Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“Only some of them. I don’t know why she’s only targeting specific individuals. But they’re dying in brutal ways due to her actions, which cannot be left unchecked.”
“But they’re a criminal organization. You said it yourself.”
“Yes, and they too will face the full extent of the law.”
He plays with the multitude of rings on his fingers. “Then why haven’t they?”
My lips part, but I don’t know how to answer.
I want to say we’re working on it, but I do have to admit that my bureau lacks the people to deal with this mess. Still, we do our best with the men and women we have.
“I will do my best to put them all behind bars,” I say after a while. “If you help me get out of here.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Then at least put my coat over my shoulders. It’s fucking cold in here.” I shiver.
He sighs. “Okay, fine.”
Orion put it on a shelf in the back, so Atlas grabs it and throws it over my shoulders. “Better?”
“Thank you.”
“I need to go. I have a class in like five minutes. I’ll bring some food later. Or Orion will. Whoever is quicker,” he says, as he walks off. “Thanks for the chat. It was … enlightening.”
The darkness returns, but my wicked smile never fades.
My hands are tied right where the jacket rests, and I tug it close enough to reach into the pocket to pull out my beeper.
Game.
Set.
Match.
CHAPTER 39
Sunny
My jaw drops as Xavier slams the door to the operating room shut and barricades it.
“How did you—”
“The woman at the front desk nearly escaped, so I locked her in the basement.” He smashes the key onto the table. “I followed you here. Wasn’t easy, but I don’t give up that easily.”
“I told you to stay where you were,” I growl.
He picks up the loose scalpel on the table and clutches it tightly, approaching my victim, who screams bloody murder.
Without even so much as saying a word, he grabs the man’s finger and slices it off, while looking me dead in the eyes. No remorse.
And for some reason, I find it deathly hot.
“Which finger did he touch you with?” he asks.
I lick my lips. “Index.”
He grabs the exact finger I mentioned and cuts it off cleanly.
No man has ever done anything more romantic for me.
“Which one next?”
I frown. “How did you know?”
“He’s a surgeon. Doesn’t take a genius.”
He grabs Carlo’s thrashing leg, takes off his shoes and socks, and cuts off the toes, like it comes naturally to him. Maybe I wasn’t the only one born to be a psycho.
“Wow,” I mutter. “You didn’t come here to play games.”
“I wasn’t kidding when I told you I was going to help you.”
“I don’t need any help,” I reply, thrusting my own knife right into Carlo’s arm, using him as a pinprick cushion.
“And I’m still going to give it anyway,” Xavier answers, taking off another toe.
“You’re being disobedient. You know that comes with punishment, right?” I cut off a finger too, and it almost feels like we’re in a competition.
“I’m not afraid.”
I stop cutting and put down the scalpel to glance at him.
Not afraid? Of me?
I step closer, and the sweat droplets roll down his neck, but he stays put in the face of death.
Admirable. Insane, but admirable.
“You need to leave.”
“No,” he says, still defying me. “Cut me. Kill me. I don’t care. I’m done running away.”
I chuckle. Maybe I’ve finally made someone as insane as I am.
“Running away from what?”
He tilts his head. “Death.”
Death.
To him, I am the personification of death.
One touch and your soul belongs to me.
That’s all I’ve ever shown people. Wrong me, and it’ll be your demise.
It’s an easy way to keep people at bay, to stop them from seeing the deeper parts of my wounded soul, but even the loss of life won’t stop him from craving me.
I slowly grab his hand and bring it to Carlo’s body, our fingers entwined with his blood.
Right then, I push Xavier’s hand forward so he stabs Carlo in the heart. Blood squirts out like a fountain all over us, dousing us in the remnants of my retribution.
The unwavering fear in Xavier’s eyes is gone.
All but replaced with a sense of awe and rage … So much fucking rage over the injustice of it all. He doesn’t ask the question that’s been on his tongue since the moment I came back to campus, doesn’t force me to face my demons, doesn’t judge me for enacting my wicked fantasies.
“I will help you kill anyone you want,” he says, his bloodied hand reaching for my face, the gentle caress so unfamiliar it makes my breath hitch. “As long as I can be by your side and watch you heal the broken parts that make you you.”
Fuck.
He just managed to rip right through the scars.
“You shouldn’t, it’s wrong,” I say, as he inches closer and closer. “I break people into shrapnel and use them as weapons until they’re gone.”