Tsking, he says, “This is really disappointing, Lizzy. I’ve tried so hard with you—enrolling in your class, taking those stupid assignments just to get the conversation started, to plant the seed, and now look where we are.” His words sound distant, distorted to my ears.
A hard thud hits my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs. “What am I going to do with you?”
Another hit, and the world fades as my body sags. I fight to keep my eyes from closing, but it’s too late.
Thirty
Pain emanates throughout my entire body. Lifting my head sends a wave of nausea through me. I jolt when I realize my arms won’t move. Anxiety hitches my breath, and my eyes spring wide open. Ropes bind my wrists to the arms of a desk chair, my legs tied at the ankles. “Stephan,” I cry out, “what are you doing?” Hot, salty tears scald the corners of my eyes. “Shhh, we have company,” Stephan whispers from behind me. A cold press of a knife against my cheek warns me it’s not a request.
The silence is deafening. My ears strain to hear any noise or movement. Adrenaline and fear spike at a sound of clicking, then soft thuds. “Breaking and entering is a crime, right?” Stephan whispers across my cheek, sending a shudder down my neck. Squeaking of the front door opening floods me with a sense of relief and terror. Who is it? Can they even help, or will they end up another victim? Stephan’s blade moves down to my neck, skimming the skin.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” he taunts.
My pulse accelerates when Jack’s figure steps into the light, his name on the tip of my tongue. “How nice of you to deliver yourself to me by breaking in to make me killing you so justified.”
“Let Lizzy go,” Jack demands.
The knife digs in, a sting blooming. “Now, now, neighbor, Lizzy and I are family—and there’s no bond stronger than that.”
Confusion furrows Jack’s brow. “Did you never work it out, trace it back to the beginning?” Stephan asks, incredulous. “You were just a mix-up—an unfortunate mistake. Lizzy was Willis’s daughter. Only…her mother played games as all mothers do and he didn’t know the baby in his wife’s womb was actually a girl, not the boy he was promised.”
“Jack, I’m so sorry,” I sob.
“Calm down, Liz. We don’t want you jerking around too much and my knife slipping into your artery.”
“Fucking move the knife away, asshole,” Jack grinds out, pulling out a gun and aiming it above my head to Stephan’s.
He fists my hair, and I cry out from the sharp sting as the knife moves toward my mouth.
“I’ll cut out her fucking tongue and feed it to you if you speak to me like you’re the one making the rules here, cunt.”
“I thought you cared about her. You said she’s your family?”
“I do care about her.” His tone softens, his fist loosening. “She can survive without her tongue.”
“Just let her go. Take me instead,” Jack offers, holding up his hands, his eyes darting to the gun, showing him he’s not aiming anymore.
“Oh, you won’t be leaving here. You’re a fucking fool for coming here alone. You’ll take the fall for the killings after I add one more to the list.”
“No!” I cry out, knowing he means Charlotte. The clicking of a gun sounds from behind us. “Put down the knife.”
Hernandez.
My soul weeps at the sound of his voice.
“I never said I was alone,” Jack informs him, relining his gun in our direction.
Sensing the vibrations of rage radiating from Stephan, I close my eyes, waiting for him to slice my throat before Hernandez fires his weapon, it will be suicide but maybe he would prefer to take us both out then go to prison.
“It’s over, Mr. Preston,” Hernandez tries to reason. Sirens blast in the distance, coming closer with every inhale of breath.
“Brother, please,” I beg, feeling the moment my words hit him. His hand falls from my hair, the knife hitting my shoulder, and then a sharp bang pierces the air. A splatting sounds so close to me, my head drops to see if it was me Jack shot.
Blue and red lights flicker over the ceiling, dancing up the walls. The thud of Stephan’s body crashing to the floor incites a wretched scream from my lips. All the pain hits me like a thousand bullets. Jack’s scent washes over me, the heat of his body encompassing mine. “Sorry,” I cry. “I’m so sorry.”
With a shuddering breath, Jack says the only words that can set me free. “I forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. I forgive you, but it wasn’t your fault.”
The room floods with officials. Hernandez called in the update before they were even out of their cars. Hernandez’s hand rests on my shoulder, squeezing for reassurance as Jack unties my bindings. Paramedics move toward us with medical kits, but they walk past me to Stephan.
“He’s alive?” I choke out.
“Step back,” another paramedic tells me, curling a blanket around my shoulders and flashing a flashlight in my eyes. “Do you have any pain?” Questions barrel into me, faces, lights…it’s all too much.
Jack is whispering things to me, but I’m fixated on the paramedics working on Stephan like he’s just some regular joe—a victim, not a monster. An officer bags the knife he dropped into an evidence bag while another bags the rope used to bind me. “Come on, you don’t need to see this,” Jack informs me, moving a paramedic out of our way. “I’m taking her for air,” he informs an officer who tries to stop him. My legs move, but it’s like I’m not connected to my body. An observer from above.
“She’s my best friend. Let me in,” Charlotte calls from the front door. Moving toward her voice, I suck at the air when we manage to make it outside to the small lawn.
“Lizzy—oh, thank god! Jack was with me when you answered the call. We’ve been looking for you all
