Katharina

 

Margot and her man were huddled in the doorway, talking. I was laying on the bed on top of my hands, twisting and moaning in pain. My wrists and hands hurt so badly that I worried they’d have to be amputated by the time someone came for me. I hoped desperately Jace would come, but part of me knew that was impossible. After the way he’d treated me for sneaking out to Shady Woods Park before, I could just see him nodding to himself in satisfaction and telling me I deserved whatever awful thing was going to happen to me.

 

Then I realized he’d definitely come, but not for me. He’d come for Margot, his first love, who was still alive. Miraculously. Jace had thought this woman was dead for almost ten years, and here she was, in the flesh. Her black hair and dark eyes made her much more beautiful than I could have imagined, and I felt like an ugly little shrew in comparison. When Jace finds out she’s still alive, he won’t want you anymore, I realized sadly. You’re going to get a divorce and then I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Troy comes sniffing around once again.

 

I knew Margot would kill me if Jace didn’t show. While I desperately wanted to live, I didn’t feel as though I deserved it. I’d gotten myself into this mess—I’d risked my own life and Jace’s, time and time again, and here I was. I’d snuck out and I deserved to be caught like this. I shuddered, hoping Margot would make it quick. She didn’t seem like the sadistic type, but I knew appearances could be deceiving. Obviously she was more than content to sit there and watch me writhe around in pain.

 

“Stop whining,” Margot called over to me as if reading my mind. “I can hear you all the way over here.” She gestured to her man, I’d heard her call him Benji in little snippets of conversation. “Do something about her,” Margot said, waving her arm in the air. “I don’t care, just make it quick.”

 

Benji walked over to me, a menacing look on his bulky face.

 

As I winced and shut my eyes, preparing for the blow, he struck me across the face so hard that I saw stars explode in front of my eyes. The pain was delayed for a moment and then it sunk in, so strong that tears came to my eyes. I could feel blood gushing from my nose and I sniffled, trying to breathe.

 

“Bitch,” Margot said under her breath. “You need to learn how to be quiet.” She walked over to me and glanced down, like I was some pathetic species of bug. “Do you really want to know why I’m doing this?”

 

“Please,” I begged. “Please don’t kill me.”

 

“Too late for that,” Margot said, her eyes flashing. “There’s a bomb in this hotel room, and it’s going to explode in two hours. That means the end of you, honey.” She winked at me and I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach. “And the end of whoever else is here, too,” she added, grinning. “I don’t give a shit about the people in this town.” Margot stretched and began to pick at her elegantly long nails. “Marquette is fed by drugs and The Silent Havoc, so I have no qualms about wiping it out.”

 

The blood was still flowing freely from my nose and I felt myself gagging on it as I tried to sit up. “Please,” I croaked. “Please, Margot.”

 

Margot shook her beautiful head. “No,” she said in a sad little voice. “I’m not finished making you suffer yet.”

 

Benji paced the hotel room with his hands shoved in his pockets. He glanced over at Margot. “Boss,” he said in a hushed voice. “Come over here.”

 

Margot got up glanced down at me again, the same pathetic, pitying look. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said nastily. “I’ll be listening.”

 

I watched as Margot’s perfect figure sashayed across the room. She leaned her ear close to Benji’s big mouth and he whispered something I couldn’t hear. A crease of worry appeared on Margot’s forehead.

 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Margot glanced back towards me. “I’m going to tell you a story,” she began slowly. “Listen up.” Her voice was sharp and harsh and not like I was used to hearing it. “This is why I hate you so much.” She glared down at me and I shivered; just the force of Margot’s gaze was enough to make me regret sneaking out of Jace’s house.

 

“Why?” I stared up at her, suddenly feeling brave.

 

Margot slapped me so hard that all of the air gushed out of my lungs. “Shut up, bitch,” she said softly. She sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs primly at the ankle. “When I was a little girl, my father died,” Margot began softly. Her eyes took on a new cast of light, like she was staring at a fireplace. “My mother and I were alone. We were poor, Katharina. Really, really poor. Do you know what it’s like to be poor?”

 

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly.

 

Margot grinned. “I didn’t think so, cunt,” she said, tangling her hand in my hair and yanking my head back painfully. I let out a yelp of pain and Margot laughed evilly. “Back to my story,” she said primly. “We were very, very poor. My mother was really beautiful.” Margot sighed. “I always wanted to look like her. She was tall and thin with long black hair, dark eyes, and tan skin.” Margot looked down at her own hands. “Even though we never had a lot of money, Mommy always looked beautiful.”

 

A shiver went through my body.

 

“Mommy dated a lot.” She reclined on her back and propped herself up on her elbow, staring at the ceiling. “Mommy dated a lot of men, always had a new boyfriend. These men weren’t serious—they loved her beauty and her youth, and they didn’t even mind she had a little daughter. I think I was two when my father died. And after he died, she began dating about six months later.” Margot cackled. “I could give you a string of names from all of the men who paraded around. There was always a new one. Mommy liked younger men, and I always thought they were handsome. But she never fell in love with any of them; she just didn’t want to be alone. Do you know what that’s like, Katharina?”

 

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly. “I don’t.”

