spent my whole life trying to make the right decisions for AJ. I thought David would give her stability. I thought I was securing her future.” His fingers tighten around the chair. “Turns out, I handed her to another fucking predator.”

The security footage I studied, frame by fucking frame until my eyes bled, plays in my head again. The shoulder width. The gait. The way he favored his left knee. The fraction of a second when the porch light caught his jaw.

Every. Fucking. Frame.

Looks like she finally sees you for the monster you really are.

David’s words drill into my fucking skull. He wanted AJ to believe I was the one who raped her. He wanted her to look at me and see her worst fucking nightmare.

Gage steps forward from the shadows, face still pale but jaw set. “I’m going too.”

Weston’s head snaps toward him. “No, Son. I need you here. I need to cover up this fucking mess, and I need you with me. You’re staying.”

Gage’s fists clench at his sides, eyes flicking to the blood, to Devin’s body, to his father. “After everything they did to her⁠—”

“Exactly,” Weston cuts in. “This is bigger than the Sovereign now. You stay here and help me bury this. Learn how we protect our own when the system fails.” He looks at me, his expression like stone. “Take care of him. We’ll take care of the rest.”

With pleasure, Commander. With absolute fucking pleasure.

“Goddamn. Two fucking Commanders down.” Graves exhales smoke. “I’ve never been more turned on.”