Vicki was perched in a nearby tree overlooking her father's balcony. She'd been there for a while watching him, seething in hatred, when Alissia, Trik, and Naomi exited the private elevator to his office.
She could hear everything they discussed with the bugs she planted in her father's office long ago. To no one's surprise, Alissia's heart led her to want to unite the branches and Primordials together.
Sadly, Verin wasn't going to let that happen. And even without Verin's intervention, Vicki's father was a duplicitous weasel who only looked out for himself.
The promise he made to help them was surely a lie. Vickie was pretty sure her dad was putting on a façade because Naomi was there. Otherwise, he would've shut the door in Alissia's face after expressing some choice words.
Vicki watched as Alissia and the others left, Alissia smiling, probably thinking she'd just accomplished something.
After escorting them to the elevator, Custov walked onto his balcony for his next smoke.
Two centuries of smoking every day, and he still hasn't croaked. Why did medicine have to advance so much?
As he smoked, Vicki saw him begin to laugh.
"Who do they think they are asking for my help? Had it been a business transaction, that would've been one thing, but they think I'm supposed to help from the kindness of my heart," he said mockingly. "Stupid brat. And that Naomi bitch – I almost thought she was threatening me. Looking at me like that; giving me chills. She's lucky I don't have a way to kill her."
Ah. There's my real dad.
"I have no intentions of helping those soft idealists. This is a perfect opportunity to be rid of them and those muscle-for-brains barbarians," he muttered to himself.
I knew he was lying. He'd sooner work for Avarice and betray them to secure his survival. Too bad Verin has other plans in mind...
Custov made his way back into his office. He made it all the way to the other side of the office before remembering to shut and lock the balcony door.
But Vicki was already inside.
As he reached to shut the door, Custov tensed as if sensing Vicki's presence. He turned around to see her standing there with the point of her steel blade just inches from his face.
"Hey there," Vicki said.
Custov became panicky as his eyes frantically searched for an exit.
Unfortunately for him, Vicki knew that any exit he could run to was behind her. Unless he chose to jump off the balcony...
"How'd you get in here? No way a girl like you got past my guards," he said boldly.
"Of course, you'd believe something like that," Vicki replied. "But I didn't come in that way."
Vicki motioned to the open balcony door behind him.
"See, I've watched you daily for the last two centuries. You've made many enemies over the years. At some point, you realized you had so many that you never knew which would come for your life. So you upgraded this place into an impenetrable fort, then hardly ever left it. You even went as far as installing a field generator that protects the entire building. Even I could never reach you without alerting everyone. But tonight, you slipped – perhaps your age is catching up to you. Or were you too excited about your plan to eradicate the other families," Vicki said as she gently trailed her blade down his cheek to his chest, then patiently circled his heart.
Custov started to step back, so she pressed the blade a little firmer into his skin. Just enough for the tip to cut through the surface and a thin trail of bright red blood to trickle from the wound.
"Don't move," Vicki insisted.
Custov grimaced at the sharp pain from the blade.
"Do you know who I am?!" He yelled at Vicki.
"I do," Vicki answered in a tone that indicated she didn't care.
"Then you know that I could have your ass in a second! Your family, kids, everything!" He threatened her.
"You were always so vulgar," Vicki stated calmly yet disgustedly. "Threatening others, kidnapping women and children, sleeping with your men's wives as a show of dominance. You're the most pathetic person I know. It infuriates me to know that I'm related to you."
"W-What? How do you — Who are you?" he asked nervously.
Vicki removed her mask to reveal her face. The only similarity she had with him was her light brown eyes with flecks of green. Other than that, the tiny freckles in her cheeks, the slight point of her nose, the plush pink in her thin lips. It all made her a near copy of her mother – the only woman her father ever showed any sort of love for. Until he abandoned both of them to keep from looking weak.
Custov looked wide-eyed at Vicki.
"Impossible. The people who took you would never leave you alive," he said softly.
"No. They wouldn't, but I was saved. No thanks to you," Vicki said as she glared in hatred.
"Does that mean your mother is alive as well?" He asked.
The fury inside began to burn even hotter.
"She suffered at the hands of those men. By the time they were done with her...there wasn't much of her left. Once death returned, she was finally able to escape the hell she was forced to endure and found peace," Vicki said with tears in her eyes.
"That happened to her because you didn't want to pay a stupid ransom. Because you wanted to save face and not give in to threats. You sacrificed our lives for your pride," Vicki spat.
Vicki gripped the handle of her blade tighter.
"I-I admit that was selfish of me. I'm sorry; I let my pride cloud my judgment. Please, my sweet Mar–"
His words were cut off as Vicki ran the blade through his heart. Custov fell to his knees as blood escaped his lips. He looked up at Vicki as she knelt.
"You don't get to say that name," she said in a low tone.
Vicki threw her mask back on after watching the light in her father's eyes fade. She sighed in relief, having finally gotten rid of everyone involved with her mother's death.
For once, she was happy after completing a mission assigned to her.
She walked over to the balcony and somersaulted over to a nearby tree. Hidden in the leaves again, she sat back and recalled her mission.
"That should get everyone summoned back to HQ," she muttered. "Hopefully, whoever was sent to the Russos does their job."
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