Everything was going swimmingly, and he was enjoying every moment. That was one of the things his father had taught him. Savoring your successes was such an important aspect of the job. The life of an assassin was lonely, sometimes distasteful, but always interesting. Being in charge of a group of assassins wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as being one of the ranks. He had responsibilities that he couldn’t cast to just anyone. This had been one of them. Not that he would have wanted anyone else to take this over. This was a vendetta. Very personal. You didn’t get much more personal than destroying the woman who murdered the most important person in your world.

Still, even as much as he had been looking forward to this event, he looked forward to its conclusion. He’d been working toward this day for so long. When he had learned of Hill’s death, he had known immediately who was responsible. He hadn’t shared that information with anyone else. This was his responsibility. As the leader of Hill House, he would see to the reckoning. Only Sebastian could avenge his father’s death.

He realized that that was the main reason he hadn’t been able to refill Hill House with the most-skilled assassins. His attention had been divided. Once this was over, the deed done, he could look forward to the future. Making Hill Reed proud of him had been a goal for as long as he could remember. Nothing would please him more than knowing that the woman who betrayed him had been destroyed.

The memories were getting to her. Her face was expressionless, but her pallor was almost as white as the walls that surrounded them. She was suffering, remembering all that had been done to her, all that she had been forced to do. The training she had endured, they had all endured, had been harsh but necessary. He was living proof of Hill Reed’s brilliance.

Irelyn Raine, on the other hand, had been a failure from the start. She should have died long ago. By the time he was finished, she would be begging for death, pleading for him to put her out of her misery. She would be whimpering, speechless with agony, both emotional and physical. She would suffer, and then she would die.

The first phase was almost complete. She was almost ready for the second and final part of his punishment. She didn’t know about his skills. Didn’t know that he had talents she could only imagine possessing. He had intentionally made this room large enough to be able to use his bullwhip. First he would use it on her skin. That lovely unmarred body would no longer glow with good health. She would be hideous to look at and in extreme pain. Then he would deliver the coup de grace. The wire would wrap around her neck and she would beg for mercy an instant before he jerked the handle. She would die in both shock and awe of him. And on her final breath of life she would know that he had been the greatest, not her.

His eyes returned to the screens where Raine’s early life played out. Hill Reed had been a bit of a video hound. He had shelves of film he’d taken over the years. His training methods were works of art. Sebastian had watched several of the sessions. Many had involved people he had known. He had yet to watch recordings of his own training. His mind veered away from the thought of doing so. Those days were a blur to him, and the analogy that no one wanted to see how sausage was made worked for him. Especially when he was the sausage.

A time or two, he felt an odd, uncomfortable jolt, almost as if the electricity wired to the chair Raine sat in went through him. He had to look away from the screen and refocus. That didn’t mean anything. Watching her suffer was the most important part anyway. He was merely saving his energy for the finale.

And that would be coming up very soon.

Irelyn drew in a silent breath. The man standing a few feet from her had no idea of what he had done, what he had set free. Without a doubt, this was the most defining moment of her life. Irelyn had always thought that what she had done to Grey’s parents had defined her, and now she realized she had been wrong. While that had been hideous and something she would regret for the rest of her life, that event didn’t make her who she was.

Yes, the recordings were gruesome and vile. Nausea lay heavy in her belly, and she longed for a shower with an almost manic intensity. However, as she watched hour after hour of abuse, followed by repulsive moments of fake affection, something monumental happened within her. While she could cry for the abused little girl who had never known safety or love, she celebrated the woman she had become. For many, overcoming abuse like this would be impossible. It could have destroyed her, but instead, she had managed to escape, move forward.

And while watching all the vileness heaped on the fragile, vulnerable child she’d once been, she realized something else. Grey had given her a gift by allowing her to kill Hill Reed. By rights, he should have taken the opportunity himself. Hill Reed had killed his parents. Reed might have been a trained killer, but compared to Grey, he was ordinary. Grey could have easily taken the bastard down. Instead, he had allowed her to do the deed. He had known better than anyone what she had suffered at Hill Reed’s hands. Grey had given her the gift of closure.

She hadn’t seen it like that before now. Her feelings had been so mixed up, so confused. She had hated the monster that Hill Reed was, had mentally recognized his evil. However, the thread of affection that Reed had so carefully woven into her psyche had still existed. The hurt had been too deep for her to see everything clearly. But now, witnessing the abuse, seeing that fragile child so vulnerable, so scared, and seeing the evil gleam of delight in Hill’s eyes, she was grateful she had been the one to destroy him.

