I dug and dug until my hands went numb while Marcus knelt beside me the whole time. He bled from a wound on his head and swore at my parents’ graves that he would protect me with his life. That night, he even carved my name into his chest with a dagger.
“Melody is in my heart. From now on, where I am, you will be. You're my life.”
I ground a cigarette butt into the back of Judy’s ear, grinning with a savage curl to my lips. Then I slowly loosened my hold on her.
“You were right,” I said. “They wouldn’t have wanted me to become like this.”
Judy collapsed into Marcus’s arms, sobbing. “She’s a lunatic!”
Marcus stared at me without blinking.
As my hand slipped into my pocket, he tensed. But upon seeing I’d pulled out a man’s ring and not a weapon, he relaxed a touch.
“This is a gift I prepared for you,” I told him. “Let me put it on you, okay?”
As obedient as a dog, he let go of Judy and held out his hand like someone ready to be led. But in the next instant, I sliced off his ring finger, and it dropped to the floor.
I laughed, loud and unashamed. “Marcus, this is the debt you owe me. I’ll take it back, piece by piece.”
Playing with the dagger, I leaned in close to Judy.