The cold, sharp blade rested perfectly in Roxy’s hand.
Under the blinding white lights of the underground room, the heavy tal knife seed to glow. Roxy stood totally, completely still, staring at the shiny tal table. Her back was turned to the man chained to the heavy chair.
Behind her, the ex-husband saw her freeze. His desperate, terrified brain completely misunderstood what was happening.
He thought she was hesitating. He thought his crying had actually worked. He rembered the old Roxy—the quiet, sweet, scared girl who always tried to keep the peace and hated when people were upset. He thought that weak girl was still hiding inside of her, ready to forgive him just because he shed a few fake tears.
"See? You understand, right?" the ex-husband begged, his voice growing a little bit more confident. He sniffled loudly, forcing a weak, pathetic smile onto his bruised face. "I’m not that bad guy anymore, Roxy. I’m totally clean now. I just wanted to say I’m sorry."
He pulled at the heavy steel chains, not trying to escape this ti, but trying to lean closer to her.
"We can just forget all of this," he promised, his words tumbling out fast. "You can tell these giant guys to let go. I’ll walk right out of that tal door, and you will never, ever see again. I just needed you to know that I’m so, so sorry. You’re a good, sweet, forgiving girl, Roxy. You always were. You know people make mistakes."
In the dark shadows near the concrete walls, Torian let out a low, mocking scoff. Zarek crossed his massive arms over his broad chest, a dark, proud smirk pulling at his lips. Syris simply shook his head.
They knew exactly what was about to happen. They could feel the air in the freezing room start to change.
Roxy didn’t put the sharp blade down. She gripped the heavy handle tighter.
A hot, burning fire of pure, absolute rage exploded inside her chest. It wasn’t the wild, ssy anger of a scared victim. It was the deep, powerful, ancient fury of a Matriarch. She had fought massive, terrifying monsters in the Beastworld. She had stripped powerful n of their titles. She had literally ruled over a kingdom of apex predators.
And this pathetic, dirty human man thought he could manipulate her with a simple apology?
Roxy slowly turned around.
The hopeful, fake smile on the ex-husband’s face instantly vanished the second he saw her eyes.
Her green eyes were not soft. They were not forgiving. They were completely, terrifyingly completely completely ice cold. They were the eyes of a fierce Queen looking down at a tiny, annoying bug that she was about to squash under her expensive leather boot.
Roxy took a slow, heavy step toward him.
"Sorry?" Roxy whispered. Her voice was incredibly quiet, but it sliced right through the freezing air like a sharp razor.
"Roxy, I—" he tried to speak, panic suddenly bubbling back up in his throat.
"Shut your mouth," Roxy commanded. She didn’t yell. She didn’t have to. The absolute authority in her voice made his jaws snap shut instantly.
She took another slow step closer, the shiny tal blade resting completely still in her right hand.
"You think ’I’m sorry’ fixes anything?" Roxy asked, her voice growing stronger and harder with every single word. "You think two little words can magically erase years of pure hell? Do you have any idea how many nights I woke up screaming, covered in cold sweat, because I thought you were standing in the corner of my room?"
The ex-husband swallowed hard. He pushed his back completely flat against the cold tal chair, trying to get as far away from her as possible.
"You broke ," Roxy told him, staring right into his terrified, wide eyes. "You made so afraid of the dark that I couldn’t even sleep with the lights off. You made flinch every single ti a door closed too loudly. You made feel like I was nothing but dirt under your shoes. You stole years of my life, my happiness, and my peace."
She stopped right in front of him. She stood tall and proud, looking down at his bruised, dirty face.
"And you think you get to just walk up to in a park, say ’I’m sorry’, and feel better?" Roxy laughed. It was a cold, dark, humorless sound that made the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. "You didn’t co to the park for . You ca for you. You felt guilty, and you wanted to forgive you so you could sleep better at night. You wanted to feel like a good person."
Roxy leaned down, bringing her face just inches away from his.
"But you are not a good person," she whispered with deadly venom. "You are a monster. And I do not forgive you. I reject your apology entirely."
The ex-husband started to shake uncontrollably. His teeth clattered together. He finally realized that the sweet, weak girl he used to bully was completely, totally dead and gone. The woman standing in front of him was entirely unbreakable.
"Roxy, please!" he cried out, his voice cracking into a high-pitched, pathetic whine. The tears streaming down his face were real now. They were tears of pure, unhidden panic. "I was wrong! I was a terrible person! Just let go! Please don’t hurt !"
"You always felt so powerful when you were hurting ," Roxy continued, completely ignoring his crying. Her Matriarch spirit was fully unleashed, demanding absolute justice for the girl she used to be. "You only picked on because I was smaller than you. You loved making feel helpless."
Roxy slowly raised her right hand. The bright white light from the ceiling caught the sharp, cruel edge of the heavy tal blade.
The ex-husband’s eyes snapped down to her hand.
His brain finally processed exactly what she had picked up from the tal table. It wasn’t just a knife. It was a heavy, incredibly sharp, curved blade designed for cutting through thick things very quickly.
His eyes went totally wide with absolute, blinding terror.
His heart hamred so hard against his ribs that he thought it was going to burst open. He started thrashing wildly in the heavy tal chair. He kicked his dirty boots, trying to pull his ankles free. He yanked his arms so hard that the thick steel chains cut right into his wrists, drawing fresh blood. But the chair was bolted tightly to the solid concrete floor. He was completely trapped. He couldn’t move an inch.
"No! No, no, no! Roxy, wait! Wait!" he scread at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed wildly off the cold, damp walls of the underground room. "Don’t do this! You’re not like this! You’re not a killer!"
"I’m not going to kill you," Roxy said perfectly calmly.
She stood up perfectly straight. She looked at him with zero pity, zero warmth, and zero rcy.
"You used your manhood to make feel small, weak, and worthless," Roxy says coldly.
The ex-husband stopped thrashing for one single, completely frozen second. All the blood completely drained out of his face, leaving him looking like a pale, terrified ghost. He realized exactly what her revenge was going to be. It was a punishnt far, far worse than a quick bullet.
"Roxy, NO!" he shrieked, a sound of absolute, mind-breaking horror. "PLEASE! I’M BEGGING YOU! NO!"
Roxy didn’t blink.
She took one final, heavy step forward. She stepped right between his chained legs, completely closing the distance between them. She raised the heavy, sharp blade, her grip totally steady and strong.
"You don’t get to be a man anymore."
User Comments
0 comments from readers