Chapter 9
The guests outside the room had gone silent too.
No one dared say a word about Adrian or me anymore.
Everyone here knew that the true host of tonight’s banquet belonged to the Quinn family. It was just that almost no one had ever met the mysterious heir in person.
Before Adrian even stepped into the room, he had clearly already dealt with the people who used to help Damon do his dirty work.
Now, watching Damon act as though he still ruled the world, I felt generous enough to remind him.
“Damon,” I said, “have you finished dreaming?”
He laughed coldly.
I lifted my chin slightly.
“If you’re done, then let’s start.”
I crooked a finger.
The captain of the guards stepped forward at once.
I pointed at Damon.
“Back then, he pulled out Ranger’s nails one by one. I want him to feel exactly what Ranger felt.”
The captain bowed his head. “Yes, Miss Hale.”
Only then did Damon finally freeze.
He pointed at the guard captain and shouted, “Do you even know who she is? Why are you listening to her?”
But the captain had already signaled his men.
Damon kept roaring, “Are you all insane? Do you know who I am?”
Yvette joined in hysterically. “We’re from Locke Group! Damon is the acting head of the Locke family! Don’t you want to live anymore? You’d rather obey some traitor who betrayed the Locke household?”
The guards seized both of them.
Even then, Damon kept struggling and shouting, “Let me go! You’ll regret this! By the time you regret it, it’ll be too late!”
Then the tools came out.
And for the first time that night, I saw real fear crack through Damon’s face.
It broke apart bit by bit, shattering his usual arrogance.
Yvette screamed at me, “Serena Hale, who are you? And who is he? Who is he, really?”
I smiled.
“Oh,” I said softly, stepping back to Adrian’s side and gently wiping the blood from his face. He lowered his head obediently so I could clean him. My heart softened a little.
“You forgot the introduction.”
I slipped my arm through Adrian’s.
“This is my fiancé, Adrian Quinn. And he is the true host of tonight’s banquet.”
The moment they heard his name, both Damon and Yvette went white.
Damon started shouting like a man possessed. “Impossible! How could a woman I got tired of playing with climb into the Quinn family? What is the Quinn family’s status? She’s just an orphan! What right does she have? What right?”
Then the guards began.
One nail. Then another. Then another.
His screams were so loud they shook the room.
I remembered Ranger in that old video, every single nail ripped out while his mouth was sewn shut. He hadn’t made a sound because Damon had ordered his teeth pulled and his mouth stitched closed.
Back then Damon had even kicked his blood-soaked body and called him trash.
So why was Damon the one screaming now?