Sebastian sat in a chair a few feet back. On occasion, he would make a nasty comment or laugh at something on the screens. His small mind could not begin to fathom what he had unleashed. He believed that witnessing her abuse would weaken her, possibly put her in a catatonic state where she wouldn’t be able to function. It was all part of his plan of torture. If she hadn’t wanted to keep her thoughts a secret, she would have laughed out loud. Messing with him was actually going to be fun.

While he was turned away from her, watching the images on the screen, she quietly studied him. The smug arrogance he’d started with had diminished considerably. There was now a slump to his shoulders and a slight tremble to his hands. Although none of his training had appeared on the screens, he was still affected by the memories nonetheless. He had endured much of the same torture disguised as training. She had been in some of his sessions and had witnessed his abuse firsthand.

She told herself she should feel sorry for Sebastian. She had escaped, he hadn’t. Even though Grey had helped her, she had pulled herself up from the gutter. Sebastian could have done that, too. Instead, he had allowed evil to permeate his life. Not only had he killed innocents without compunction or remorse, he had kidnapped a child and a nun to use them in his sick game of revenge. So no, she had little pity.

Grey would be looking for her. Using every contact and calling in every favor, he wouldn’t rest until he found her. She wanted this over before that happened. The fight wasn’t Grey’s, it was hers. She needed to end this, once and for all.

She focused her gaze inward. Sebastian thought she was looking at one of the screens where her abuse played out, but he was wrong. She saw far beyond that. She saw her strength, her purpose, and her destiny.

And she saw how she was going to kill him.

Most everyone within the community knew that she had been Hill Reed’s favorite. Being a teacher’s pet was not a coveted position, at least not at Hill House. Not only had Reed not treated her any better, but he had often been crueler and more profane in his punishments.

But there was something many didn’t know. She had been destined to replace him. He had told her many times that she was to have been his successor.

For years, she had forced herself to forget his words. Forced herself to forget that Hill had seen something in her…something he identified with himself. The very thought that they had anything in common made her want to scream. But now, she allowed those memories to return, allowed those lessons to flood her mind. Hill had taught her all he knew about manipulation and coercion. He had controlled and directed his victims with words, and she had learned his methods. Drawing on all the things Hill had taught her, she would destroy Sebastian Dark, and he would never see it coming.

She started slow, almost conversationally. He wouldn’t realize what was happening until it was too late to change course. When it was time, she would turn up the heat. Sebastian had made a fatal mistake. He had tried to use her past to destroy her, and instead, he had empowered her. Now the tables would be turned. She would use the very same things to destroy him.

“You know, Pippin, you weren’t very good.” Her mouth was dry, so her voice was low, huskier than usual. She would use that to her advantage.

Sebastian jerked at the soft, almost inhuman-sounding voice. He had thought she was well past being able to talk. “What did you call me?”

“Your name. That’s what Hill named you.”

He shook his head. “No. Hill and I agreed I could change it. He told me I wasn’t Pippin any longer.”

She smiled at him then, mocking and amused. “No matter what you named yourself, you were always his Pippin. His weak, malleable little boy who everyone beat up on. Hill and I used to make fun of you all the time. We would sit together at night and watch recordings of you and laugh and laugh.”

“You lie!” he snarled. Pounding his chest with his fist, he shouted, “I am Sebastian Dark, owner and proprietor of Hill House.”

She released a long, exaggerated sigh. “So very dramatic. No wonder Reed wanted to kill you, Pippin.”

He was on his feet, stalking toward her before he realized it. Not only didn’t she sound defeated, she was acting smug and confident.

“I told you not to call me that. My name is Sebastian Dark. And what you speak is a lie. They’re all lies. I was one of Father’s favorites.”

“Really?” she drawled, her look almost pitying. “I don’t know how many times I had to talk him out of killing you.”

Could that be true? Everyone had known that Irelyn was Reed’s protégé, his favorite student. She had inside information that others didn’t.

“Remember how he would use you as bait? How he would allow everyone to beat up on you? He said he did that because you’re a weakling, an imbecile.”

No, he had put those days out of his mind. He wouldn’t let himself think of them now. He couldn’t. Reed would have chosen him as his replacement. If he hadn’t died, he would have called a meeting and announced it to everyone.

