My Best Friend Bought Me a Cursed Life Chapter 06

My Best Friend Bought Me a Cursed Life Chapter 06 Wolf at Midnight

Midnight. The chemical plant

The wind howled through rusted girders, rattling corrugated tin like bones.

I stepped onto the main floor, a black suitcase in hand.

Sebastian hung from a chain in the center of the room, blood crusted on his skin, barely clinging to consciousness. His fingernails were gone.

Below him sat Richard Astor, flanked by three thugs with lead pipes.

“Dad.” I set the suitcase down. “That’s quite a show for a shakedown.”

Richard pushed himself to his feet. No flicker of guilt crossed his face–only a ravenous hunger.

“The company’s gone, Cecilia. The house is seized. I need cash, and you’ve got twenty million. Half of that keeps this family alive.”

“Alive?” I laughed. “You’re parasites. You’d bleed me dry and ask for more.”

“Enough talk,” one thug grunted. He kicked the suitcase. “Open it.”

I sank into a crouch, my fingers fumbling slightly as I worked the key in the lock.

Click. The lid swung open.

No money.

Inside were rows of gleaming surgical scalpels. Racks of glass vials holding chemical reagents.

Richard’s face went slack. “Where’s the ”

“The money’s in the bank.” I snatched up a vial and slammed it hard against an oil drum.

CRASH.

The sharp smell of ether filled the air.

“High–concentration ethyl ether with a few enhancements.” I pulled a gas mask from the case and fitted it over my face My voice came out muffled. “One spark, and this whole place becomes a fireball.”

I held up a lighter. Flick. Flame.

The thugs scrambled for the exits backward.

Richard’s legs buckled beneath him, his face drained of color. “You’re insane! You’ll kill yourself too!”

“Small price.” I stalked toward him, my eyes cold and unyielding. “Better than being your cash cow forever

“Don’t–don’t be crazy–I’m your father

“Now you remember.”

+marched past him, my gaze fixed on where Sebastian hung limply from the chains. One slash of the scalpel, and he dropped to th

floor with a groan.

“Ella-” Bella’s ghost whispered somewhere above me.

I knelt beside Sebastian, my fingers brushing his bloody, fever–flushed cheek. “Remember this pain. Because if any of you ever comes near me again…”

I flicked the lighter toward an empty drum. It didn’t detonate, but flames took hold, snaking greedily up its rusted sides.

The thugs ran.

Richard ran.

Sebastian crawled.

That night, the Astor patriarch and his son fled Kingsbridge.

I knew they’d return. But I’d planted a seed in their hearts–fear.

And as long as I remained unhinged enough to outmatch their cruelty, they’d stay far away.