His Brutal Game by Audrey Rush

CHAPTER 22

Wilder

I shoved the small body into the garbage bag, leaving it intact. I couldn’t chop up this corpse yet; I needed it whole for now. It was heavier than you’d expect. The hairs on the back of my neck lifted. The person was the same size as Maisie. This was how it had to be.

The livestock order was already dead, decapitated, and chopped into several pieces. But his girlfriend? I needed her whole until we got to the Dairy Barn. I had jumped at this order, knowing that the livestock’s live-in girlfriend looked like Maisie. It was typical to take care of a livestock order’s significant others when they got in the way, but this was personal. I had to clean up alone. None of the hunters or ranchers could know what I was doing with the woman’s corpse.

My mind had rolled through the motions, barely able to enjoy the actual kill. And now, on the way back to the farm, my mind was still trapped under Maisie. I should have shipped her on a one-way plane ticket, so she’d be as far away from me as possible. Instead, I had acted on impulse. And that never got me far.

Now I had to cover up what was left, to buy her some time.

In the barn, I emptied the garbage bag contents into the incinerator, the guts sloshing as they hit the metal container. Then I took the whole corpse, laying the body out on the cement. Her blond hair streaked with red, her body tinged purple and blue. With enough blood and dismemberment, she would become Maisie. She even had the same chipped white nail polish. The same dark lips. No one would be able to tell the difference.

I’ve got something for you, I sent Forrest.

Taking the cleaver, I chopped the woman’s limbs into pieces, letting the thick blood leak onto the floor. Then I stabbed her face until she was pulp and bone, mutilated beyond recognition. Enough blood to make Forrest believe who she was. It unnerved me. It should have been Maisie. But I was glad it wasn’t.

I was glad. She had a chance.

The barn doors slid open. Forrest entered the barn, finding the metal chair next to the basin. I wiped off the cleaver, setting it down on a wooden table. Then I wiped my hands on my clothes as I walked to him.

“You have something for me?” Forrest asked.

I gestured toward the corpse in the corner, the remains of the Maisie look-alike. Forrest whistled down at her, taking in the blood. The chunks of flesh. The flattened skull.

“Quite the show you put on,” he said.

It was the Feldman Offering. He had made a spectacle of my mother’s death too. He expected a display. Like my brother with his woman’s burned corpse.

“All you have left now is your last kill, and the business is yours,” Forrest said. I nodded, though I had no plans to kill Sawyer. I wasn’t sure how I was going to convince Sawyer to drop the Trial, but I would figure out a way. At least he would think Maisie was dead now. He’d have to get a new final name from Forrest. “You’re so close. Why don’t you kill him?”

My eyes flicked to the ground. Maisie’s sister had died in an accident, and yet she still blamed herself, even if she logically understood that it wasn’t her fault. I remembered what that was like. And if Sawyer died, I would have a part in it. It didn’t matter how much we didn’t like each other. I respected him, and he respected me.

I wasn’t going to kill him.

“In time,” I said.

Forrest angled himself against the side of the barn. “You’re not as distraught as I had expected,” he said. “Seeing as how you two were getting along.”

I wrinkled my brow. “What do you mean?”

He laughed, reading my confusion. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know. You had fallen in love with her. You can’t deny it,” he said. “I figured you’d be crying like a little bitch, like Sawyer.”

This was different. I was never supposed to be attached to Maisie.

But Forrest was right. I had fallen for her.

Hell, I knew I loved her. That was why I kept acting on impulse, trying to save her in the only way I knew how. Because she was better than me. Everyone died, but she didn’t deserve to come to that end. Not yet.

“I followed your teachings,” I said.

But I had to stop lying to myself. Maisie mattered to me. That was the only way to explain why I was covering up her escape.

Forrest smacked my back. “That’s my boy. Always ready to make me proud.” He squeezed my shoulder, leaning in close. “Remember, son, death is all we truly have. You can never get close to anyone. Not even me. Or your brother.” He straightened his posture, though his head hung low as he mulled over the words: “Your mother’s death should have taught you that. But if she didn’t break you from the habit, then your wife certainly will.”

I began to nod, mindlessly agreeing with him like I always did. But then I stopped.

“My wife is dead,” I said.

“In time,” he said.

The memories surfaced, flashing before me. My mother kneeling. Maisie with the hood over her head. My mother’s face caked with mud. Maisie’s words: I love you, Wilder. Aiming at the back of my mother’s head, pulling the trigger. I wasn’t sure if I had a choice at ten years old. Forrest would have made me do what he wanted. But when it came to Maisie, I didn’t have to let her die. And I wouldn’t kill her. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

“You’re wrong,” I said.

Forrest stopped, his shoulders rigid. “Wrong about what?”