 

Margot smiled at me, catlike. “I know,” she said softly. “I know you don’t.” Her eyes took on that far-away dreamy quality once again. “Anyway, Mommy loved having boyfriends. There was always one man who pursued her, but she wouldn’t go out with him because he’d been married. Mommy was pretty strict—she only wanted to date men who would be devoted to her.” Margot grinned. “She loved the thrill of making them fall in love with her and then dumping them without thinking twice about it,” Margot added. The sick feeling in my stomach got progressively worse as Margot continued talking. “Can you imagine what that was like for me, Katharina? I idolized my mother, but she didn’t seem to want to spend a lot of time with me. She was always too busy doing her own thing, and she didn’t really care for being a mother.” Margot sighed. “She never should have had me, really, but I can’t think about that now. It’s so very painful.” Margot reached up and wiped a tear from her eye.

 

I looked at her. “Are you okay?”

 

Margot blinked. “I’m fine,” she said. She smiled. “I’m exactly where I need to be right now, and I’ve got you with me.”

 

“So what happened?” Against my will, Margot’s story had begun to suck me in. I could just imagine what it had felt like to grow up with a mother who ignored you—not that my father had done the same thing, but he hadn’t really known how to be a father and a mother, which is what I’d needed as a little kid.

 

Margot sighed. “You really want to hear the end?”

 

I nodded.

 

“Well, Mommy started dating someone who she actually liked this time. They started spending all this time together—he even slept over at our house a few nights a week. Mommy would skip work and go to the beach with him and she said he made her laugh. His name was Matthias.”

 

My blood ran cold. “What?”

 

Margot smiled at me. “And we’re almost the same age, aren’t we?” She cocked her head to the side. “Don’t you think that’s funny, that your father would have stepped out like that?”

 

I couldn’t reply. I only swallowed instead. My heart was pounding fast and I was suddenly all too aware of the bomb in the room that Margot had mentioned. How much time had gone by? She was such a drawn-out storyteller that I didn’t even know how much time I had left.

 

Margot laughed. “You’re thinking about the bomb, aren’t you?”

 

My face blushed beet red. My hands were completely numb and I could tell they were swollen to an incredible size. My feet were aching and tingling and I could see that they were swelling, too.

 

The man, Benji, glanced at me. “Margot, she’s losing feeling in her hands,” he said gruffly. “Don’t you think we should cut her loose?”

 

Margot raised her hand and slapped me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I was gasping and choking for air when I heard the sound of her high, cold laughter. “I don’t give a shit if this cunt is suffering,” she said in a placid tone. “In fact, that makes it all the better.” She reached a hand down and stroked it roughly through my hair, making me cry out as she tugged at my scalp. “I want you to suffer,” she said, looking deeply into my eyes. “Don’t you know that? Don’t you know I want you dead, little girl?”

 

I blinked back tears and prayed hard for Jace to come.

 

“Anyway,” Margot said, shifting on the bed and rearranging her long legs. “I wasn’t finished yet.” She flashed me a grin. “Mommy fell deeply in love with Matthias. And Matthias fell deeply in love with Mommy. The three of us were like a little perfect family. He used to take us on weekend trips and he absolutely spoiled me. He brought me candy and toys and he brought Mommy flowers and jewelry all the time.” Margot’s idyllic smile turned cruel. “That’s when the problems began. Mommy kept saying she thought she was losing money; she’d pull out cash and it would disappear somewhere. She didn’t know what was going on. Matthias was worried, too. But after a few weeks of that, Matthias confessed to Mommy that he was in bad financial shape, that he needed a lot of help. By this time, Mommy was so deeply in love with him that she gave him everything he asked for, and more. She bought him a car,” Margot said with a smirk. “A red Corvette. You remember that, Katharina?”

 

Chills ran down my spine. I did remember that car. My father had loved it—he’d driven it everywhere and treated it like a prized possession. One of my earlier memories was sitting behind the wheel, on his lap, while he steered my hands around the wheel. “I remember,” I said softly.

 

Margot smiled. “Good,” she said indulgently. “It’s nice to know I’m not crazy. Mommy did everything for her new boyfriend. He promised he would marry her, that he wanted to be a family with her and me forever. He promised her he loved her, that he’d move the earth for her.” Margot licked her lips and smiled. “Matthias made Mommy the sweetest promises of love that I could imagine, the nicest, kindest things in the world.” Margot’s face changed, became stormier and troubled. “And then he disappeared,” Margot said flatly. “Mommy looked everywhere for Matthias. She hired a private investigator to find him. She was worried he had died, but the reality was, in fact, much worse.”

 

“What happened?” I didn’t want to know, but I was eager for Margot to hurry up with her grisly tale. If there was a chance I could bribe her with money, offer to send money to her mother…

 

“I think you know what happened, Katharina,” Margot said sweetly. “Matthias took Mommy for every penny that she had. We were poor again, destitute. All of the money that Mommy’s other boyfriends had given us, all of the money for our future, that was gone.”

 

I let out a shaky sigh. “What happened to your mother?” My arms started to go numb and I started rolling around on the bed, trying to massage them with the weight of my body.

 

Margot watched me struggle with an odd look on her face. Her smiles had disappeared and now she looked stormy, like she was about to unleash a massive amount of rage. “Mommy killed herself,” Margot said simply. A tear ran down her cheek and she didn’t wipe it away. “Mommy killed herself because of your father. And now, I’m going to kill you.”