As if she weren’t tied to a chair, unable to move, as if she had no worries about her own safety, she continued to speak in a conversational tone. Sebastian stood frozen as he listened to her soft, beguiling voice. His father had used that same kind of coercion. The mesmerizing voice would creep into your mind like a slug slithered through the grass, leaving a trail of slime in its wake. That voice told him he wasn’t good enough, that he would never amount to anything.

The words continued, on and on. Her voice went softer and lower. He leaned closer to listen. The voice enthralled, the words ripped and shredded. They seeped into every particle of his being, making him remember the pain and anguish. The humiliation and anger.

“Stop it!” Spittle flew from his mouth. “None of that is true! None of it. He loved me! I know he loved me best.”

Her expression never changed. It was as if she were in a trance, as if she were possessed by Hill Reed’s spirit. Could it be Reed talking through her?

No. No. No. He shook himself. That wasn’t possible.

“Stop it, you bitch!” He slapped her hard. The crack of his hand against her cheek echoed throughout the room. A blood-red imprint of his hand was the only color on her face. Yet, she never flinched, never moved. And she never stopped talking in that soft, insistent voice.

His heart pumped faster, and he could feel himself sweating as buried memories dug themselves out of their grave. All the hideous things he had endured. The torture, the deprivation, the beatings.

But no, no, no. All of that had been to make him stronger. To make him into the man he was today. He had once been Pippin, but now he was Sebastian Dark. He had overcome and conquered. He had excelled at everything Hill taught him. He was the best.

Slapping the bitch again, he watched blood spurt from her busted lip and felt intense joy. “You left him, and I stayed. I was his favorite, not you.”

She acted as if he wasn’t important, almost as if he wasn’t even there. Her eyes were distant, blank. She kept repeating the same words, over and over, just like Hill had. And then he realized something strange and phenomenal had happened. The change had been so subtle, he didn’t know when or how it happened, but she was now speaking in Reed’s voice. That deep, resonating tone used to follow him into his dreams, creating nightmares that never seemed to stop.

Grabbing hold of her shoulders, he shook her hard. “Stop it!” he screamed.

She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t.

“You’re nothing, you’re no one. You can’t fight, you can’t kill. You’re useless. I’m going to kill you, boy. I’m going to take you apart, limb by limb, and let the buzzards feed on you.”

He was crying now. He could feel the tears pouring down his face. “You love me. You told me I’m the best.”

“You’re weak, you’re nothing. You can’t even fight like a real man!”

“I can, too!”

“Prove it. Untie the bitch and give her what she deserves!”

Grabbing a knife from the table, he sliced the rope at her ankles and then her wrists. Before she could move, he knocked her to the floor with a resounding thud.

Irelyn landed on her face. Blood poured from her nose, and she vaguely wondered if it was broken. Pain didn’t register. She jumped to her feet and whirled around, just in time to see a fist coming at her. She ducked, did a 360 turn, and then kicked with all her might. Dark flew across the room.

She straightened, preparing for another strike. He came at her full force, his face a red mask of fury. There was no holding back now. She had him exactly where she wanted. He was fighting his emotions more than he was fighting her. All the insecurities that Reed had instilled in him had taken over. When an opponent fought not to lose, winning was much easier. She was ready to destroy this bastard.

Fists flew and pummeled. Irelyn lost count of the times she fell to the floor or was slammed against the wall. Dark’s eyes were wild and unfocused. He was not only fighting for his life, he was fighting for control of his mind.

They parted for a moment, their breathing heavy and rapid. Dark was sweating and bleeding. His nose was slightly askew from one of her first hits, and his entire body shook from fatigue. It was time to end it.

“Father would be ashamed of you, allowing a skinny girl to beat you up.”

The instant the words were out of her mouth, she knew he would come at her full force and readied for the killing blow. The instant he struck, she would take him down.

That wasn’t what happened.

The door behind him swung open, and without saying a word, he bolted before she could blink. Shocked, she was momentarily stunned into immobility.

The man had actually run from her?

She took a wobbling step toward the door, toward freedom. Her mind whirled as the pain she’d been denying made itself known. The fight had been a brutal one, and she had a sinking suspicion that she had more than a couple of broken bones. Her left arm in particular throbbed with a deep ache.

She had a choice here. Go after Dark and end him. Or she could do something that she had longed to do for so very long. She could destroy Hill House.

That choice was the easiest one she had ever made. Dark would have to wait, because she had a lifelong dream to achieve.