“There’s more than death,” I said. Maisie had taught me that.

“Are you disagreeing with me, son?”

I leveled with Forrest. He knew my response. I stepped closer, my fingers tapping the gun in my holster.

“All right,” Forrest said. He sighed, then dialed a number. “Bring them in,” he said to his phone.

He clicked off the device, then stowed it. My shoulders tensed. Every breath that followed leaked slowly out of my chest.

“Who is this cunt, anyway?” Forrest said, staring down at the flesh.

“My wife—”

The doors to the Dairy Barn opened. Sawyer rolled in a cart, carrying two women tied to cattle chutes, the bars keeping them locked in place, on their knees, their hands tied to the metal. Bambi’s hair clinging to her sweaty face. And Maisie. She screamed at Sawyer, her cheeks red. I reached for my gun, but the hammer on Forrest’s pistol pulled back.

“Why interrupt the fun now?” Forrest asked. He tilted his head, a grin plastered on his face. “After all, you’re following my advice, aren’t you?”

Sawyer brought them across the barn, presenting them to us. Forrest laughed and locked the barn doors.

“Can you do what needs to be done, my son?” Forrest asked. “Or shall I have your brother finish the Offering for you?”

I clenched my teeth. The edges of my vision blurred. I was tired of this. Tired of fighting for a position that I didn’t want. Tired of pretending like I gave a shit about our family’s legacy. All I wanted was Maisie.

I imagined Forrest’s decaying flesh, his greenish skin, blue and purple veins twisting through his bloated body. But a more fitting end would be for him to rot at the bottom of the pond. If he made a move toward Maisie, I didn’t care that he was my father. He was gone.

Sawyer removed his gun. “Stop wasting time,” he said.

I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I hit the back of my gun into Sawyer’s head, shoving him out of the way. My fists seared, crashing into him, but he laughed, returning an equal amount of power to me. I didn’t want to kill my brother, but I was tired of this. If he died because I protected Maisie, then so be it. My sore knuckles bludgeoned into his nose, using the weight of the gun as he did the same to me. But as I met his eyes, I realized that he was as trapped as I was. Did he see that too?

A scream caused me to stop.

Maisie ran toward the door. Bambi scampered behind.

Had Forrest let them go?

Sawyer punched my jaw, the pain flaring through me. Then he knocked the gun out of my hand. It skidded against the floor.

“Which of you can kill the livestock orders first?” Forrest asked.

Maisie pulled on the barn door’s handle, but it wouldn’t budge.

“I locked the doors, you rats,” Forrest laughed.

I had to get Maisie out of here. Had to get rid of anyone that would harm her. That was the only way to save Maisie. Forrest’s bellowing laugh cracked through the room as he threw a crowbar at Bambi, hitting her in the head. She fell into a crate.

Where was Maisie?

Sawyer pushed Forrest out of the way, lurching onto Bambi’s shoulders, shoving her against the wall, his gun in the air, ready to pistol-whip her. I searched for Maisie’s yellow hair, but when I turned back around, Maisie was in front of Bambi, blocking Sawyer from hurting her.

Sawyer froze, but then a grin spread on his lips. He wiped his mouth on his wrist, blood smearing his skin.

“You can go first,” he muttered.

He aimed his gun. I shoved him out of the way. The gun went off, and this time Sawyer pegged me to the ground. I held his shoulders, my fingers ripping into his skin. Maisie’s shadow moved in the background. She needed my gun. I kept my eyes locked on Sawyer.

“You could finish this right now if you wanted,” Forrest shouted. Who was he talking to? Me? Or Sawyer? “What are you waiting for?”

Sawyer and I studied each other. Neither of us blinked. Gray-blue eyes inherited from our father. With each second, the truth became clearer. Sawyer’s final kill wasn’t Maisie.

It was me.

And he hadn’t killed me, or Maisie, yet.

Sawyer narrowed his eyes, both of us exchanging an unspoken agreement. We weren’t rivals; we were brothers.

A bullet cracked through the air.

Maisie gaped, her hand shaking with the gun. Forrest flung himself toward her, his cheek bleeding. Latched onto her. Aimed his gun at her heart. Pulled back the hammer.

I hurled myself onto him. Squeezed his throat until his face was purple. Blood drenched the side of his face, but he reached out, clutching my neck, crushing my windpipe. Lights flashed in my peripheral vision. Maisie’s shouts dulled. Her scent in my nose. But I didn’t let go of Forrest. It was the only thing I had left to do.

As long as Maisie was safe.

A bullet whistled past me, nailing Forrest’s chest. Forrest’s eyes met mine, blank and cold. Then he turned to gaze at the shooter.

Sawyer held the gun, aimed at our father.

I let go of Forrest and shielded Maisie with my body, not letting anything come near her.