BooksBarbecue
Back When Villains Rise Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

Nita’s stomach dropped, and she tried not to think of Fabricio’s graphic descriptions of what Kovit had done to him.

“Kovit is evil. I’ve never denied it,” Nita admitted easily. “But he’s still human, and he has good sides. I won’t disagree with calling him evil, but I will always disagree with painting him as a one-dimensional monster from a slasher film.”

Gold’s expression became infinitely sad. “You’ll understand one day. Once you’ve seen more of him. Once you’ve seen him hurt and hurt and hurt. He punished everyone in the Family. He did it because they asked him to and because he liked it. He just turned off the part of his brain that had a soul, the part that went online and chatted about movies and consoled friends. He flicked it off like a switch, and he made people scream.”

Gold swallowed. “You don’t really know him. You don’t know what he’s like.”

The words hit closer to home than Nita anticipated, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to drown out an INHUP agent’s screams. She replaced it with an image of Kovit holding her while she wept with grief over her murdered father.

Nita let out a long breath. “You’re the one who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Gold just shook her head. “You’ll see eventually.” Gold tipped her head back, the fluorescents painting her face a chalky yellow. “Even if it’s not me who takes Kovit down. Even if you manage to get him off the list before INHUP hurts him. Someday, somewhere, one of his victims will survive. And they will make it their life’s mission to hunt down and stop the monster who hurt them.”

Nita’s voice was tight. “That’s ridiculous. Vengeance stories like that only happen in the movies.”

“Perhaps,” Gold said softly. “But Kovit goes around doing terrible things, and eventually, those things will come back for him. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but there will always be someone out there with more hate than logic who will try to kill him.”

“Like you?”

Gold’s smile was bitter. “Like me.”

Nita was quiet for a beat. “Was it someone you cared about? That he hurt, I mean.”

After a long moment, she said, “No.”

Nita thought she’d guessed wrong, but then Gold said softly, “My father used to make me watch the recordings, you know, as I was growing up. I’d look into those people’s eyes as Kovit made them scream. And my father told me, That’s how you run an empire. That’s how you make people fear you. That’s how you gain respect.”